CHAPTER IV

Increasing Productivity, Income-Price Trends and the Trade Balance*

OF the many factors which have been discussed in the attempt to provide a theoretical explanation of chronic balance-of-payments disequilibria in general, and a meaningful concept of ‘dollar shortage’ in particular, those centring on the ‘dynamic’ problems associated with the high rate of increase of American productivity have tended to find increasing favour in recent years.1 Such explanations of chronic disequilibrium are of two sorts.2 On the one hand, there is the argument that American money income rises less rapidly than productivity, so that American prices fall and the outside world is obliged to choose between secular deflation and secular depreciation (or ...

Get International Trade and Economic Growth (Collected Works of Harry Johnson) now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.