Browsing by Author "Niemeläinen, Julia"

In this thesis I study the concept of current account in public discourse and as a motivation for economic policy between 1980 and 2020. As a source I use articles on current account published in Helsingin Sanomat and economic outlooks by the Ministry of Finance, which are published every autumn and used as background material for the state budget. The period of interest in this thesis, 1980-2020, includes two long periods during which the current account was negative, and the Finnish economy accumulated foreign debt, in between of which the current account stayed positive for a long period. In late 1980s the current account deficit developed into a current account crisis, which made balancing the current account the main target for economic policy. However, the persistent current account deficit in 2010s has not made the current account central for economic policy nor a common topic in public discussions. The research shows that the number of newspaper articles on current account showed a declining trend during the period of interest. Current account also became a less frequently visited topic in the economic outlooks of the Ministry period of interest. In addition, the style in which the topic was handled, changed. The economic outlooks became less political and policy recommendations were no longer given based on actual current account developments. Instead of the external balance, other targets for economic policy such as the balance of public finances became central. However, the policy recommendations were in part same as those that had previously been motivated by the external balance. In newspapers, the articles on current account became less frequent and less extensive and thorough. For instance, over time there were less and less analysis on savings and investments or sectoral studies lying behind the aggregate current account developments. On the other hand, the context of the articles became more international, and extensive, analytical writings on the meaning of the current account were also published after the current account crises had been solved and the country had joined the new currency regime. In the analysed sources, the impact of the changes in the economic and political environment on the meaning of the current account has not been analysed.