A recent report by McKinsey & Company estimated that aggregate international capital flows amounted to $ trillion in 2005 – almost triple the volume a decade earlier – and that one-quarter of the worldwide volume flowed through the United States.
Part of the increased international capital financial flows is a result of excess savings in some emerging-market and oil-exporting countries relative to domestic investment – the phenomenon Chairman Bernanke referred to as the “global saving glut.” 6 Rapidly aging populations in a few large countries, such as China, Germany, and Japan, generated high savings.