This page provides access to papers and presentations prepared by BEA staff. Abstracts are presented in HTML format; complete papers are in PDF format with selected tables in XLS format. The views expressed in these papers are solely those of the authors and not necessarily those of the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis or the U.S. Department of Commerce.

From Respondent Debriefings to Pilot Test and Beyond: A Comprehensive Redesign of a Questionnaire Measuring Foreign Direct Investment

In 2004, survey methodologists at the U.S. Census Bureau began a project with the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) to aid in the evaluation and redesign of two of their self-administered survey questionnaires. These surveys, one annual and the other quarterly, collect foreign direct… Read more

Alfred D. Tuttle, Rebecca L. Morrison, David H. Galler
P2007-1
Published
JEL Code(s)None Assigned

The Statistical Discrepancy

The statistical discrepancy is equal to gross domestic product less gross domestic income. These two measures are, in principle, the same. The difference reflects less than perfect source data. The paper finds few components that statistically significantly explain the discrepancy in the last 35… Read more

Bruce T. Grimm
WP2007-2
Published
JEL Code(s)None Assigned

Intermittent Purchases and Welfare-Based Price Deflators for Durable Goods

The consensus among inflation watchers is that biases in official price indexes like the consumer price index overstate true inflation. We identify a new source of bias that works in the other direction. In particular, we use a simple dynamic model for durable goods—one type of good typically… Read more

Ana M. Aizcorbe, Adam Copeland
WP2007-1
Published
JEL Code(s)E31

Private Nonresidential Building and Apartment Prices

In a previous paper, Loebach (2005), I examined the feasibility of using a data base of contracts from F.W. Dodge to construction nonresidential building price indexes for a single state. This paper is an extension of that research that explores price indexes for seven types of nonresidential… Read more

Leonard J. Loebach
WP2006-7
Published
JEL Code(s)None Assigned

A Balanced System of Industry Accounts for the U.S. and Structural Distribution of Statistical Discrepancy

This paper describes and illustrates a generalized least squares (GLS) reconciliation method that can efficiently incorporate all available information on initial data in reconciling a large system of disaggregated accounts and can accurately estimate industry distribution of statistical… Read more

Baoline Chen
WP2006-8
Published
JEL Code(s)None Assigned

An Overview of BEA's Source Data and Estimating Methods for Quarterly GDP

This paper provides an overview of the source data and the estimating methods used by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) to prepare the quarterly estimates of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). When BEA prepares its first estimates of quarterly GDP, a wide mix of source data are used. In… Read more

Arnold J. Katz
P2006-8
Published
JEL Code(s)None Assigned

Statistical Issues Related to Global Economic Imbalances: Perspectives on "Dark Matter"

There has been a large amount of recent interest in how the U.S. can be the so-called world's largest debtor nation and at the same time have a persistent surplus on income in its balance of payments accounts. Based on BEA's published data, two factors explain the incongruence -- a difference in… Read more

Ralph Kozlow
P2006-7
Published
JEL Code(s)None Assigned

The Role of Hedonic Methods in Measuring Real GDP in the United States

Accurate price indexes are crucial for preparing accurate estimates of real gross domestic product and corresponding productivity measures. The price index must capture price change for a ‘relevant’ market basket goods, while at the same time controlling for changes in characteristics and/or… Read more

David B. Wasshausen, Brent R. Moulton
P2006-6
Published
JEL Code(s)None Assigned

Concepts and Methods of the U.S. Input-Output Accounts

Concepts and Methods of the U.S. Input-Output Accounts, I-O, handbook, multiplier, requirement, September 2006, updated March 2009

Karen J. Horowitz, Mark A. Planting
WP2006-06
Last Updated
Published
JEL Code(s)None Assigned

U.S. Multinational Companies, Dividends, and Taxes

The passage of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 (AJCA) provided U.S. tax incentives for U.S. multinational companies that receive large dividends from their foreign affiliates. In 2005, dividends paid by foreign affiliates to their U.S. parents were 4 times as large as in 2004. With most… Read more

Ralph Kozlow, Patricia Abaroa
P2006-4
Published
JEL Code(s)None Assigned