Even a giant like the U.S. economy does not operate alone. One of my top 10 pieces of advice for future economists is to study foreign economies (and languages, if you have the opportunity). I wrote my dissertation on the Russian banking system.
It certainly taught me a lot about Russia and its economy specifically, and, given that I was there during the postSoviet transition, it was an immersive experience of change. What I saw in Russia taught me that you could apply the same playbook that had seen near-uniform success but see it fail when the necessary foundation was lacking.