We investigate the role of budget balances, financial development and openness, in the evolution of global imbalances. Financial development or the lack thereof has received considerable attention as a possible contributing factor to the development of persistent and expanding current account...

Three current account imbalances - one very large deficit (the United States) and two surpluses (Japan and the Euro area) - are subjected to a minimalist structural interpretation. Though simple, this interpretation enables us to assess how much of each of the imbalances require a real exchange...