An Overview of U.S. Intrafirm-trade Data Sources

Abstract

This note provides background information and analysis of the two sources of data on U.S. imports and exports of goods between associated parties: The intrafirm trade data collected by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and the related party trade data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. Along some dimensions the two data sources are comparable, although differences in the coverage of import transactions is an important exception. Generally, the Census data provide greater detail about the composition of goods being traded by associated parties, while the BEA data provide greater detail about the entities participating in the transaction. Although the data are derived from different sources and vary in their coverage, the two resulting data sets are largely consistent with each other.