The current account of the Spanish economy, 1850-2016was it optimal?

  1. Oscar Bajo-Rubio 1
  2. Vicente Esteve 2
  1. 1 Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
    info

    Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha

    Ciudad Real, España

    ROR https://ror.org/05r78ng12

  2. 2 Universidad de Alcalá
    info

    Universidad de Alcalá

    Alcalá de Henares, España

    ROR https://ror.org/04pmn0e78

Journal:
Revista de Historia Económica = Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History

ISSN: 0212-6109

Year of publication: 2021

Year: 39

Issue: 2

Pages: 329-354

Type: Article

DOI: 10.1017/S0212610919000223 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR

More publications in: Revista de Historia Económica = Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History

Sustainable development goals

Abstract

We analyse the possible optimality of the path followed by the current account of the Spanish economy over a very long period of almost 170 years (1850-2016), according to the intertemporal approach to the current account and using a present-value model. In particular, from the estimation of a bivariate vector autoregression model for the current account, we attempt to assess the extent to which the latter has been used to smooth private consumption over time in the presence of temporary shocks that the economy might suffer. In general, evidence does not seem to be particularly favourable to the validity of the model over the period of analysis.

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Funding information

The authors thank Blanca Simón and three anonymous referees for their comments, as well as the kind assistance of Antonio Golpe and Jesús Santos del Cerro. Financial support from the Spanish Institute for Fiscal Studies, the University de Castilla-La Mancha (project 2019-GRIN-26952 –O. Bajo-Rubio), the Generalitat Valenciana (project GVPROMETEO 2018/102 –V. Esteve), and the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (projects ECO2016-78422-R —O. Bajo-Rubio and ECO2017-83255-C3-3-P—V. Esteve) is also gratefully acknowledged.

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Research Data

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Data source: Dialnet