This paper reexamines a classic question in international economics: What is the current account response to a transitory income shock such as a temporary improvement in the terms of trade, a tranfer form abroad or unusually high production? To answer this question, we construct a world...

Although the empirical literature is not unanimous about the existence of a continuous long-term deterioration in the terms of trade for commodities (the original and most common formulation of the Prebisch- Singer hypothesis) and, hence, about the possibility of inferring their future behaviour...