Go to the BEA website at http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/international/intinv/

intinvnewsrelease.htm and download annual data starting in 1976 on the United States’ end-of-year international investment position. For the same time period, download annual data on U.S. nominal GDP from http://www.bea.gov/national/

index.htm#gdp. Then compute the annual ratio of the IIP to nominal GDP starting in 1976, and graph the data. The United States has run current account deficits in almost every year since the mid-1980s. Do the data you have graphed therefore surprise you? (Hint: To answer this question, you will need to compare the current account deficit, as a percent of nominal GDP, with the growth rate of nominal GDP, so you will also need to examine the annual current account data from the BEA website. You may wish to return to this problem after reading Chapter 8.)