The Forgotten Deficit

"The United States is the world's largest debtor nation. An often-overlooked element of the deficit, U.S. capital accounts, is the focus of this critical analysis. The evidence shows that the inflow of foreign money to finance U.S. consumption is going into short- and medium-term, interest-rate-sensitive, liquid instruments. U.S. debt instruments, rather than equities, are the asset of choice.
The authors argue that over the long term this trend will adversely affect the U.S. economy, as every citizen ultimately must constrain consumption to pay the financing charges on the enormous debt buildup. Capital costs in the United States must remain several points higher than in the markets of its major trading competitors. Constraints will be imposed on U.S. policymakers as they attempt to maintain the substantial U.S. economic, political, and military presence overseas.
Divided into an analysis of direct investment and portfolio capital flows, this book contains specific policy recommendations after each section. The authors examine the effect of capital flows on the composition of the U.S. current account transactions with the rest of the world, the linkage of foreign investments to trade, and the effects of protectionism by the Japanese in direct investments.
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"Ronald L. Danielian is president and a director of the International Economic Policy Association. In his career with that Association, he has served as its executive vice president and treasurer and director of its Center for Multinational Studies from 1974 to 1984. Mr. Danielian was farmerly director, Office of Research and Analysis, United States Travel Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, where he was responsible for balance of payments and market research studies, and represented the agency before Congressional committees, the OECD, and other international bodies. Prior to 1971 he was the Assistant and Associate Economist at IEPA and has worked in senatorial offices on Capitol Hill. Mr. Danielian has completed more than a dozen economic surveys of Europe, Latin America, and the Far East. He has written a number of IEPA Confidential Reporters and other analyses of international economic issues including trade, investment, taxation, raw materials and international service industry questions. After graduation from Aurora University (Illinois), Mr. Danielian studied at American University. He is the author of Services in America's International Trade: The Air Travel and Tourism Sector, 1978, and The United States Flag System in International Air Commerce: An Analysis of Public Policy Implications, 1974. He is a co-author of: U.S. Foreign Economic Strategy for the Eighties, 1982, and The United States Balance of Payments: A Reappraisal, 1968. He has served as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Commerce, and is a founder, vice president, and a trustee of the International Economic Studies Institute where he was a contributing author to the book, Raw Materials & Foreign Policy, 1976.
Stephen E. Thomsen was an economist on the Association's staff for three years. He majored in economics at Middlebury College where he received the Bachelor of Arts degree, studied economics at L'Institute d'Etudes Politiques and L'Universite de Paris-X, and received the Master of International Management degree from the American Graduate School of International Management. He is currently a doctoral candidate at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. Mr. Thomsen is the author of International Capital Flows and the United States: Palliative, Panacea or Pandora's Box, 1985. He has contributed to a number of the Association's studies and its Issues and Answers series. While he was at the International Economic Policy Association, he supervised its research program."