Director's Page
BEA strives to provide the most timely, relevant and accurate economic data to you, our users, to help promote a better understanding of the U.S. economy. These reliable and consistent measures of economic activity are essential to the informed decisionmaking of policymakers, business leaders and every American household. The success of our statistical programs, in large part, is determined by your confidence in our data, and your suggestions for improving that data. As one of the world's leading statistical agencies, we are dedicated to staying on the cutting edge of the economy.
Stay informed by visiting this page to learn more about BEA’s full range of activities. A review of activities at the Bureau, including research, IT developments, and recent data releases are available below. The 5-year BEA Strategic Plan is available below for your review as well as a report card of our successes in meeting the over 200 annual milestones in the Plan. Information on the President's current budget request for BEA also is available. Finally, articles, presentations, and other materials can be found here to keep you informed on topics ranging from GDP and the measurement of standards of living to the response of the statistical system to the financial crisis.
If you have any questions or issues about BEA that you would like to share, I encourage you to contact me or any member of the BEA staff. We welcome your comments and suggestions. When you talk, we listen.
Bureau of Economic Analysis
State of the Bureau
- Director's Message - Survey of Current Business (PDF)
- Taking Account: Summary estimates of 2011 MNC activity and new BEA multimedia tools (PDF)
- Research Spotlight: A Prototype BEA/BLS Industry-Level Production Account for the United States (PDF)
- BEA Briefing: Modernizing and Enhancing BEA’s International Economic Accounts: A Progress Report and Plans for Implementation (PDF)
About the Director
- Director's Biography
- "Meet BEA Director Steve Landefeld"
Taken from AMSTATNEWS.
The Membership Magazine of the American Statistical Association, August 2011
Recent Blogs & FAQs
Selected Presentations, Articles, and Papers on BEA’s Activities
2013
- Challenges to Economic Statistics, Progress and Prospects
March 2013 - Society of American Business Editors and Writers Conference - OECD*
February 2013 - Ecosystem Accounting: Implementation Challenges and Possible Solutions*
February 2013 - Learning Centre on Experimental Ecosystem Accounting - Broader Measures of Progress
February 2013 - UN Statistical Commission Meeting - IMF Balance of Payments Committee 20th Anniversary Luncheon Remarks
January 2013 - IMF BOPCOM 20th Anniversary
2012
- FESAC Remarks - December 2012 Meeting
December 2012 - FESAC Meeting - Intellectual Property & the Economy
December 2012 - OECD/MIT Event - The Importance of, and Challenges to, Incorporating Distributional Information Into Macroeconomic Data
November 2012 - NABE Statistics Committee Meeting - BEA's Plans for FY2013
October 2012 - JEC Briefing - A "Soup to Nuts" Guide for Modernizing and Integrating the Production and Dissemination of Statistics
October 2012 - Russia UNECE/Rosstat Event - Intellectual Property & the Economy
September 2012 - NY State Bar IP Meeting - New Data Sources and Methods for GDP and other BEA Statistics
July 2012 - NBER New Data Sources Meeting - Intellectual Property & the Economy
June 2012 - IP Taskforce Meeting - BEA/BLS/Census Collaboration Activities for FESAC
June 2012 - FESAC Meeting - Digital Delivery of Cross-Border Services: What's the Importance of "Digital Trade" to the US Trade Balance
May 2012 - CSI Digital Services Event
Selected Topics
C-SPAN America By the Numbers
- America By the Numbers Series – Washington Journal
- Director Steve Landefeld discusses perceptions, misconceptions and myths about the U.S. economy (Streaming Video) | March 2013 New!
- Director Steve Landefeld discusses measuring economic progress and sustainability (Streaming Video) | August 2012
- Director Steve Landefeld talks about trade and who owns America (Streaming Video) | March 2012 | Charts (PDF)
- Director Steve Landefeld discusses productivity, GDP and the standard of living (Streamin Video) | September 2011 | Charts (PDF)
General
- The Role of Statistics in the United States Economic Future (Powerpoint)
Presented to "Statistics for policymaking: Europe 2020” | March 2011 - Report of the Friends of the Chair on Integrated Economic Statistics (PDF)
Presented to the United Nations Economic and Social Council | February 2011 - "Taking the Pulse of the Economy: Measuring GDP" (PDF)
With Eugene P. Seskin and Barbara M. Fraumeni | Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring 2008
BEA History
- Director's remarks on World Statistics Day 2010 (PDF)
- "GDP, One of the Greatest Inventions of the 20th Century" (PDF)
Survey of Current Business, April 2010
Expanded GDP Measures
- "The Role of Statistics in the United States’ Economic Future*
With Shaunda Villones | International Economics Association, 2012 - "Why GDP is like GPA”
National Public Radio, October 2011 - Measuring U.S. Economic Progress & Sustainability (Powerpoint)
Presented to the 16th World Congress of International Economic Association, “Measuring of Social Welfare: Beyond GDP” | July 2011 - "GDP and Beyond: Measuring Economic Progress and Sustainability" (PDF)
With Brent R. Moulton, Joel D. Platt, and Shaunda M. Villones | Survey of Current Business, April 2010 - Debate on GDP as Measure of Standards of Living (PDF)
The Economist, April 2010 - "National Time Accounting and National Economic Accounting"
With Shaunda M. Villones | Measuring the Subjective Well-Being of Nations, NBER, December 2007
Household Production
- "Accounting for Household Production: A Prototype Satellite Account Using the American Time Use Survey" (PDF)
With Barbara M. Fraumeni and Cindy M. Vojtech | Review of Income and Wealth, June 2009
Integrated Accounts
- U.N. Guidelines on Integrated Economic Statistics* (PDF)
Approved by UNSC, February 2013 - Measurement of the Financial Sector: FESAC Agencies Response to the Financial Crisis (Powerpoint)
FESAC Meeting, June 2011 - "The New Architecture of the U.S. National Accounts and its Relationship to the SNA" (PDF)
by Andre Vanoli, December 2010 - "A New Architecture of the U.S. National Accounts: A Reply to Andre Vanoli" (PDF) with Dale Jorgenson and William Nordhaus
Review of Income and Wealth, December 2010
Statistical Discrepancy
- "Comments on "The Income - and Product Side-Estimates of U.S. Output Growth" (Word)
Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Spring 2010
