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Global Imbalances, Financial Crisis and Economic Recovery Global Imbalances, Financial Crisis and Economic Recovery Wonhyuk Lim Director and Vice President, Department of Competition Policy, Korea Development Institute (KDI) lobal current account imbalances, expressed as the bigger the disruption would be. The dynam- percent of world GDP, have narrowed consid- ics leading to the crisis was conceptualized as fol- Gerably since 2006. According to the IMF, how- lows: the build-up of current account deficits by ever, the quality of this adjustment leaves much to be the U.S. would shake investor confidence and lead desired. Most of the adjustment took place during to a sudden stop of capital inflows, which in turn the global financial crisis of 2008-09, reflecting lower would precipitate a large and swift fall of the U.S. demand in economies with external deficit. Whereas dollar and a steep rise in the U.S. interest rate and exchange rate adjustment played some role, policy risk premium. The resulting disruptions could lead adjustment contributed “disappointingly little”.1 to a deep recession.2 To resolve global imbalances, Hence the IMF prescribed a broadly unchanged it was recommended that countries with current set of policies to further reduce global imbalances: account surplus increase consumption and coun- 1) the two major surplus countries, China and Ger- tries with current account deficit increase national many, need more consumption and investment, savings, with requisite structural reforms. Policy respectively, 2) the major deficit economies, includ- recommendations also included exchange rate ad- ing the U.S., need to boost national savings through justment to correct “fundamental misalignment”.3 fiscal consolidation, 3) other deficit economies also need structural reforms to rebuild competitiveness. This diagnosis of global imbalances was problem- Conspicuously missing from this prescription was atic on multiple accounts. First, reducing current what was to be done with macro-financial linkages, account imbalances to zero should not be a pol- which played a critical role in the build-up to global icy objective in and of itself. Even if the savings- imbalances. Unless savings-investment perspectives investment gap is large, it can be sustained if the on the balance of payments are complemented by imbalance in the capital and financial account is financial-capital perspectives, policy prescriptions equally large in the opposite direction. As long as for resolving global imbalances may interfere with capital flows are channeled into productive uses for economic recovery and leave intact many of the fac- which the return on investment covers the oppor- tors that contributed to the global financial crisis. tunity cost of capital on a sustainable basis, a large current account deficit by itself does not lead to a Before the global financial crisis, global imbalanc- crisis. A capital-poor country with good growth es typically referred to the persistent, large current prospects provides a prime example where a cur- account deficit in the U.S. matched by persistent, rent account deficit actually represents a win-win large current account surpluses in the rest of the situation for borrowers and lenders alike. By con- world, especially China. Politically, the problem trast, even if the imbalance in the current account of global imbalances was often framed as a bilat- is not large, a sudden change in capital flows may eral issue between the U.S. and China, focused precipitate a crisis. For example, a country even on the nominal exchange rate. Many economists with solid growth fundamentals can get into seri- believed at the time that 1) the global imbalances ous trouble if it does not have enough liquidity to were not sustainable, 2) correction would be dis- deal with abrupt capital outflows. Hence an exclu- ruptive, and 3) the more the correction is delayed, sive focus on achieving zero imbalances through THINK TANK 20: The G-20 and Central Banks in the New World of Unconventional Monetary Policy 61 policies that affect the savings-investment gap is time, housing prices became unsustainably high misguided. Instead, policy prescriptions should compared with the fundamentals, and borrowers’ also cover financial resource allocation and micro- ability to pay back debt deteriorated over time. On and macro-prudential issues, as well as financial the external front, the U.S. did not have as much safety nets to deal with capital flow reversals. negotiating leverage over China as it had over Ja- pan in the 1980s to craft a second Plaza Accord. Second, the pre-crisis discussion on global imbal- China built up its foreign exchange reserves well ances under-appreciated the privileged position of beyond the level justified by precautionary mo- the U.S. dollar as the world’s leading reserve cur- tives and strategically used these reserves for its rency and safe-haven currency in a time of crisis. foreign policy objectives. The purchase of U.S. The U.S. does not suffer from the “original sin”4 as government bonds by China and other countries it issues debt denominated in a currency under its with current account surplus also helped to keep control. Because the U.S. can print dollars to pay long-term interest rates low, providing further off debt if necessary, a sudden stop of capital in- support to the housing market in the U.S. The year flows would not trigger a currency crisis. Also, if 2006 marked the peak of the U.S. current account the U.S. is concerned that the accumulation of its deficit, at six percent of GDP. Although domestic current account deficits would shake investor con- and external adjustments had begun to be made by fidence and ultimately undermine the privileged then, they were too little, too late. To sum up, the position of the dollar, it has under its disposal pol- popular doomsday scenario for global imbalances icy tools to address the problem. Most simply, it under-appreciated the privileged international po- could raise the interest rate, which would reduce sition of the U.S. dollar on the one hand and the the savings-investment gap by dampening domes- risk of domestic financial resource misallocation tic demand. It could also try to prevail on current on the other. Global imbalances subsequently led account surplus countries to appreciate their cur- to a financial crisis, not a currency crisis. rency or boost their economy. This would allow the U.S. to increase its net exports without having Third, the build-up of global imbalances before to raise the interest rate to dampen domestic de- the crisis was much more than a bilateral issue mand across the board. between the U.S. and China. On the deficit side, the U.S. clearly dominated the scene as early as In the first half of the 2000s, however, the U.S. 1998. However, since the launch of the euro in failed on both domestic and external fronts to deal 1999, the combined current account deficits of the with its rising current account deficits. In 2001, in eurozone periphery (Greece, Ireland, Portugal, the wake of the collapse of the IT boom, the Fed Spain, and Italy) increased rapidly, from 3 per- slashed the target federal funds rate from 6.50 per- cent of their combined GDP in 1999 to 8 percent cent to 1.75 percent. Over the next three years, due in 2007. On the surplus side, although China and in part to high unemployment and low inflation, Emerging Market Asia received most of the at- the Fed made additional interest rate cuts. But the tention in pre-crisis discussions on global imbal- resulting interest rate around 1 percent was well ances, the current account surpluses of Germany, below the level consistent with the Taylor rule. In Japan, and oil exporting countries were significant fact, although the Fed began raising the rate from as well. Driven by precautionary motives in the June 2004, the policy rate in real terms remained aftermath of the Asian economic crisis of 1997, negative until late 2005. Combined with impru- Emerging Market Asia accumulated foreign ex- dent financial deregulation, the low interest rate change reserves to guard against sudden capital fueled a housing market boom, where escalating flow reversals. In the case of Germany, its current asset prices helped justify further investments. account balance swung from -1 percent of GDP Although the return on investment appeared to (deficit) in 1999 to plus 7 percent (surplus) in 2007. cover the opportunity cost of capital for some Over the same period, Germany’s international THINK TANK 20: The G-20 and Central Banks in the New World of Unconventional Monetary Policy 62 competitiveness (proxied by unit labor cost Fortunately, there has been important progress as trends) improved a great deal. Had it not been for well. Faced with a weak economic recovery and the currency union, the German mark would have uncertainty about fiscal policy, the Fed aggres- appreciated to reduce its current account surplus. sively pushed quantitative easing (QE). Although But the launch of the euro took away this option. the Fed justified its action on the basis of its do- Alternatively, if the corresponding capital inflows mestic mandate to promote “maximum employ- into the eurozone periphery had been invested ment, stable prices, and moderate long-term inter- productively on a sustainable basis, their current est rates,” not international bargaining, it demon- account deficits might not have become a problem. strated that the U.S. still has the power to create However, what happened instead in the eurozone problems for others if they do not cooperate. In periphery was a finance-driven boom and bust other words, the U.S. might not have the leverage similar to the one in the U.S. In the case of Japan, it to pull off a second Plaza Accord, but it has the failed to deal resolutely with deflationary pressure power to affect the global economy if others are and zombie lending, and instead opted for an odd slow to make the necessary adjustments, as was the combination of output being produced to satisfy case in 2010.
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