here is the main event folks staged by the WSJ my boy brad against this wall street bond merlin hack ================== .Dooley high lites: "an economically important bloc of (mostly Asian) countries manages exchange rates to promote export growth and rapid industrialization" ". Their primary economic problem is the rapid assimilation of hundreds of millions of workers into a modern economy (China) or an economic recovery (Japan)" ------ by throwing in japan he escapes the south radius of his june nber paper ... i wonder if he figures labor slack inside a north country with its temporary near zero marginal product is a good analogue to his structural south model ??? seems if so then the policy implications become not just emerging one offery relevent but emerged counter cyclical relevent too as in the old beggar thy neighbor import tarrif games and competitive devaluation rounds i prefer keynes a full employment fiscal deficit polcy doesn't lead so obviously to global great depressions --------------- "Asian development policy has generated very large purchases of international reserves and exports of savings to the rest of the world" ------------ no issue here --------------- " We believe that the U.S. current-account deficit is a byproduct of the ability of U.S. households and firms to capture and profitably utilize this supply of internationally mobile savings" ---------- low mortgage rates and trans nat super profits but how about stagnant north real wages ---------------------- "(this asian sourced) extra supply of savings .... in the U.S has reduced long real interest rates by about 1.5 percentage points" " It would be foolish to pass up such a bargain" ---------- as to this "baragin"'s benefits to 'umble home owners.. isn't it sort of like what the spider said to the fly ..... don't a lay strung out waiting for em maybe even at the next step ???? a short run spending high leading to long run stag wage debt payment hang over on houses with under water equity ???? ------------------ "The U.S. deficit and low interest rates will last as long as Asian savings are placed in the international market by Asian governments and as long as other industrial countries are too weak to bid those savings away from the U.S." ------------sloppy language here "too weak " isn't the real point just as this sudden high wave of "surplus" cash "glut" inflowing from the south lowered rates a roll back out can raise em here and all over the north leaving the hideous high and dry speared on a real rate of interest no man can stand for an effect often begging for a compensatory but easily mis read policy shift toward a monetary base explosion ---------- " We predict that this will last for a decade although the dollar will slowly depreciate and U.S. rates will slowly rise during this long adjustment period " ------------- this is pure salesmans blither wheres the demo model ??? why assume soft rates of adjustment when reality has SO VERY OFTEN proves to be a monster of sudden and harsh swings ????-------------------- " Asian governments will want, and be able to, feed international credit markets as a part of their development strategy" --------------that summary boast reminds me of a thousand prior gaffs of narrow hubris ------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----us chicken littles as dooley puts words in our mouth ------ " China will overheat, reserve holders will dump dollars, and the U.S. will protect itself from low-priced goods" ---------------- what's his point inflation a currency run and protectionism are laughably unlikely ???----------------- " Moreover, the system will end with a crisis a la Argentina by the end of this year." -------- well here i agree u know i'd never compare uncle hegemonic to a run of the mill southie any arguments about the us ad its imperial dollar require analogues from the annals of earlier reserve currency states ---------- * * * -----now u step forth --------------- Setser writes: " the taxpayers of poor Asian countries (above all China) subsidize through their central bank's accumulation of dollar reserves wealthy consumers in the U.S" --------------- some dramatic telescoping here the full run of the powdre trail back to the keg is a way up ahead but at least potentially this is a "dead on " reality ------------------------- " You argued that this system was far more stable than the naysayers thought and would last for a generation!" ----------------- indeed he shows no caution at all in fact refuses to suggest unckle trim his sails at all ---------------- "no cause to worry if U.S. net external debt -- that is, the gap between American assets abroad and what the U.S. owes the rest of the world -- rises from around 20% of U.S. GDP in 2003 to something like 75% of U.S. GDP in 2013." ------- here i think u need to have something better then too hogh is too high as in a precedent i saw a delong bit where he claimed the brits prior to 1914 were at ratios "higher" then your scenario leads to in 10-15 years ----------------------- " that will happen even if the trade deficit stays at around 6% of GDP". "By 2013, the current-account deficit, which includes interest payments, would reach 9% of U.S. GDP even if the trade deficit stabilizes" ------- right here u need a comparative -------------------- " it is OK if the U.S. doesn't save since the U.S. can outsource saving to Asia for some time" ----------- this does not disentangle the heavy trans nat asia headed fdi out flow from the massive uncle assisted household usury racket are we realy crowding out domestic investment in productive facilities or merely witnessing "the markets " trans nats' real investment choices which involve going for the higher returns in asia ???-------------- "these trends are unsustainable. They imply a lot of external debt for a country that doesn't export much. And since external debt is ultimately a claim on future U.S. exports , it implies further falls in the dollar" ------this is the heart of your argument can america earn enough to pay its debts are we going to rely on a system of studios and labs and the stream of IP payments they can earn us over seas to pay our foreign debts ??? of course we have bases over there too protection and extortion rackets to compliment our resource and cheap labor extractions the key here is the possible divurgence between gdp and gnp if you are an american"property owner" it might all come out... "spiffing " -------------------------- ------- " just as Argentina's rising external debt burden eventually led to falls in the peso" ------- see above on north south croos over analogies ------------ " Those now lending to the U.S. in dollars for long terms at low rates risk large losses" --------- indeed uncle could run the dollar down but we'd have a pre global depression crisis----------- " A collapse in 2006, maybe. A collapse before 2008, likely; before 2010, almost certainly." ----- i'd avoid this short run merlin stuff ------------------- . " even if China and the world's oil exporters want to continue to subsidize the U.S. will the U.S. be willing to accept the gift.??" ------ i like that line a lot free heroin ---------------- " We haven't exactly found a way to make sure all parts of the economy share equally in this subsidy " ------- this speaks silent volumes ------------------ " Do you all really think China will be able to continue to rely as heavily on exports for growth in 2006 as it did in 2005?" ------ we both know the party bosses know better then that ----------------- * * * back to dooley: " But investors, our primary audience, are very short-run oriented " "-- if they get it wrong for more than a year or so, they become history" ------ ya but if you get it right for one quater at a time u make them happy either way policy changes to make things optimal are not like market specs who can make money rain or shine so long as they beat the stampede in or out even by only one step --------------- " An elegant long-run theory is of no use to us if it doesn't have strong predictions for the time horizon important to market participants " ------- they needn't worry either way their neither peddling elegence or the long view just showing the scam still has legs --------------- "The key is the link between then and now" dooley doe setser or does he .....??? "Suppose a collapse was "likely before 2008" and that that means greater than 50% over the next 26 months." " Moreover the crisis is defined by sharply higher U.S. interest rates and a mega-devaluation of the dollar" " If this is the market consensus forecast" " something has to give now. Interest parity demands that either yields on dollar assets have to be much higher to compensate investors for the risk of large losses on dollar assets or, more likely, investors dump dollar assets and the crisis happens now." "Neither has happened. The market doesn't buy your story -- why not?" "The market could be wrong" ------- no the market crawls along day by day with a few eyes looking out 2 quaters or so -------------- " it is time to focus on how the international monetary system evolves in the absence of crises" ----- no its not to assume way the crisis is to assume away the basic modus operandi of the system as it morphs from one stage to the next in its development ---------- "The trends in debt-GDP ratios you propose assume the only adjustment is a crash Like recent calculations that we are running out of oil, such extrapolations make exciting reading but they do not capture market dynamics" ------- very poor analogy and yet oil prices run up and down as badly as if they were cycling thru scarcity and glut scares ------- " the incentives that have sustained the system to date also provide a smooth convergence to a new equilibrium in the long run." --again just salesmans' words here -------- " Our recent paper sets this mechanism out in detail" ------ not at all there is no detail its more like a kidnappers note here's your sons hair lock etc etc it gets the message across alright but without revealing the ploteers where abouts or anything else of much use to the police ------ " there will be a very slow but sure real devaluation of the dollar against the Asian bloc and a very slow but sure rise in cyclically adjusted real interest rates in the U.S. and other industrial countries." ------ the dollar will fall against these east asian currencies like it did against the yen.... maybe so but i see no proof beyond assertion and "well we ain't hit any ice bergs yet "--------------- " As Asian savings become less of a bargain for the U.S. there will be a gradual reduction in the U.S. current-account deficit" ----- see he thinks the asians offer us a nice exit strategy -------------- " An interesting implication of our approach is that, after a large initial appreciation of the euro against the dollar, this important exchange rate will remain relatively stable during the long adjustment period" ------ here is another kettle of fish the difference between the chinese product invasion of north america and western europe creating secondary tensions between the US and the EU ---------------- "There will be bumps along the road " ------ BUT NO CRISIS ??? TOO BAD WE CAN'T PLACE OUR FINAL BETS NOW --------- -------------------------------- " how can events we can't yet identify deflect us from this underlying adjustment scenario" ------ he really needs to think about that since his theory is claiming he doesn't need to --------------- • Global Balancing Act October 18, 2005 Dooley : "an economically important bloc of (mostly Asian) countries manages exchange rates to promote export growth and rapid industrialization" ". Their primary economic problem is the rapid assimilation of hundreds of millions of workers into a modern economy (China) or an economic recovery (Japan)" "Asian development policy has generated very large purchases of international reserves and exports of savings to the rest of the world" " We believe that the U.S. current-account deficit is a byproduct of the ability of U.S. households and firms to capture and profitably utilize this supply of internationally mobile savings" "(this asian sourced) extra supply of savings .... in the U.S has reduced long real interest rates by about 1.5 percentage points" " It would be foolish to pass up such a bargain" "The U.S. deficit and low interest rates will last as long as Asian savings are placed in the international market by Asian governments and as long as other industrial countries are too weak to bid those savings away from the U.S." " We predict that this will last for a decade although the dollar will slowly depreciate and U.S. rates will slowly rise during this long adjustment period " From the start we have predicted that the " Asian governments will want, and be able to, feed international credit markets as a part of their development strategy" the chicken littles as dooley puts words in their mouth " China will overheat, reserve holders will dump dollars, and the U.S. will protect itself from low-priced goods". " Moreover, the system will end with a crisis a la Argentina by the end of this year." * * * Setser writes: " the taxpayers of poor Asian countries (above all China) subsidize through their central bank's accumulation of dollar reserves wealthy consumers in the U.S" " You argued that this system was far more stable than the naysayers thought and would last for a generation!" "no cause to worry if U.S. net external debt -- that is, the gap between American assets abroad and what the U.S. owes the rest of the world -- rises from around 20% of U.S. GDP in 2003 to something like 75% of U.S. GDP in 2013." " that will happen even if the trade deficit stays at around 6% of GDP". "By 2013, the current-account deficit, which includes interest payments, would reach 9% of U.S. GDP even if the trade deficit stabilizes" " it is OK if the U.S. doesn't save since the U.S. can outsource saving to Asia for some time" I -- and my colleague Nouriel Roubini -- do think t "these trends are unsustainable. They imply a lot of external debt for a country that doesn't export much. And since external debt is ultimately a claim on future U.S. exports , it implies further falls in the dollar" " just as Argentina's rising external debt burden eventually led to falls in the peso" " Those now lending to the U.S. in dollars for long terms at low rates risk large losses" " A collapse in 2006, maybe. A collapse before 2008, likely; before 2010, almost certainly." . " even if China and the world's oil exporters want to continue to subsidize the U.S. will the U.S. be willing to accept the gift.??" " We haven't exactly found a way to make sure all parts of the economy share equally in this subsidy " " Do you all really think China will be able to continue to rely as heavily on exports for growth in 2006 as it did in 2005?" * * * dooley: " But investors, our primary audience, are very short-run oriented " "-- if they get it wrong for more than a year or so, they become history" " An elegant long-run theory is of no use to us if it doesn't have strong predictions for the time horizon important to market participants " "The key is the link between then and now" dooley doe setser or does he .....??? "Suppose a collapse was "likely before 2008" and that that means greater than 50% over the next 26 months." " Moreover the crisis is defined by sharply higher U.S. interest rates and a mega-devaluation of the dollar" " If this is the market consensus forecast" " something has to give now. Interest parity demands that either yields on dollar assets have to be much higher to compensate investors for the risk of large losses on dollar assets or, more likely, investors dump dollar assets and the crisis happens now." "Neither has happened. The market doesn't buy your story -- why not?" "The market could be wrong" " it is time to focus on how the international monetary system evolves in the absence of crises" "The trends in debt-GDP ratios you propose assume the only adjustment is a crash Like recent calculations that we are running out of oil, such extrapolations make exciting reading but they do not capture market dynamics" " the incentives that have sustained the system to date also provide a smooth convergence to a new equilibrium in the long run." " Our recent paper sets this mechanism out in detail" " there will be a very slow but sure real devaluation of the dollar against the Asian bloc and a very slow but sure rise in cyclically adjusted real interest rates in the U.S. and other industrial countries." " As Asian savings become less of a bargain for the U.S. there will be a gradual reduction in the U.S. current-account deficit" " An interesting implication of our approach is that, after a large initial appreciation of the euro against the dollar, this important exchange rate will remain relatively stable during the long adjustment period" "There will be bumps along the road " " how can events we can't yet identify deflect us from this underlying adjustment scenario" * * * Neither seems to have materialized. This year's U.S. current-account deficit will be far larger than last year's, and next year's budget deficit will be larger than this year's. "The nice, slow real depreciation in the dollar against Asian currencies needed to bring the U.S. trade deficit down in a nice, safe, orderly and relatively pleasant way over your extended time frame (30 years, a 1% real depreciation a year?) has yet to really start" " Interest rate differentials now favor the dollar" . "The euro-zone is attracting significant inflows from China and the world's oil exporters, helping keep euro-zone rates low. But rather than generating a continent-wide housing boom and a continent-wide consumption boom low rates seem to be prompting a boom in European capital flows to the U.S" "part of the answer is that many investors do have short-time horizons. To date, no one has made money betting against the People's Bank of China in the Treasury market" ". Most seem to expect Bretton Woods II will last at least until they get this year's bonus" Still, " net private financial flows are not large enough to finance a $800 billion-plus U.S. current account deficit" " with $600 billion or so in global reserve accumulation this year the private sector doesn't have to." " private investors put about $150 billion more into emerging economies last year than they took out." " Emerging economies are financing the U.S. because their central banks want to finance the U.S.; private investors are quite willing to finance the emerging world" What worries me is that flows to the U.S. -- both private and official -- rest on rather shaky foundations, and as Brad Delong has argued, the markets seem to be pricing in virtually no chance of a bad outcome. Private investors finance the U.S. at low rates because they expect central banks to continue to finance the U.S. -- and even to step up their intervention if private flows falter. " Since the markets are not demanding any adjustment now the underlying imbalances keep getting bigger In any standard model the bigger the deficit and debt today the bigger the needed dollar depreciation tomorrow " " The amount China has had to spend to keep the yuan from rising has grown every year for the past four years ; it will reach 15% of China's GDP this year. If China continues to intervene at that pace , its reserves would reach $2 trillion, or 75% of its GDP, by the end of 2008" "is the U.S. is politically prepared to sit still as Chinese exports to the U.S. double between 2004 and 2008, as will happen even if a slow appreciation of the yuan leads China's export growth to slow to around 20%? " Is the U.S. willing to accept the financial dependence on China implied if the stability of the financial system requires $300 to $400 billion in Chinese reserve growth every year?" " a natural development for the system... (would be for) ... another periphery, seeing that this was a successful development strategy, taking their place" " the system lasts for a very long time but the China part of it gradually fades" "What will last" " for the foreseeable futures the U.S. role as the center country in the system" ". In some periods this will generate large net inflows of savings from the periphery to the U.S. ; in other periods, none at all or reversals." " Clearly there was no effective periphery for 20 years after the demise of Bretton Woods I and the U.S. built a net asset position in international markets" . " When a new periphery emerges we will have to carefully evaluate the incentives and constraints faced by the system at that time" " the policy community is unanimous in the view that the U.S. must adjust". "Your argument rests on the assumption that the U.S. current-account deficit is driven by the U.S. fiscal deficit." " If so, why have European and Japanese fiscal deficits, which are higher still in the presence of much lower growth, not generated current-account deficits?" " if U.S. fiscal deficits are pulling in foreign savings , why are they doing so at very low rates?" " Is it in the self interest of the governments that now feed the international monetary system with their savings to continue to do so? " "our framework suggests they will -- not forever, but for a long time. It isn't because they like us or have an irrational attachment to dollar assets. They would like to look like Japan in 10 years" " China's goods are cheap with the yuan at eight yuan to the dollar; they would still be cheap at six." " Imagine how receptive the U.S. would be to Chinese goods with the interest rate at 7%" ". The currency policy regime has the effect of keeping the interest rate low, splitting the interests of productive factors in the U.S." " and putting off the date that the protectionist political coalition might organize." . " The real threat to the U.S. is that the liberal economic world that is emerging will crumble under the weight of massive global excess labor" * * * setser: "the periphery is maintaining undervalued real exchange rates building up reserves , and in the process keeping interest rates in the center lower than they otherwise be" . " corporate sectors.. are saving rather than investing" " Our disagreement is simple: You see the system as fundamentally stable, both politically and economically. I don't." " compare two different international systems. In one, the periphery builds up its reserves, those reserve flow through finance capital outflows from the center to the periphery, and no one runs either a current-account deficit or a current-account surplus Think $50 billion in foreign direct investment flows from the U.S. and Europe to China, off set by a $50 billion buildup in Chinese reserves" "That roughly characterizes Bretton Woods I and, incidentally, also describes reasonably well Europe's relationship with the "periphery" right now" ". That system collapsed when De Gaulle got tired of financing the American corporate takeover of France." " stable, so long as China and India are willing to subsidize U.S., European, Japanese and Korean multinational corporations" " In the current system, the periphery runs a large current-account surplus and builds up its reserves, financing a large current-account deficit in the center country. Actually, in the past few years, the U.S. current-account deficit and the current-account surpluses of the periphery have all grown , both absolutely and as share of GDP. Reserve accumulation by the periphery went from $116 billion in 2001 to $517 billion in 2004 and maybe $600 billion this year, while the U.S. current-account deficit went from $390 billion to $800 billion." "the U.S. must reduce its dependence on foreign savings , whether by saving more or investing less," " the best way to bring about that adjustment is through cutting the fiscal deficit" ". Would you all rather see a fall in private investment , or a surge in household savings?" " the core reason why the U.S. has to adjust is that the trade and transfers deficit (6.5% of U.S. GDP) is now large relative to the U.S. export base (10% of GDP). Current exchange rates and U.S. growth rates imply a widening trade deficit, and I don't think that deficit can continue to increase for much longer" "keeping the U.S. current-account deficit constant implies a fall in the U.S. trade deficit over time." " implications." "The periphery will not be able to rely on exports as much as it has until now to support growth." " Real interest rates in the center cannot fall further" " U.S. consumption won't be able to keep on growing faster than U.S. income " " The fun part of Bretton Woods II -- even in your vision -- is close to over" " China has to keep on intervening not to support an expanding export sector, but just to hold on to its existing export sector. The U.S. needs continued reserve inflows from China not to allow housing prices to keep on rising, but to keep them from falling. Yuck." "But even a less fun system could be a stable system -- that, I take it, is your argument." " China's workers will keep on accepting low real wages;" " China's taxpayers will keep on adding to the amount that they eventually will have to spend to bailout their central bank (and their banks); " "U.S. and other firms will continue to make so much in China that they will sustain the political consensus for open markets , despite opposition from U.S. manufacturing workers," : "• The winners from the current U.S.-China trade don't realize that U.S.-China trade is responsible for their success. Home owners in Orange Country and real estate brokers in Florida are not lobbying for China to hold on to the yuan peg. The U.S. Treasury -- the biggest winner of all in some sense -- is lobbying China to change the peg." "• The upper Midwest is the epicenter of the (very troubled) U.S. auto industry. China's auto sector is developing fast. A slowing U.S. economy, no matter why the economy is slowing, will increase, not decrease, demands for protection." "• China (and others) may not be willing to continue to accept low-yielding U.S. assets, and so far, the U.S. has been willing to trade Treasury IOUs for Chinese goods, but not to trade U.S. oil companies for Chinese goods. A Chinese de Gaulle would rail at the inequity. • The transition from a win/win (fast growing exports/falling real rates) system to a don't lose/don't lose (existing exports/relatively low rates) may prove difficult. . * * * dooley . "U.S. can't take it story" and invoking protectionism as the main threat. We agree completely on this as a serious threat. Indeed, the thrust of the whole system is to spread around sufficient payouts to undermine this threat. 6. You are telling a "Europe is resilient story" in that it passes through the inflows. But some of the deflationary pressure must be sticking to Europe. Europe has grown only unemployment in the last few years. " You believe "that the U.S. must reduce its dependence on foreign savings." We still do not understand the basis for this belief. " Our view is simple: It is in their interest to lend and in our interest to borrow . Asia won't wake up one day and decide this is a bad deal because it is not a bad deal. Also informative was your nonresponse to several points that I think are important. For example, the U.S. has a fiscal deficit that is little different from those of the other industrial countries and better in several cases, even after factoring in the Katrina one-off. No more definitive experiment on the current account could have been run to prove to prove current accounts are not mirror images of fiscal deficits " Would it not be fruitful to spend some effort working on filling in the model of how disturbances work themselves through a model of Bretton Woods II dynamics?" * * * steser " concern is that U.S. fiscal deficits are too large for an economy whose households don't save." " China has been more able than I expected to absorb a massive reserve increase without excessive credit growth or domestic inflation." " By curbing lending growth with controls, the central bank created a captive market for low-interest rate sterilization bills." " reserve diversification matters less than the overall pace of reserve accumulation" " Since the renminbi needs to appreciate against both the dollar and euro, borrowing in renminbi to buy either still strikes me as losing bet. There is a reason why Zhou has been pushing for change". " as the rest of Asia stepped down, the Middle East and Russia stepped up Most oil exporters still peg to the dollar " " Russia and OPEC into U.S. debt securities -- the oil exporters either have huge offshore dollar deposits, or bought in ways that don't register cleanly in the U.S. data." concerns: The small size of the U.S. tradables sector likely implies very large falls in the dollar will be needed to bring down the very large gap between what the U.S. imports and what the U.S. exports (a key point made by Rogoff and Obstfeld). There may be a gap between the capital stock the U.S. has and the capital stock the U.S. needs to respond quickly to dollar depreciation (see DeLong). Suburban housing doesn't generate export revenue. "The U.S. is going to have large external financing needs for some time. Suppose the U.S. trade and transfers deficit peaks at 7.0% in the fourth quarter and falls by 0.5% of GDP each of the next three years, a major shift, bringing the trade and transfers deficit to 5.5% of GDP in 2008. Rising interest payments still imply a current account deficit of a 6.5% of GDP -- more than in 2004." "Net private flows don't come close to covering the U.S. external deficit now, even with large interest rate differentials in the dollar's favor. If the U.S. slumps and U.S. rates fall, the official sector may need to step up its intervention from its current, very high pace, to keep the dollar from going into free fall." "The U.S. exposure to an external interest-rate shock keeps rising. Gross U.S. external liabilities are around 100% of U.S. GDP, most of that is debt, and much of the debt is short-term. The IMF forecasts they will rise to 150% of U.S. GDP in 2010, even if the U.S. starts to adjust. Superpowers in the past have generally been net creditors and net lenders, not net debtors and big borrowers. The U.S.'s biggest financier -- China -- is viewed by many in the U.S. as a strategic rival. One international monetary system, two very different political systems. U.S. policy makers are not accustomed to the constraints that a big net debtor often faces . You all don't think the center faces any constraints ; I am not so sure. In the initial Bretton Woods system, U.S. policy was constrained by the dollar/gold parity. What happens if U.S. policy makers are perceived to ignore the concerns of our foreign creditors, and they want to introduce a few constraints into Bretton Woods II? what should be done? • The U.S. should close the structural gap between tax revenues and government spending. • China should let the renminbi rise more now, and the rest of Asia should follow It also needs to get off a dollar peg for real, and take a series of steps to boost consumption. Less government savings would help, as would a modern social-insurance system. • The Middle Eastern oil exporters should stop pegging to the dollar. Surpluses countries should not peg to the world's biggest deficit country. • The evidence from Germany suggests that labor-market reforms , on their own, are as likely to drag down European domestic demand as raise it. I wouldn't bank on them to spur global rebalancing. But steps to make German consumption more responsive to low euro rates would help . More generally, macro policies in Europe need to be stimulativePosted by lady eve at November 13, 2005 01:29 PM
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