The document discusses several topics related to international political economy, including: 1) Exchange rates and the international monetary system, including maintaining currency convertibility and exchange rate stability. 2) Key definitions like balance of trade, balance of payments, and structural imbalances in trade balances. 3) The role and impact of key currencies like the US dollar in international trade and reserves. 4) Historical events and agreements that impacted exchange rates, including the Nixon Shock of 1971 and Plaza Accord of 1985. 5) Recent issues like the global financial crisis of 2008 and China's trade surplus with the US.

1. Y376 International Political Economy January 18, 2011

5. Figure 2-12. U.S. Balance of Trade in Goods and Services and Balance of Payments on Current Account, 1946-2006, in Billions of Current Dollars Source: Economic Report of the President 2008 , http://www.gpoaccess.gov/eop/tables08.html .

6. US Trade Balance, 1980-2009

7. U.S. Balance of Trade, 2008-2009

8. US Balance of Trade, 2009-2010

11. Figure 2-6. The Dollar as Percent of Total Official Foreign Currency Holdings, 1978, 1986, 1996, and 2007 Source: International Monetary Fund, Annual Reports , various years.

14. Figure 2.14. US-China and US-Japan Bilateral Trade Deficits, in Billions of Dollars,1991-2006 Source: Economic Report of the President 2000 and 2008 .

15. Figure 2-10. Balance of Payments in the G-5 Countries, 1970-2007, in Billions of Current Dollars Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators 2001 on CD-ROM; OECD.StatExtracts, http://webnet.oecd.org/wbos/Index.aspx .

17. Nixon, Connally, and the Smithsonian Agreement

18. Figure 2-6. Volatility in Deutsche Mark (DM) and Yen Exchange Rates with the U.S. Dollar, 1965-1979, Percentage Changes from the Previous Month Source: International Financial Statistics CD-ROM (Washington, D.C.: IMF, January 2002.

20. Yen-Dollar and DM-Dollar Exchange Rates, 1964-1993 Nixon Shock Plaza Accords

21. Figure 2-13. DM-Dollar, Yen-Dollar, and Euro-Dollar Exchange Rates, 1985-2007 Source: Economic Report of the President 2000 and 2008, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/eop/tables08.html .

22. Shift in the Monetary Regime After 1971

26. US Home Price Index 1890-2010 1890-2005 1963-2008 The Bubble Bursts

27. How the Bubble Occurred

28. Subprime Mortgage Crisis

29. US Trade Deficit vs. Deficit with China, 1990-2004

30. US Trade in Goods Deficit with China, 2009-2010

31. China US Trade Balance, 2007-2010

32. Yuan-Dollar Exchange Rate

33. Yuan-Dollar Exchange Rate, 2000-2010

34. Per Capita Income in China, 1960-2008