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The U.S. External Deficit: Its Causes and Persistence

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Book cover U.S. Trade Deficit: Causes, Consequences, and Cures

Abstract

The emergence and persistence of an unprecedented U.S. trade deficit during the 1980s has become a matter of central concern to economic policymakers. With each month’s announcement of another record imbalance, pressure to “do something” about the deficit mounts. Policy solutions range from fiscal and monetary reform to trade policy reform, both at home and abroad. This chapter analyzes the U.S. external deficit with the view that any policy action that is taken, if it is to be effective and appropriate, should be based on a clear understanding of the causes of the deficit and its persistence.

The authors are, respectively, members of the staff of the Division of International Finance, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the World Bank. The views expressed in this chapter are our own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Board of Governors, the World Bank or other members of their staffs. Catherine L. Mann worked on this project while on leave at the National Bureau of Economic Research and thanks the Ford Foundation for financial support. We have benefited from comments and suggestions by William L. Helkie, David H. Howard, Ellen Meade, Jaime R. Marquez, Kathryn A. Morisse, and Lois Stekler. We also thank Virginia Carper, Lucia Foster, and Kathryn A. Larin for their excellent research assistence.

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Authors
  1. Peter Hooper
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  2. Catherine L. Mann
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, USA

    Albert E. Burger

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© 1989 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Hooper, P., Mann, C.L. (1989). The U.S. External Deficit: Its Causes and Persistence. In: Burger, A.E. (eds) U.S. Trade Deficit: Causes, Consequences, and Cures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2520-5_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2520-5_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-7638-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-2520-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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