EXPLAINING ASYMMETRY IN THE U.S. MERCHANDISE AND SERVICE ACCOUNT BALANCE: Does the Service Sector Hold the Key to the U.S. Current Account Woes?

Abstract

The U.S. economy has experienced two noteworthy structural changes in recent years. Externally, there has been a growing deficit in the merchandise account along with a simultaneously rising service account surplus. And domestically, the GDP share of the service sectors has been growing at a faster rate relative to the goods sectors. The objective of this article is to test the proposition that much of the asymmetry in the relative performance of the merchandise and the service accounts can be explained (1) in terms of income and price elasticity differentials and (2) in terms of relative growth of the service sectors. Results from estimated import and export demand functions for merchandise and service trades and from sectoral analysis of the U.S. economy seem to support the above proposition. The main policy implications are that: (1) domestically, the United States should facilitate current sectoral transformation by eliminating market distortions and rigidities and (2) externally, it should expand on the initiatives taken during the Uruguay Round and drive the WTO toward a full liberalization of trade in services.

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