Economic Development Pattern and Trade Imbalance: Comparing the U.S. with East Asia

Abstract

With the development of trade globalization, East Asian countries have occupied an important position in global trade. The rise of the East Asian economy has led to a long-term trade deficit between the United States and East Asian countries, causing economic imbalance. Focusing on the economic development patterns of the United States and East Asian countries, this paper proposes a research question: How does the difference in economic development between the U.S. and East Asian countries lead to trade imbalance? This article uses comparative advantage and absolute advantage theory, Keynesian political economy, global savings glut hypothesis and the flying-geese model to provide theoretical support for the research, and then uses data from the World Bank and Bureau of Economic Analysis to further demonstrate. The last part of this paper makes an empirical analysis through case analysis and model tests. This study argues that differences in economic development lead to an international division of labor and a savings-investment gap, which in turn lead to trade imbalances.