Current account sustainability in advanced economies

This paper investigates the sustainability of current accounts in advanced economies, using a panel of 27 countries and annual data over the 1980-2008 period. We find strong evidence in favour of nonlinear but stationary current-account trajectories for 14 countries, while the remaining 13 appear to be nonstationary and, thus, unsustainable. Our analysis indicates that careful empirical modeling of current-account dynamics, particularly in relation to cross-section dependence and nonlinear behaviour, is crucial for appropriate economic policymaking.