Researchers in the International Economics Directorate primarily focus on economic measurement and technical support for BEA’s statistics and business surveys. They continually advance the accuracy, reliability, and relevance of statistics including the International Transactions Accounts (ITAs) and the Activities of Multinational Enterprises. They collaborate across BEA and with counterparts in other U.S. agencies and liaise with foreign statistical offices, international organizations, and the academic community. The group administers the Special Sworn Researcher Program, in which outside researchers apply to use microdata from BEA’s surveys of foreign direct investment and international trade.
Areas of research include the ITAs and their components, intellectual property in global production, international trade in services by modes of supply, automated editing and imputation of survey data, and global value chains.
