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Trade in Goods and Services: Measuring Domestic and Export Flows in Buyer-Supplier Data Accessible Data
Figure 1: Domestic and Export Flows, 1991-2016
Figure 1 shows the evolution of domestic and export flows from the Compustat customer segment between 1991 and 2016. Domestic and export shipments remain fairly flat over the first few years until a sharp acceleration around 1998, reflecting the changes to the filing requirements introduced by Statement No. 131. After 1998, the two series share similar trends and diverge again only around 2015, a period marked by the global trade slowdown.
Note: Evolution of domestic and foreign shipments based on the customers' foreign status, 1991 to 2016.
Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence, Compustat North America, customer segment.
Figure 2: Exports of Goods and Services in Compustat and Census Data
Figure 2 compares the U.S. Census Bureau (Census) export statistics—which combine a census of commodity exports with U.S. Census Bureau estimates of low-valued exports and Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) estimates of trade in services—with the export flows recorded in the customer segment. We represent the two series over two different scales, but, for ease of comparison, we maintain the same unit of measure, billions of U.S. dollars. Compustat-based export flows account for, on average, only about 0.1 percent of economy-wide exports.
Note: Export shipments from Compustat and Export Customs. Compustat export shipments are based on the customers' foreign status, 1991 to 2016.
Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence, Compustat North America, customer segment and Census.
Figure 3: Matching Aggregate Flows, Manufacturing Sector
Figure 3 exploits the differences in sectoral shares to map Compustat data to aggregate flows for the manufacturing sector. Our weights build on the differences in export flows: To construct aggregate exports, each sector is scaled by the average share of exporters and by the average export shipment relative to the export statistics. Figure3a highlights that Compustat export flows match aggregate exports quite closely. We then exploit the export weights to create annual domestic shipments statistics for the manufacturing sector in figure 3b. While we are not directly targeting the average domestic flows from CFS, the Compustat customer segment data captures about two-thirds of the domestic transactions in terms of value in 2007—a share that increases to more than 80 percent in 2012.
Note (Panel A): Manufacturing export shipments from Compustat and Export Customs. Compustat shipments are based on the customers' foreign status, 2002 to 2016, and are scaled by the average number of exporters and export shares relative to the Export Statistics.
Note (Panel B): Domestic manufacturing export shipments from Compustat and CFS. Compustat shipments are based on the customers' foreign status and are scaled by the average number of domestic firms and domestic revenue shares calculated from the Export Statistics.
Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence, Compustat North America, customer segment and Census.