1st Edition

The Current Account and Foreign Debt

By John Pitchford Copyright 1995
    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    It is generally assumed that current deficits are intrinsically bad and in need of correction. The Current Account and Foreign Debt argues that this is not always the case. The author analyses a broad range of issues in support of this argument. These include:
    * Approaches to current account balance
    * Short run issues
    * Longer run issues
    * Policy

    The book can be read as an integrated whole, or alternatively, each chapter can be consulted without reference to the others. The Current Account and Foreign Debt provides the counterbalance to a common misapprehension in economic theory. It will be a valuable guide for all those interested in international monetary theory.

    Preface and acknowledgements Part I Introduction 1 External balance 2 The evolution of approaches to the current account balance Part II Short run issues 3 Devaluation and the trade balance 4 Macroeconomic theory Part III Longer run issues 5 Optimal responses of expenditure and debt 6 Foreign investment 7 Sustainability of private sector foreign indebtedness Part IV Policy 8 Macroeconomic policy in an open economy 9 Sovereign default risk and the social cost of foreign debt 10 Overview of policy issues

    Biography

    Professor John Pitchford has held a chair of economics at the Australian National University since 1965. His fields of interest include population economics, inflation, economic growth and international monetary economics.