{"title":"Formulary Measures for the U.S. Current Account: Accounting for Transactions Attributable to Special Purpose Entities of Multinational Enterprises *","authors":"Dylan G. Rassier","doi":"10.3233/JEM-150400","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Consistent with the residence concept of BPM6 and the SNA2008, the U.S. current account reflects international transactions within multinational enterprises (MNEs), including international transactions conducted with special purpose entities (SPEs). To better understand the role of SPEs in economic accounting statistics, international guidelines on foreign direct investment (FDI) positions and transactions recommend that compilers distinguish resident SPEs for inbound FDI and encourage compilers to offer supplemental measures on non-resident SPEs for outbound FDI. While U.S. economic accounting statistics are not significantly affected by resident SPEs, recent empirical evidence calls into question the extent to which U.S. statistics may be affected by non-resident SPEs (Lipsey 2009, 2010). In this paper, I explore formulary apportionment as an accounting treatment for transactions related to outbound FDI in the U.S. current account in order to better understand the effects of non-resident SPEs on U.S. economic accounting statistics. The empirical results reveal that formulary apportionment significantly reduces total U.S. exports of services and total U.S. imports of services but the combined effect on U.S. net exports is negligible with no noticeable effect on U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). Likewise, formulary apportionment significantly reduces total U.S. income receipts, which reduces U.S. gross national product by 1.1 percent. The results imply that transactions attributable to non-resident SPEs do not affect U.S. net exports or U.S. GDP. Likewise, nonresident SPEs appear to play a larger role in income-based measures of production than in expenditure-based measures of production.","PeriodicalId":53705,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic and Social Measurement","volume":"20 1","pages":"257-281"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2015-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.3233/JEM-150400","citationCount":"7","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Economic and Social Measurement","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3233/JEM-150400","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"Social Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 7
Abstract
Consistent with the residence concept of BPM6 and the SNA2008, the U.S. current account reflects international transactions within multinational enterprises (MNEs), including international transactions conducted with special purpose entities (SPEs). To better understand the role of SPEs in economic accounting statistics, international guidelines on foreign direct investment (FDI) positions and transactions recommend that compilers distinguish resident SPEs for inbound FDI and encourage compilers to offer supplemental measures on non-resident SPEs for outbound FDI. While U.S. economic accounting statistics are not significantly affected by resident SPEs, recent empirical evidence calls into question the extent to which U.S. statistics may be affected by non-resident SPEs (Lipsey 2009, 2010). In this paper, I explore formulary apportionment as an accounting treatment for transactions related to outbound FDI in the U.S. current account in order to better understand the effects of non-resident SPEs on U.S. economic accounting statistics. The empirical results reveal that formulary apportionment significantly reduces total U.S. exports of services and total U.S. imports of services but the combined effect on U.S. net exports is negligible with no noticeable effect on U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). Likewise, formulary apportionment significantly reduces total U.S. income receipts, which reduces U.S. gross national product by 1.1 percent. The results imply that transactions attributable to non-resident SPEs do not affect U.S. net exports or U.S. GDP. Likewise, nonresident SPEs appear to play a larger role in income-based measures of production than in expenditure-based measures of production.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Economic and Social Measurement (JESM) is a quarterly journal that is concerned with the investigation of all aspects of production, distribution and use of economic and other societal statistical data, and with the use of computers in that context. JESM publishes articles that consider the statistical methodology of economic and social science measurements. It is concerned with the methods and problems of data distribution, including the design and implementation of data base systems and, more generally, computer software and hardware for distributing and accessing statistical data files. Its focus on computer software also includes the valuation of algorithms and their implementation, assessing the degree to which particular algorithms may yield more or less accurate computed results. It addresses the technical and even legal problems of the collection and use of data, legislation and administrative actions affecting government produced or distributed data files, and similar topics. The journal serves as a forum for the exchange of information and views between data producers and users. In addition, it considers the various uses to which statistical data may be put, particularly to the degree that these uses illustrate or affect the properties of the data. The data considered in JESM are usually economic or social, as mentioned, but this is not a requirement; the editorial policies of JESM do not place a priori restrictions upon the data that might be considered within individual articles. Furthermore, there are no limitations concerning the source of the data.