Title: A sexually unbalanced model of current account imbalances
Description: "Large savings and current account surpluses by China and other countries are said to be a contributor to the global current account imbalances and possibly to the recent global financial crisis.  This paper proposes a theory of excess savings based on a major, albeit insufficiently recognized by macroeconomists, transformation in many of these societies, namely, a steady increase in the surplus of men relative to women.  We construct an OLG model with two sexes and a desire to marry.  We show conditions under which an intensified competition in the marriage market can induce men to raise their savings rate, and produce a rise in the aggregate savings and current account surplus.  This effect is economically significant if the biological desire to have a partner of the opposite sex is strong.  A calibration of the model suggests that this factor could generate economically significant current account responses, or more than 1/2 of the actual current account imbalances observed in the data"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.