òòò½Íø Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
The End of Privilege: A Reexamination of the Net Foreign Asset Position of the United States
òòò½Íø Review
(pp. 2151–2206)
Abstract
The US net foreign asset position declined sharply after 2007, reaching negative 60 percent of GDP by the third quarter of 2023. This deterioration primarily reflects a US-specific rise in corporate asset values that inflated the value of US equity liabilities to the rest of the world. To interpret these trends, we develop an international macro-finance model of flows, stocks, asset valuations, the current account,and the net foreign asset position. We find that the welfare impact of rising asset values for a representative US household has been quite negative given extensive foreign ownership of US corporate equity.Citation
Atkeson, Andrew, Jonathan Heathcote, and Fabrizio Perri. 2025. "The End of Privilege: A Reexamination of the Net Foreign Asset Position of the United States." òòò½Íø Review 115 (7): 2151–2206. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20230732Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- F32 Current Account Adjustment; Short-term Capital Movements
- F21 International Investment; Long-term Capital Movements
- F40 Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance: General
- G15 International Financial Markets