Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Phil Bryson
Global Trade and Finance
Part I
Balance of Payments
Accounting
Balance of Payments Accounting
Records of transactions
among nations have not
always been kept. Are
they very recent?
Balance of Payments Accounting
General use of BP
accounting is more
recent, but in 1381
Richard Aylesbury, an
Englishman, had not
only collected such
statistics, but was
developing analysis as to
why the accounts
behaved as the did.
Balance of Payments Accounting
Again:
1. MERCHANDISE OR TRADE BALANCE:
2. GOODS AND SERVICES* BALANCE:
3. NET UNILATERAL TRANSFERS
Balance of Payments
There is also a set of asset flows referred to as the
CAPITAL ACCOUNT BALANCE
Is it sustainable?
The current account balance is the difference
between domestic saving and domestic
investment. If domestic saving falls, the US
must borrow from abroad to finance domestic
investment
US foreign indebtedness is not necessarily bad
if foreign funds are used towards investment.
(p. 231)
Repayment of the debt is potentially a problem
if foreign funds are used to purchase
consumption goods since future generations
will bear the burden of debt.
Poole presents evidence that the rising current
account deficit is associated with rising
domestic investment, and a significant share of
foreign investment in the US is equity
investment which does not have to be repaid.
He concludes that the US does not have a
current account disorder. (p. 231)
Poole reminds us that a capital and financial
account surplus is identical to a current
account deficit because their dollar values are
identical by the rules of accounting. (p. 236)
If a foreign firm builds a production facility in
the US, the capital and financial account
surplus increases, which, in turn, means that
the U.S. current account deficit would
increase. (p. 236)
The rising current account deficit in recent
years has been accompanied by a rising rate of
U.S. domestic investment. (p. 237)