Anti-Lawson’s doctrine : evidence for the last two decades

Abstract

In this thesis I shed light on the relationship between current account reversals and currency crises for the last two decades. Besides, I analyze whether currency crises are associated with government and/or private deficit reversals. Using a case-control methodology, and a worldwide country sample, I find that the Lawson’s doctrine does not apply for the last two decades: The current account matters as well as the private deficit. In other words, I find that both current account and private deficits reversals occur “in the neighborhood” of currency crises.