01896cas a2200277 a 4500 AALejournalIMF000204 230101c9999 xx r poo 0 0eng d 5.00 USD 9781451940237 1018-5941 BD-DhAAL BD-DhAAL Bismut, Claude. Consumption Smoothing and the Current Account : Evidence for France, 1970-1994 / Claude Bismut, Paul Cashin, C. McDermott, Pierre-Richard Agenor. Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, 1995. 1 online resource (18 pages) IMF Working Papers <strong>Off-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required <strong>On-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required Electronic access restricted to authorized BRAC University faculty, staff and students This paper estimates a simple consumption-smoothing model of the French current account, and examines its capacity to predict recent developments in France's external performance. The model views the current account as a buffer through which private agents can smooth consumption over time in response to temporary disturbances to output, investment, and government expenditure. The empirical results indicate that the model performs well overall, and predicts correctly the sharp turnaround in France's external accounts observed in the past three years-a feature of the data that conventional models of trade flows, based on income and relative price variables, appear unable to explain. Mode of access: Internet Agenor, Pierre-Richard. Cashin, Paul. McDermott, C. IMF Working Papers; Working Paper ; No. 1995/119 Full text available on IMF http://elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/001/1995/119/001.1995.issue-119-en.xml IMF e-Library