NETWORK

1. Go the BEA website (bea.gov). Find the latest annual balance of payments data for the United States.
   • Compute income earned on (1) external assets and (2) income paid on external liabilities.
   • Find the latest net international investment position data for the United States. Compute (3) external assets and (4) external liabilities for the end of the prior year.
   • Divide (1) by (3) and then divide (2) by (4) to find the implied rates of interest on external assets and liabilities. Is the United States still privileged?
2. To learn more about the aid debate, download some of the conflicting arguments made by two prominent figures: Jeffrey Sachs and William Easterly (search: sachs easterly). See, for example, their “Foreign Aid Face Off” in the Los Angeles Times (latimes.com, April 30, 2006, and May 7, 2006). See also Nicholas Kristof, “Aid: Can It Work?” New York Review of Books, October 5, 2006. After weighing all these arguments, do you feel more or less optimistic about what aid can achieve?