Net capital outflow and net exports

An open economy interacts with the rest of the world through its involvement in world markets for goods and services and world financial markets. Although it can often result in an imbalance in these markets, the following identity must remain true:

Net Capital Outflow = Net Exports

In other words, if a transaction directly affects the left side of this equation, then it must also affect the right side. The following problem will help you understand why this identity must hold.

(a) Suppose you are the purchasing manager for a large chain of restaurants in the United States, and you need to make your semi-annual purchase of tea. You pay $1 million for a shipment of tea from an Indian tea producer. Determine the effects of this transaction on exports, imports, and net exports in the U. S. economy, and enter your results in the following table. If the direction of change is "No change," enter "0" in the Magnitude of Change column. (Hint: The magnitude of change should always be positive, regardless of the direction of change.)

Direction of Change Magnitude of Change (Dollars)
Exports
Imports
Net Exports
(b) Because of the identity equation that related net capital outflow to net exports, the _ in U. S. net exports is matched by _ in U. S. net capital outflow.

(c) Which of the following is an example of how net capital outflow from the United States might be affected in this scenario? Select all that apply.

i) The Indian tea producer purchases $1,000,000 worth of stock spread out over a few U. S. companies.

ii) The United States sells $1,000,000 worth of bonds to the Indian tea producer.

iii) The Indian tea producer hangs on to the $1,000,000 so that it can use the U. S. dollars to make investments.