André-F. Landry

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In theory, countries’ current-account balances should all sum to zero because one country’s export is another’s import. However, if you add up all countries’ reported current-account transactions (exports minus imports of goods and services, net investment income, workers’ remittances and other transfers), the world exported $331 billion more than it imported in 2010, according to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook. The fund forecasts that the global current-account surplus will rise to almost $700 billion by 2014.

Are aliens buying Louis Vuitton handbags? Are little green men bagging the best sunbeds by the hotel pool?

Economics focus: Exports to Mars | The Economist