Paper #904

Title:

Country portfolios and the Solow-model

Author:

Volker Reinthaler

Date:

September 2005

Abstract:

This paper shows that an open economy Solow model provides a good description of international investment positions in industrialized countries. More than half of the variation of net foreign assets in the 1990's can be attributed to cross country differences in the savings rate, population and productivity growth. Furthermore, these factors seem to be an important channel through which output and wealth affect international investment positions. We interpret this funding as evidence that decreasing returns are an important source of international capital movements. The savings rate (and population growth) influence the composition of country portfolios through their downward (upward) pressure on the marginal productivity of capital.

Keywords:

International investments, savings rate, productivity growth

JEL codes:

F21, F32, F43

Area of Research:

Microeconomics

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