Working Paper: NBER ID: w16254
Authors: Robert C. Feenstra; Robert E. Lipsey; Lee G. Branstetter; C. Fritz Foley; James Harrigan; J. Bradford Jensen; Lori Kletzer; Catherine Mann; Peter K. Schott; Greg C. Wright
Abstract: This report, prepared for the Committee on Economic Statistics of the American Economic Association, examines the state of available data for the study of international trade and foreign direct investment. Data on values of imports and exports of goods are of high quality and coverage, but price data suffer from insufficient detail. It would be desirable to have more data measuring value-added in trade as well as prices of comparable domestic and imported inputs. Value data for imports and exports of services are too aggregated and valuations are questionable, while price data for service exports and imports are almost non-existent. Foreign direct investment data are of high quality but quality has suffered from budget cuts. Data on trade in intellectual property are fragmentary. The intangibility of the trade makes measurement difficult, but budget cuts have added to the difficulties. Modest funding increases would result in data more useful for research and policy analysis.
Keywords: international trade; foreign direct investment; data quality; globalization; offshoring
JEL Codes: F00
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Quality of trade data (F14) | Ability to analyze offshoring and its impacts on the U.S. economy (F69) |
| Budget cuts (H56) | Quality of foreign direct investment data (F21) |
| Quality of foreign direct investment data (F21) | Ability to analyze impacts of globalization on domestic labor markets (F66) |
| Lack of detailed price data for imports and exports (F14) | Understanding of inflation dynamics (E31) |
| Budget cuts (H56) | Ability to analyze impacts of globalization on domestic labor markets (F66) |