Julian Arkell
STATS on FATS ! Statistics on Foreign Affiliates Trade in Services. The new international standard.

Book Description
As Chair of The Mark Twain Institute, I have set a path, along with the Board, of seeking to improve U.S. economic statistics concerning trade, particularly but not exclusively trade in services.

To that end, the Institute commissioned the enclosed paper by Julian Arkell to address a seemingly remote part of the statistical realm in trade in services: the reporting of foreign affiliate services data. Our aim is to inspire governments around the world to take this task more seriously and to pursue it with more enthusiasm. Mr. Arkell is probably the most distinguished public or private sector authority on trade in services statistics today.*

Lest you doubt the importance of measurement, it may surprise you to learn that statistics on sales through foreign affiliates are hard to find, but when found, pack a big wallop. As of 2000, UNCTAD estimated that at least 63,000 multinational corporations had at least 690,000 foreign affiliates, marketing $14 trillion of goods and services.

The U.S. share is enormous. The U.S. Commerce Department estimates that affiliate sales of both goods and services in 1999 totaled $2.5 trillion, while traditional cross-border exports are running close to $1 trillion. At $338 billion, sales of services by foreign affiliates of U.S. parents in 1999 also outpaced imports through local affiliates, which totaled $289 billion.

To fully appreciate this paper, the reader must realize the enormity of the challenge and progress made to date when over 100 countries agreed on a very technical and lengthy “Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services” (MSITS), sponsored by the United Nations. The MSITS, which establishes guidelines for measuring the contribution of services to economies and trade, is scheduled to be published by the United Nations in 2002.

I hope you enjoy the paper, which can be downloaded in electronic format for free by clicking here or by requesting a hard copy at info@SItrends.org

Harry L. Freeman

* Mr. Arkell is Principal in the consulting firm of ITSP (Menorca, Spain), and can be reached at arkell@infotelcom.es.

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