We analyse the link between income distribution and the current account through a descriptive analysis for the G7 countries and a series of panel estimations for the G7 countries and a larger sample of 20 countries for the period 1972-2007. We find that, firstly, rising personal inequality leads...

Household surveys like the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) notoriously underestimate the degree of income and wealth inequality at the upper end of the distribution. A new approach developed by Thomas Piketty and co-authors therefore analyses tax return data in an attempt at better measuring...

Freiwillige Haushaltbefragungen wie das Sozioökonomische Panel (SOEP) unterschätzen tendenziell die Ungleichheit von Einkommen und Vermögen. Die von Thomas Piketty und anderen etablierte Forschungsrichtung wertet daher zur Bestimmung der Ungleichheit am oberen Ende der Verteilung amtliche...

We discuss the link between rising income inequality, financialisation and macroeconomic imbalances during the period before the global financial and economic crisis starting in 2007. We present case studies for the United States and Germany as well as the results of model-based simulations and...

We analyse the link between income distribution and the current account for the period 1972-2007. We find that rising (top-end) personal inequality leads to a decrease of the current account, ceteris paribus. This result is consistent with consumption externalities resulting from upward-looking...

In this second issue of the European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention (EJEEP), the Papers and Proceedings of the Research Network Macroeconomics and Macroeconomic Policies (FMM), 1 we publish some invited papers which were presented at the 17th FMM conference on...

Michael Hudson is President of the Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), a Wall Street Financial Analyst, and Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. ISLET engages in research regarding domestic and international finance,...

We analyse the newly updated Stability Programmes of the Euro area governments by applying the simple accounting identity by which the financial balances of the government, the private sector and the foreign sector always sum to zero. While the focus of the old Stability and Growth Pact was...

Die Finanz- und Wirtschaftskrise hat einen massiven Anstieg der staatlichen Verschuldung nach sich gezogen, ohne dass der europäische Stabilitäts- und Wachstumspakt dies hätte verhindern können. Es ist offenkundig geworden, dass die bestehenden institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen für die...