The United States has once again entered into a period of large external imbalances. This time the current account deficit, at nearly 6 percent of GDP in 2004,

The story of personal debt in modern America Before the twentieth century, personal debt resided on the fringes of the American economy, the province of small-t

From the colonial era to 1914, America was a debtor nation in international accounts--owing more to foreigners than foreigners owed to us. By 1914 it was the wo

An examination of foreign capital's role in the American Civil War.

One of our foremost economic thinkers challenges a cherished tenet of today’s financial orthodoxy: that spending less, refusing to forgive debt, and shrinking