Income inequality and Germany’s current account surplus

"Germany entered the euro with a current account deficit but over theentire past decade has run large and persistent current account surpluses. Besides joining the common currency, the increase of Germany’s current account since the late 1990s has been accompanied by strong shifts in the person...

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Main Authors: Grüning, Patrick, Theobald, Thomas
Institution:ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
Format: TEXT
Language:English
Published: Düsseldorf 2015
IMK
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19114910124919321929-income-inequality-and-Germany’.htm
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author Grüning, Patrick
Theobald, Thomas
author_facet Grüning, Patrick
Theobald, Thomas
collection Library items
description "Germany entered the euro with a current account deficit but over theentire past decade has run large and persistent current account surpluses. Besides joining the common currency, the increase of Germany’s current account since the late 1990s has been accompanied by strong shifts in the personal and, in particular, the functional income distribution. In this paper, we argue that income inequality should always be analyzed with respect to both the personal and the functional distribution of income. We present a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model in which a current account surplus arises as an endogenous result of a decrease in the share of household income in national income. On the one hand, this result complements existing literature where current account deficits result from rising personal income inequality. On the other hand, we find that current account imbalances will be more pronounced when accompanied by changes inthe financial system. Accordingly, if we link Germany’s accession to the European monetary union to lower exchange rate costs for German bank lending, the current account surplus becomes larger."
format TEXT
geographic Germany
id 19114910124919321929_2e2554efaa814c80b89cd1e2b8c3a18c
institution ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
is_hierarchy_id 19114910124919321929_2e2554efaa814c80b89cd1e2b8c3a18c
is_hierarchy_title Income inequality and Germany’s current account surplus
language English
physical 34 p.
Digital
publishDate 2015
publisher Düsseldorf
IMK
spellingShingle Grüning, Patrick
Theobald, Thomas
EMU
income distribution
public debt
social inequality
Income inequality and Germany’s current account surplus
thumbnail https://www.labourline.org/Image_prev.jpg?Archive=108203592648
title Income inequality and Germany’s current account surplus
topic EMU
income distribution
public debt
social inequality
url https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19114910124919321929-income-inequality-and-Germany’.htm