Global Dispersion of Current Accounts: Is the Universe Expanding?

This paper examines the global distribution of current accounts. Using a panel of more than 100 countries, the analysis establishes a set of stylized facts regarding the collective behavior of current accounts over the past four decades. In particular, we find that the global dispersion of current accounts has been steadily rising, which is qualitatively consistent with the view that ongoing financial globalization has allowed countries to maintain larger current account imbalances. However, this underlying trend is not quantitatively large enough to explain “global imbalances”—that is, the noticeable widening in external imbalances among major economies (for example, United States) seen in recent years. IMF Staff Papers (2009) 56, 574–595. doi:10.1057/imfsp.2009.12