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Social Science > Demography

You are looking at 1 - 10 of 23 items for :

  • Type: Journal Issue x
  • Current Account Adjustment; Short-term Capital Movements x
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Cover IMF Working Papers
Low for (Very) Long? A Long-Run Perspective on r* across Advanced Economies
Josef Platzer
,
Mr. Francesco Grigoli
, and
Robin Tietz
We provide a long-run perspective on neutral interest rates with new estimates for 16 advanced economies since the 1870s using the Laubach and Williams approach. Our estimates differ substantially from commonly used proxies. We find that, while cross-country heterogeneity was significant in the past, since the 1980s the decline has been common to many countries. Traditional determinants such as population aging and productivity growth are strongly correlated with the changes in neutral rates, while others like the relative price of capital and inequality exhibit weak relationships with r*. We also find that neutral rates co-vary negatively with public debt-to-GDP ratios.
Keywords:
neutral rate; old-age dependency ratio; time series; neutral interest rates; coefficient estimate; cited estimation approach; estimation procedure; Real interest rates; Capital account; Aging; Output gap; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Romania: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
Selected Issues
Keywords:
assessment of the size; Consumer Goods import; Policy recommendation; regional disparity; policy recommendation; Current account; Current account deficits; Current account balance; External balance assessment (EBA); Western Europe; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Reexamining the National Savings-Investment Nexus Across Time and Countries
Mr. Antonio David
,
Carlos Goncalves
, and
Alejandro M. Werner
Domestic savings and investment are positively correlated across countries and through time, as Feldstein-Horioka (FH) unveiled 40 years ago. We argue that an interpretation of this correlation based on market failures is more consistent with data patterns than alternative hypotheses. Moreover, resorting to instrumental variables techniques, we conclude that the relationship is causal: an exogenous rise in savings increases investment. This result holds in the full sample of countries and for emerging and developing economies, but there is evidence that the positive association in advanced economies is due to endogeneity bias. The core of our identification strategy relies on the idea that population age structure influences savings, but not total investment directly. Specifically, we use the share of adults in the [35-49] years of age bracket as an instrument for savings. Our estimates pass weak-instruments robust inference.
Keywords:
WP; saving; investment; investment rate; savings-investment correlation; Feldstein-Horioka Puzzle; Investment; Savings; Causality; savings rate; labor-saving technology; saving variable; Domestic savings; Capital account; Estimation techniques; Income; Global; population share affect investment
Cover IMF Working Papers
Demographics, Old-Age Transfers and the Current Account
Mai Dao
and
Callum Jones
Building on the evolving literature on the topic, this paper reviews the relationship between demographics and long-run capital flows in both theory and in the data. For this purpose, we develop a two region overlapping generations model where countries differ in their population growth and mortality risk. Besides exploring the implications of demographics for saving and the current account over the long-run, we also study how these might be affected by differences in the coverage and sustainability of old-age transfer schemes. The model predicts that population structure and life expectancy (which affects the need to save to meet old age consumption) affect current account levels, and that while countries with more generous unfunded transfer schemes tend to have lower saving and more capital inflows over the long-run, this effect may be dampened by natural limits (on taxation) of these schemes. The key predictions of the model are generally supported by a rich panel dataset.
Keywords:
WP; dependency ratio; open economy; OLG framework; transfer scheme; welfare perspective; Demographics; Current Account Flows; Pensions; External Imbalances; ratio observation; demographics affect aggregate saving; country Fe; life expectancy country; pay-as-you-go Old-age transfer system; lifecycle model; country open economy model; Aging; Current account; Capital flows; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Demographics, Pension Systems and the Saving-Investment Balance
Hua Chai
and
Mr. Jun I Kim
This paper studies the effect of demographic change on national saving, global interest rates, and international capital flows, focusing on the role of the public pension system. We develop a small open economy overlapping generations model to illustrate the channels through which demographic variables and pension system generosity interact to affect both private and public saving behavior. We then extend this framework to a two-country setting and simulate scenarios of demographic change and pension reform. We find that the generosity of the pension system plays an important role in determining the movement of the global interest rate and patterns of international capital flows.
Keywords:
WP; public saving; pension generosity; saving rate; OLG model; saving side; demographics; pension; aging; saving; investment; current account; saving behavior; saving increase; Private savings; Pension spending; Pensions; Global
Cover External Sector Report, July 2018
External Sector Report, July 2018
Tackling Global Imbalances amid Rising Trade Tensions
International Monetary Fund

Abstract

The External Sector Report presents a methodologically consistent assessment of the exchange rates, current accounts, reserves, capital flows, and external balance sheets of the world’s largest economies. The 2018 edition includes an analytical assessment of how trade costs and related policy barriers drive excess global imbalances.

Keywords:
ESR; deficit; surplus; policy; deficit side; external; REER gap; assessed current account gap; trade cost; policy recommendation; Current account; Real effective exchange rates; External balance assessment (EBA); Current account balance; Global; Africa
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
West African Economic and Monetary Union: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. African Dept.
This Selected Issues paper on West African Economic and Monetary Union presents external stability assessment report. The current account deficit declined in 2014. Although gross international reserve coverage has increased slightly, part of the current account deficit has been financed by a decline in commercial banks’ net foreign assets. Contingent on the implementation of government’s consolidation plans, and helped by a favorable oil price outlook, the current account deficit would further gradually decline and be matched by enough financial inflows in the medium term. According to various metrics, the real exchange rate appears to be broadly aligned with fundamentals. International reserve coverage should increase to provide stronger buffers against immediate short-term risks. Structural competitiveness and investment efficiency improvements will be essential to ensure that the planned large investment programs translate into growth and export gains as well as increased private inflows into the region.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; WAEMU; GDP; ECOWAS country; dynamics well; payment service; credit-to GDP ratio; liquidity provision; Mobile banking; Imports; Tariffs; Commercial banks; West Africa
Cover IMF Working Papers
China’s Demography and its Implications
Mr. Il Houng Lee
,
Mr. Xu Qingjun
, and
Mr. Murtaza H Syed
In coming decades, China will undergo a notable demographic transformation, with its old-age dependency ratio doubling to 24 percent by 2030 and rising even more precipitously thereafter. This paper uses the permanent income hypothesis to reassess national savings behavior, with greater prominence and more careful consideration given to the role played by changing demography. We use a forward-looking and dynamic approach that considers the entire population distribution. We find that this not only holds up well empirically but may also be superior to the static dependency ratios typically employed in the literature. Going further, we simulate global savings behavior based on our framework and find that China’s demographics should have induced a negative current account in the 2000s and a positive one in the 2010s given the rising share of prime savers, only turning negative around 2045. The opposite is true for the United States and Western Europe. The observed divergence in current account outcomes from the simulated path appears to have been partly policy induced. Over the next couple of decades, individual countries’ convergence toward the simulated savings pattern will be influenced by their past divergences and future policy choices. Other implications arising from China’s demography, including the growth model, the pension system, the labor market, and the public finances are also briefly reviewed.
Keywords:
WP; savings behavior; current account; household savings; income hypothesis; saving rate; S-I profile; China; Aging; Demographics; Savings; Global Imbalances; saving regression; China's savings; Income; Consumption; Pension spending; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Portugal: Selected Issues Paper
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
Portugal’s economy is in deep recession, and the crisis has opened up a large output gap, with severe consequences for employment and government revenue. While the focus is on the medium- and long-term, this analysis also offers insights on how deep the output gap is. It also highlights ways in which policies and reforms can promote growth over the longer haul and suggests that achieving a 2-percent growth rate over the long term—consistent with moderate convergence growth—is a realistic objective.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; firm; GDP; IMF staff calculation; exchange rate; current account adjustment; equity volatility; TFP growth; export growth; firms' ability; financing source; output gap; over-leveraged firm; Total factor productivity; Pension spending; Health care spending; Human capital; Global; Europe; East Asia
Cover IMF Working Papers
A Tradeoff between the Output and Current Account Effects of Pension Reform
Mr. Mario Catalan
and
Mr. Nicolas E Magud
We compare the long-term output and current account effects of pension reforms that increase the retirement age with those of reforms that cut pension benefits, conditional on reforms achieving similar fiscal targets. We show the presence of a policy trade-off. Pension reforms that increase the retirement age have a large positive effect on output, but a small (and often negative) effect on the current account. In contrast, reforms that cut pension benefits improve the current account balance but reduce output. Mixed pension reforms, which extend the working life and cut pension benefits, can simultaneously boost output and the current account.
Keywords:
WP; current account; Pension reform; external balance; dyamic general equilibrium model; output-current account tradeoff; current account effect; investment position; saving decline; effects of pension reforms; aggregate flow constraint; return on assets; Pension spending; Pensions; Aging; policy trade-off; factor income