Balance of Payments Curve
This is an excerpt from the paper...
The BP curve (as described in the Mundell-Fleming model) is that curve that represents the balance of payments when outgoing payments and in-coming are in equilibrium. Such a concept (i.e. an equilibrious balance of payments) is only meaningful only under conditions of a fixed (or pegged) exchange rate. This equilibrium occurs when there is a balance or an equality between debits and credits. This defines the concept of external balance.This curve is normally an upward slope, reflecting the fact that an increase in income tend to result in an increase in imports any increase in the interest rate tends to increase the influx of capital. As noted, this model is only useful with a pegged exchange rate. While most of us are familiar with the term "exchange rate" we may not have a good sense of the technical way in which economics use that term. For an economist, the exchange rate is the price of one country's money in relation to the price of any other country's money. There are two different basic forms of exchange rates. The rate is said to be "fixed" between two (or more) countries when those countries agree to use a standard (traditionally the gold standard, or the value of gold bullion on the world market). In such a situation, each currency involved is worth a specific measure of the metal (i.e. 100 pesos might be worth one troy ounce). The currencies may change value, but only vis-a-vis this fixed standard (gold, platinum, wheat, etc.) They do not change value r
. . .
to an understanding of the complex dance that occurs between supply and demand.
The nation's Gross Domestic Product is an integral part of its aggregate supply and demand, for the GDP is simply the total measures of output of goods and services for any nation. For the United States it is calculated by the Commerce Department using the following items: Personal consumption, government expenditures, private investment, inventory growth and trade balance.
The concepts of supply and demand are essential to understanding the dynamics of an economy, and attempts to bring the aggregate supply and aggregate demand into balance with each other often constitute the most fundamental elements of a government's fiscal policy, which can be either expansionary or contractionary. It is expansionary (the more common description is probably "loose") when taxation is reduced, public spending, interest rates are lowered and credit is easy to obtain. These actions (or any subset of them) are aimed at stimulating the total spending in the economy. (This amount of total spending, as noted above, is also known as aggregate demand.)
Expansionary policy tends to occur when a government feels its economy is not growing fast enough or - and this is an
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Merton Solow, , Commerce Department, Domestic Product, Monetary Fund, Wall Street, Inflation GDP, exchange rate, III Solow, economic growth, supply demand, solow's model, pegged exchange rate, aggregate supply, growth rate, sustainable growth, pegged exchange, Gross Domestic, fixed exchange rate, fiscal policy, fixed standard gold, rate growth, aggregate supply demand, price country's money,
Approximate Word count = 1772
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
More Essays on Balance of Payments Curve
|