BEA White Paper on Globalization and Offshoring

In my research, I ran across an interesting paper on globalization and offshoring by Ralph Kolzow of the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Download it here. Here are the overall conclusions of the paper:

Although a great deal of statistical information is available to help answer many of the questions now being asked about globalization and offshoring, clearly much work remains. There are reasons for not accepting current government statistics as the final answer. Not all questions have been answered, and the impact of globalization will surely change as direct investment and international trade in services continue to expand, as tax laws are revised, and as business cycles progress.

Further, not all questions can be answered by statistics that are based on business surveys alone, as some also require the use of economic theories and statistical inferences, some of which are still being developed or refined. Finally, the forces of globalization are creating new or emerging issues that are tending to worsen some of the difficulties that compilers have traditionally faced in compiling the accounts.

BEA is committed to continuing its progress in updating its measurement techniques, and in providing more timely and comprehensive data, to assist policymakers and others who rely on BEA’s data to obtain insights about the impact of globalization and offshoring.