The End of Influence: What Happens When Other Countries Have the Money

In this reasoned chronicle of worldwide fiscal and cultural influence from pre-WWI to the present, Berkeley academics Cohen and DeLong (Macroeconomics) measure the rise and decline of U.S. prestige, concluding that the era of U.S. dominance is over: ""The United States will continue to be a world leader... But it will no longer be the boss."" Presenting an in-depth examination of deficits, export policies, sovereign wealth funds, the U.S. Department of Defense, and foreign expansion (as well as caveats galore), Cohen and DeLong craft a chilling portrait of the country's accelerating fiscal woes: ""In every year since 1976, the United States has run international trade deficits that collectively add up to 7 trillion. More than 70 percent of that 7 trillion has been added since 2000."" Pursuing the causes underlying the current worldwide economic crisis-the financial rules and lack thereof-Cohen and DeLong depict the effort to restore the global economy as a massive task, fraught with peril and the specter of unintended consequences; growing economic inequity between the U.S. and China, for instance, represents ""a financial balance of terror."" Though most appropriate for fiscal wonks, Cohen and DeLong's analysis is clear and concise enough for the concerned layperson.