Exports vs. investment: How political discourse shapes popular support for external imbalances

Abstract The economic imbalances that characterize the world economy have unequally distributed costs and benefits. That raises question of how countries could run long-term external surpluses deficits without significant opposition against policies generate them. We show political discourse helps to secure public support for these resulting outcomes. First, a content analysis 32 000 newspaper articles finds dominant interpretations current account balances in Australia Germany concur with very distinct perspectives: are seen as evidence competitiveness Germany, while interpreted attractiveness investments Australia. Second, survey experiments both suggest exposure diverging has causal effect on citizens’ their country’s strategy. Political discourse, thus, is crucial provide societal foundation national growth strategies.