Operations of U.S. and Foreign Multinational Companies

In recognition of the current public interest in the activities of U.S. and foreign multinational companies and the need for more information about these activities, BEA has provided special presentations and analyses.

• BEA prepared a special analysis of trends in production and employment of U.S. multinational companies for 1977-2003. See the August 2005 Survey article, U.S. Affiliates of Foreign Companies: Operations in 2003, and the July 2005 Survey article, U.S. Multinational Companies: Operations in 2003. For a more detailed examination of the trends through 2001, see the March 2004 Survey article, A Note on Patterns of Production and Employment by U.S. Multinational Companies.

BEA also has prepared papers and given presentations on “Offshoring” (or international outsourcing):

• Globalization, Offshoring, and Multinational Companies: What Are the Questions and How Well Are We Doing in Answering Them? | January 2006 | Presentation (PDF) | Full Paper (PDF)
• “Offshoring” and the U.S. Balance of Payments – June 2004 Presentation (PDF)
• Offshore Outsourcing and Multinational Companies – June 2004 Presentation

In addition, the National Academy of Public Administration received a grant from the Department of Commerce to prepare studies of off-shoring and its major economic effects, particularly any associated job shifts. NAPA has issued three reports on offshoring.

• Offshoring: How Big Is It?
• Offshoring: An Elusive Phenomenom
• Offshoring: What Are Its Effects?

The W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research and the National Academy of Public Administration sponsored a conference, Measurement Issues Arising From the Growth of Globalization, Nov. 6–7, 2009.

• Conference papers and agenda (PDF)
• Conference summary (PDF)