The way of looking at the balance of payments is to examine the three sections in more detail. Figure 1 shows that a nation’s receipts less its payments equals the nation’s balance of payments. The settlement account entries are those that affect the imbalance on current and capital account, the so-called basic balance, and that will eventually bring the balance of payments of one nation into equilibrium with the rest of the world.
　　檢查國際收支的方法是更詳細地檢查三個部分。圖1顯示，一國的收入減去支出等于該國的國際收支差額。結算項目分錄是那些引起經常項目和資本項目不平衡的科目，即所謂的基本差額，它將最終帶來一國的收支差額與世界其他國家的平衡。
　　Perhaps the most important section in the balance of payments is the balance of trade, the net balance of exports and imports of merchandise trade. When a surplus or deficit is mentioned, it is the balance of trade to which the commentator is most often referring. In the U.S. balance of payments, for example, net merchandise trade was in surplus for all of the twentieth century, until
　　1971.或許國際收支當中最重要的部分是貿易差額，即商品進出口貿易的凈差額。每當提到順差或逆差時，評論家往往指的是貿易差額。例如，在美國的國際收支平衡表中，在（直到1971年）整個二十世紀中，商品貿易凈額都是順差。
　　Since 1971, when the balance of trade was -$2.7 billion, it has been in deficit almost every year. The U.S. trade deficit in 1994 was $166.1 billion, up 25 percent from the 1993 trade deficit of $132.6 billion, which was 38 percent higher than the deficit in 1992. The 1992 deficit amounted to $96.1 billion, up 30 percent from the trade deficit of $73.8 billion in 1991. It was the threat of a trade deficit that forced President Nixon to devalue the dollar and officially close the gold door on August 15, 1971, and it was the $6.4 billion U.S. trade deficit in 1972 that led him to devalue the dollar again in early 1973.自1971年以來，當貿易差額為–27億美元時，它幾乎每年都是逆差。1994年美國的貿易逆差是1661億美元，從1993年的1326億美元的貿易逆差上升了25%,比1992年的逆差高出38%。1992年逆差額達到961億美元，比1991年的731億美元貿易逆差高出30%。正是貿易逆差的威脅，迫使尼克松總統將美元貶值，在1971年8月15日正式關閉了黃金之門，也正是1972年發生的64億美元的貿易逆差，使他在1973年早些時候又一次將美元貶值。
　　In the world of perfect competition in which only two nations trade a single good with each other, the balance of payments of a nation will reflect only a current account balance composed of the trade balance. It is only when the global economy becomes sufficiently complex that nations settle their trade imbalances with long-term loans or when investment is placed abroad that the capital account is needed to reflect these long-term capital flows. Mature debtor nations will have extensive capital account transactions.
　　在完全競爭的世界里，只有兩個國家互相交易一種產品，一國的國際收支平衡表只會反映構成貿易差額的經常項目差額。只有在全球經濟異常復雜的情況下，各國才會用長期貸款結清他們的貿易不平衡部分，或在對外投資的時候，才需要用資本賬戶去反映那些長期資本流動。債務到期的國家將會進行廣泛的資本項目交易。