The purpose of this note is to discuss two complex issues. First, why might a country want to reduce its current account deficit or surplus? And second, why might the international community ask for more? We argue that, in many cases, current account balances reflect underlying domestic...

We examine whether the cross-country incidence and severity of the 2008–09 global recession is systematically related to precrisis macroeconomic and financial factors. We find that the precrisis level of development, increases in the ratio of private credit to GDP, current account deficits,...