Data sources

Most of the estimates presented in this article are based primarily on data from the surveys conducted by BEA. However, the estimates for some services are based on a variety of other sources, including surveys conducted by other Federal Government agencies, data provided by private sources, customs data, and data from partner countries.

BEA conducts 11 surveys of cross-border trade with unaffiliated foreigners, that is, with foreigners that neither own nor are owned by the U.S. party to the transaction. These surveys cover the following six categories of services: (1) Selected services (mainly miscellaneous business, professional, and technical services), (2) construction, engineering, architectural, and mining services, (3) insurance, (4) financial services, (5) royalties and license fees, and (6) transportation. Each of these categories is covered by a separate survey or by a group of surveys.

More detailed information on these surveys is available in U.S. International Transactions in Private Services: A Guide to the Surveys Conducted by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The Guide presents general information about the classification, definition, and release schedules of all the surveys, and it provides details for each survey on the items covered, the frequency of the surveys, the numbers of respondents, and the methods that were used to prepare the estimates.

The Guide is available on BEA's Web site at <www.bea.doc.gov> or by writing to the International Investment Division, BE–50, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Washington, DC 20230. For further information, call 202–606–9804.

Data on cross-border trade with affiliated foreigners and on sales by majority-owned affiliates are collected in BEA's surveys of U.S. direct investment abroad and of foreign direct investment in the United States; the methodologies for these surveys are described in U.S. Direct Investment Abroad: 1994 Benchmark Survey, Final Results (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1998) and in Foreign Direct Investment in the United States: 1992 Benchmark Survey, Final Results (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1995).

For additional information on the methodology used to prepare the estimates of cross-border trade—both affiliated and unaffiliated—and on the balance-of-payments concepts, see The Balance of Payments of the United States: Concepts, Data Sources, and Estimating Procedures (Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1990). For changes in methodology that have been made since 1990, see the section "Technical Notes" in the quarterly articles on the U.S. international transactions in the June 1990 and 1991 issues of the SURVEY OF CURRENT BUSINESS, the section "Revised Estimates for 1976–91" in the June 1992 issue, and the annual articles on the revised estimates of U.S. international transactions in the June 1992–95 issues and in the July 1996–99 issues.

These methodologies and the SURVEY articles for July 1996–99 are available on BEA's Web site.

Data availability

The estimates of cross-border trade for 1986–98 and of sales through majority-owned affiliates for 1989–97 are available as "U.S. International Services, 1986–98," which can be downloaded from BEA's Web site at <www.bea.doc.gov>./1/ To access the file on the Web site, click on Catalog of Products, and look under International Accounts Products, Balance of Payments.

Footnotes:

1. The estimates of cross-border trade for 1986–91 do not include as much country detail as in this article. Some estimates of sales through majority-owned affiliates are available for years before 1989, but they are not comparable with the estimates beginning with 1989.