Essays on macroeconomic interactions of sectoral balance sheets

This thesis investigates the interaction between the sectoral balance sheets in Denmark, as they are crucial for understanding the impact and transmission of economic shocks and policies for the economy. This is particularly important in the context of rapid financial balance sheet expansion that preceded the Global Financial Crisis. The thesis thus addresses four key objectives: The first is to identify what the primary source of change in sector balance sheets is; the second is to empirically identify the connections and dependencies (interactions) between the three primary sectors - the private sector, the government sector and the foreign sector; the third is to explore the implications of these interactions, and extends this analysis to include a disaggregated private sector - split into the household sector, the non-financial corporate sector and the financial corporate sector; and, the fourth is to assimilate these interactions into a single macroeconomic framework - in order to examine the transmission of economic shocks or policy measures throughout the economy - and to use this framework to investigate the causes and implications of the unprecedented expansion of private debt relative to disposable income of Danish households. The thesis addresses these issues within the Post Keynesian economic paradigm and the Babylonian mode of thinking, where path dependency and a pluralist approach to method and methodology are encouraged. This is accomplished in the form of five independent, but progressive and related articles.