United States Role In The Global Economy

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United States role in the Global Economy 999 071 244 ECN 607 Teresa Fung 4/13/2011 Jane Svirski The United States is the largest economy in the world. This essay outlines its role in the world economy and how the problems of its external and fiscal imbalances affect growth in other parts of the world. The United States of America (U.S. or USA) is the largest economy in the world. It has enjoyed this role since World War II. In 2010 USAs estimated GDP per capita was $47,400, with PPP of $14.72 trillion. The breakdown of the GDP is made up of the following key sectors: services being 76.7% of the GDP, industry as 22.2 % of the GDP with only 1.2% in agriculture (data as of 2010) (CIA - The World Factbook). For decades U.S. has been the world’s economic leader although its role as such today has somewhat diminished due to the rise of other economic powers in Asia and Europe. Although United States is commonly identified as a free-market economy, however there are several sectors of the economy that are protected by the government such as energy and agriculture. Therefore it is often referred to as ‘consumer economy’ (US Economic Profile). U.S., being the leading economy in the world, is also one of the major drivers of global economic activity. Although with the rise of large economic players such as China, the role which United States plays in global growth has weakened in the last decade, the influence that it has over global economy still remains very strong. In 2010 U.S. was the number one importer in the world with $1.903 trillion in imports and world’s 4th largest exporter with $1.27 trillion in exports (CIA - The World Factbook). The US dollar has been the most dominant currency in the world since World War II, after Bretton Woods exchange rate system was established. The Bretton Woods agreement defined US dollar as the defacto world currency and

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