Why do governments prefer to avoid excessive current account surpluses? Or, why are growing domestic claims to foreign wealth ever a problem?
What will be an ideal response?
For a given level of national saving, an increased current account surplus implies lower investment in domestic plant and equipment. A few reasons why: first, the returns to domestic savings may be easier to tax than those on assets abroad; second, an addition to the home capital stock may reduce domestic unemployment and therefore lead to higher national income; third, domestic investment by one firm may have beneficial technological spillover effects on other domestic producers that the investing firm does not capture. In addition, the country may in the future find itself unable to collect the money it is owed. Furthermore, countries with large surpluses can become targets for discriminatory protectionist measures by trading partners with external deficits.
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In a 50-firm industry, two of the smallest firms merge. Yet the 4-firm concentration ratio and the 8-firm concentration ratio did not change. All things considered, we can say that the industry has
A) moved closer to pure competition because the number of firms decreased. B) moved farther away from competition because the number of firms decreased. C) experienced no change in competition even though the number of firms decreased. D) to be identified first; otherwise there is no way to tell.
The corporate tax applies to firms’ total revenues.
Answer the following statement true (T) or false (F)