Wow, this is a long read but definitely worth it. I have never read anything by Pettis, but I am thinking about picking up The Great Rebalancing if it explores similar stuff more deeply. It doesn't always come naturally to look at country economies as a bunch of open systems all operating in a closed system, but this read will certainly encourage that kind of thinking.
His book "The Volatility Machine" was one of the best I have ever read on global macro. Perhaps due to publication timing, it's managed to stay under the radar.
