Till van Treeck is a professor at the Institute for Socio-Economics (IFSO) and the University of Duisburg-Essen. During the academic year 2021/22, he is the Theodor Heuss Visiting Professor at the New School for Social Research, New York. His main research interests are: Macroeconomics of income distribution, comparative political economy, and economics education.
Till van Treeck
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Income Distribution and the Current Account: A Sectoral Perspective
We analyse the link between income distribution and the current account for the period 1972-2007. We find that rising (top-end) personal inequality leads to a decrease of the current account, ceteris paribus.
[PART 1] U.S. Current Account Deficits and German Surpluses: The Role of Income Distribution in Global Imbalances
Germany’s economic policies are under attack from all sides.
[PART 2] U.S. Current Account Deficits and German Surpluses: The Role of Income Distribution in Global Imbalances
In our two papers, we analyze how changes in personal and functional (wages versus profits) income distribution interact to produce different macroeconomic outcomes in different countries. On the basis of a stock-flow consistent model calibrated for the United States, Germany, and China, simulations suggest that a substantial part of the increase in household debt and the decrease in the current account in the United States since the early 1980s can be explained by the interplay of rising (top-end) household income inequality and certain institutions (e.g. easy access to credit, privately financed education and health care systems).
Income Distribution and Current Account Imbalances
We develop a three-country, stock-flow consistent macroeconomic model to study the effects of changes in both personal and functional income distribution on national current account balances.