Optimistic claim of the day

…instead of the 28 percent depreciation [of the U.S. dollar] needed to induce a 1 percentage point improvement in the trade balance to GDP ratio, only about a 15 percent depreciation is required once on takes into account vertical specialization in the manner the WEO authors do.

If this is right, paying off America’s ongoing trade deficit won’t be nearly as hard as we used to think.  Here is more.