In thisgroundbreaking book, two economists explain why economic imbalances cause civilcollapse and why the United States could be next. From theMing Dynasty to Ottoman Turkey to imperial Spain, the Great Powers of the worldemerged as the greatest economic, political, and military forces of theirtimeonly to collapse into rubble and memory. What is at the root of their demiseandhow can the United States stop this pattern from happening again?Aquarter century after Paul Kennedys The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers,Glenn Hubbard and Tim Kane present a bold, sweeping account of why powerful nationsand civilizations break down under the heavy burden of economic imbalance.Introducing a profound new measure of economic power, Balance traces thetriumphs and mistakes of imperial Britain, the paradox of superstateCalifornia, the long collapse of Rome, and the limits of the Japanese model of growth.Most importantly, Hubbard and Kane compare the twenty-first-century UnitedStates to the empires of old and challenge Americans to address the realproblems of our countrys dysfunctional fiscal imbalance. If there is not a neweconomics and politics of balance, they show that there will be an inevitable demiseahead.