Thirlwall's law and the Prebisch-Singer hypothesis: an assessment of the dynamics of terms-of-trade in a balance-of-payments-constraint growth model

The balance-of-payments-constrained growth models (BOPC) can be used to capture key economic insights into both the Keynesian and structuralist tradition. We suggest that Thirlwall's Law corresponds to a mathematical derivation from Prebisch's rule. Thus, this study aims to develop the relationship between Thirlwall's Law and ECLAC's school of thought, adding a component to the first that captures the Prebisch-Singer hypothesis, employing an alternative definition for the real exchange rate to do so. We call the final expression the Prebisch-Thirlwall rule. Further, we endogenize the output and productivity growth rate by combining our version of Thirlwall's law with the Kaldor-Verdoorn's law.

Economic growth; Thirlwall's law; Prebisch-Singer hypothesis; Eclac, Post-Keynesian economics