ABSTRACT
Interest in the effects of globalized production on national economies has been heightened in recent years by the rapid growth in direct investment. Research directed at assessing these effects is, however, often limited by the scarcity of relevant data. While most home and host countries maintain data on directinvestment-related capital and income flows, which show the amount invested and the returns on that investment, relatively few countries provide information on the operations of direct investment enterprises. Statistical agencies in a growing number of countries are trying to fill the data gap by collecting data on the scale and activity of multinational corporations (MNCs) – such as MNC assets, production, and employment – in addition to the data needed to construct the international economic accounts. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the US Department of Commerce is a pioneer in this area. BEA collected its first data on the foreign operations of US-based MNCs for the year 1950 and on the US operations of foreign-based MNCs for the year 1974.
