The Economic Growth in the US Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Economic Growth in the US - Term Paper Example Roubini claims that the current account deficits may be related to the appreciation or depreciation of a currency (2005). A national currency weakens when the inflow of capital in the country cannot fully finance a current account deficit, that is, the supply of financing from the capital account is low (Roubini 2005). As it is seen, capital inflows and outflows play an important role in this relation. Short-term and long-term interest rates, political risk factors, the GDP growth rate, and other economic factors determine the capital flows and are the direct causes of the currency fluctuations. Roubini calls all these â€Å"the law of gravity† for a currency (2005).   Still, as it was mentioned above, sometimes the laws of gravity are defied (Roubini 2005). The current account deficit worsens so much that the trajectory of its falling recoils reversely on the national currency. In 2005, the US dollar appreciated despite all dooming predictions. Which were the factors responsible for such a turn? According to Roubini’s opinion, there are three major factors that made it possible for the US dollar to maintain its status quo: 1/ The US short-term interest rates were kept tightened as compared to Europe and Japan, where they were on hold;   2/ The economic growth rate in the US was higher than in the European Union and Japan; 3/ The US Government adopted the Homeland Investment Act as of October 2004, which was meant to allow companies to repatriate offshore cash balances at a reduced tax rate (Roubini 2005). In 2006 the US current account deficit sloped down even more dramatically than during the previous year. According to the latest data, it increased to $218.4 billion in the second quarter of 2006 (Weinberg 2006). Economists do not cease to debate about the real and hypothetical explanations as to the causes worsening the overall picture of the US economy, in general, and the current account deficit, in particular. To generalize different standpoints, all debating boils down to two groups of explanations: domestic and exterior causes.