The Hidden Hand of American Hegemony: Petrodollar Recycling and International Markets (Cornell Studies in Political Economy)

David Spiro's work is a must read for anyone wishing to understand the dynamics/politics/history of chronic US balance of payment deficits. Spiro's work focuses on the period after Nixon decoupled the dollar from gold leading up to the supposed OPEC induced "energy crisis"In short, partly with the use of declassified primary documents and interviews with key US Treasury Players, Spiro exposes how the US government violated agreements with allies while secretly striking deals with the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority to recycle petrodollars in order to purchase US Treasuries. A high percentage of recycling satisfied the appetite of US government deficits, with the remainder recycled by multinational banks to developing countries. Conventional accounts argue petrodollars were recycled to developing countries which needed credit. Spiro, through emperical evidence proves otherwise... A significant portion of the countries were also oil exporting countries which benefited from the oil price increases e.g., Mexico; the emerging nations were considered good credit risks. With respect to the advanced economies, a very important point is the fact oil was linked to the dollar. This forced US allies to hold dollars or sink into US Treasuries.The only problem I had with Spiro's work... his writing style. Spiro's work was funded by the Cornell University studies in Political Economy... so was not intended for a broad audience / uses poli sci academic speak.Spiro's research is grossly underpublicized. Especially as we see U.S terms of trade deficits increasing. I highly recommend this book.