The study looked at what causes changes in the U.S. current account. By analyzing different factors like oil prices, monetary policy, private spending, and technology, the researchers found that oil price shocks can negatively affect the current account for about 3 years. They also discovered that monetary policy and private spending are the main reasons for past declines in the current account. Monetary policy can predict around 60% of changes in the current account over one year, but this drops to 40% over seven years. Oil prices only explain less than 10% of changes in the U.S. current account.