Intergenerational and International Trade

The paper sets out an overlapping generations model in an open economy context. In the absence of productive capital a real consol is the vehicle for intertemporal consumption smoothing. The presence of a long term asset implies that the anticipated future path of the economy, through the term structure of interest, affects current generations. The model is applied to issues in the closed and open economy. These include the effects of debt issue on asset prices and welfare, the effect of present or anticipated future income growth, permanent or transitory. In the open economy context we investigate the welfare and current account effects of income changes on debt issue. The role of international differences in risk aversion is studied.