The U.S. trade deficit discussed in the previous Case study represents a flow of capital into the United States from the rest of the world. What countries were the source of these capital flows? Because the world is a closed economy, the capital must have been coming from those countries that were running trade surpluses. In 2008, this group included many nations that were far poorer than the United States, such as Russia, Malaysia, Venezuela, and China. In these nations, saving exceeded investment in domestic capital. These countries were sending funds abroad to countries like the United States, where investment in domestic capital exceeded saving.