Global Imbalances and Petrodollars

Oil exporters have run large current account surpluses. We explore oil exporters' role in our understanding and the resolution of global imbalances. Current account dynamics are estimated for oil-exporting countries and the rest of the world. We find that fiscal policy has a much stronger effect on current account of oil exporters than on current account of other countries. The current account adjustment of oil-exporting countries is also faster than that of other countries. We conclude that a change in fiscal policy of oil exporters can have significant and speedy impact on global imbalances.