Selected data sources for international trade and finance statistics - Focus on Statistics - Directory

Business Economics, April, 2002 by Ralph H. Kozlow

www.oecd.org

22. United Nations (UN) is the custodian of the international classification standards for products (Central Product Classification) and industries (International Standard Industrial Classification), both of which influence classification of international trade and of direct investment enterprises. It is one of the major organizations involved in developing the 1993 System of National Accounts, which relates to domestic as well as international transactions in national accounts. Also, under UN auspices, the UN Statistical Commission was formed. It has twenty-four member countries and promotes the development of national statistics that are comparable across countries as well as the improvement of statistics and statistical methods.

www.un.org and

www.un.org/Depts/unsd

23. Task Force on Statistics of International Trade in Services was formed by the UN Statistical Commission in 1994 to coordinate the work of international organizations in the area of trade-in-services statistics. It recently completed a "Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services," which provides detailed guidelines on the compilation of data related to both cross-border trade in services and services delivered to foreign markets through locally established affiliates.

www.un.org/Depts/unsd

24. Statistical Office of the European Communities (EuroStat) compiles statistical aggregates based on information provided to it by members of the European Union. It assures that the aggregate data that it publishes are comparable among member states.

www.europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat

24. World Bank is one of the world's largest sources of developmental assistance and works in developing economies with a focus of helping the poorest people in the poorest countries. It has a large research program and issues analytical reports and working papers on developmental assistance and other economic issues. It also has many statistical reports, by country, and by topic. These include World Development Indicators and the World Development Report.

www.worldbank.org

26. World Trade Organization (WTO) is a major user of data on international trade and investment and has issued numerous studies and reports on these topics, some of which discuss and interpret recent trends and developments.

www.wto.org

27. International Labour Organization (ILO) maintains a time series database that covers numerous labor-associated variables by individual country. The structure of the database permits interactive queries.

Laborsta.ilo.org (do not enter the prefix "www.")

(1.) A more complete discussion of BEA's international economic accounts is presented in this issue by Kozlow and Mareuss, "The International Economic Accounts of the United States." Questions or comments about BEA's international accounts data list should be addressed to internationalaccounts@bea.gov.