Research Spotlights

A First Look at U.S. Trade in Services by State

BEA has primary responsibility for statistics on U.S. exports and imports of services and publishes them at the national level, and it is working to produce estimates at the state level. A recent working paper presents a look at some initial findings of that effort.

May 28, 2026

Reclassifying Own-Account Data as a Capital Asset

Two related BEA papers develop proposed methodology and experimental estimates toward implementing a recommended change in how own-account data and databases are treated in the measurement of gross domestic product. The results show the change associated with faster average economic growth over the years 2002 to 2024.

May 18, 2026

Valuing Human Capital as an Asset

People's knowledge, skills, and competencies are contributors to overall well-being, but these intangible assets, which are primary drivers of economic growth and earnings potential, are not currently captured in gross domestic product (GDP). A recent BEA working paper presents an accounting framework for capturing this human capital in the national accounts using cost- and income-based approaches. Cost-adjusted GDP values human capital based on the inputs used to generate it, while income-adjusted GDP values the resulting expected increase in lifetime earnings due to the generation of additional human capital.

May 6, 2026

AI’s Relationship With Costs and Prices

Research paper explores whether the deployment of AI is associated with observed measures of changes in the prices of inputs and outputs within BEA's industry economic accounts. The study finds that AI intensity is associated with lower prices charged to purchasers of relatively intensive AI services, some of which is related to reduced input cost contributions, particularly labor and materials costs.

May 1, 2026

Transitioning to Noise Infusion at BEA

BEA is planning to change its primary method of statistical disclosure limitation from cell suppression to noise infusion, beginning in summer 2026 with statistics based on its surveys of new foreign direct investment in the United States. This working paper discusses the planned transition and broader issues and opportunities resulting from the authors' exploration of noise infusion.

April 29, 2026

Early Estimates of AI’s Economic Impact

Paper examines the effects of artificial intelligence (AI) in the U.S. economy, focusing on the challenges of doing so using current national economic accounts. Since there is currently no direct line item for AI in the U.S. accounts, the authors use indirect methods, analyzing data from the BEA industry accounts. Using a difference-in-difference model applied to BEA’s data, the authors find that, in their baseline model, AI is associated with higher productivity and reduced use of inputs, including labor. They also find that AI is linked to a shift in the workforce toward younger, less educated workers.

March 27, 2026

Pilot U.S. Physical and Monetary Energy Flow Accounts

Energy is a critical input for all economic activity. Understanding how energy flows through and supports the economy is important for good decision-making by both public and private stakeholders. These pilot accounts demonstrate how existing data can be used to develop thematic and extended accounts that integrate economic data with data on the natural resources that support the economy.

March 6, 2026

New Insights Into the U.S. Production Structure

BEA researchers introduce a value-chain approach to analyze how different types of labor and capital are used throughout the U.S. production system. The method traces the journey of goods and services through all upstream industries involved in their creation, providing valuable insights into the processes leading to the final use of products by tracking not just the direct use of factors in final products but also their indirect use in all the upstream industries that contribute to those products.

February 27, 2026

Developing Federal Government Spending Statistics by States

Government expenditures play a vital role in supporting productivity, economic growth, and regional development. In the United States, these expenditures represent about 17 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Of this, federal government spending, totaling $1.87 trillion in 2024, represented roughly 6.4 percent of GDP, with the remainder attributed to state and local governments. Despite their importance to the economy, detailed government spending statistics have not traditionally been available at the subnational level.

January 30, 2026

Updated Experimental Ultimate Host Economy Statistics

A recent working paper updates BEA's work on producing ultimate host economy (UHE) statistics for U.S. direct investment abroad (USDIA). Existing BEA statistics record USDIA by immediate partner economy—the country of the first non-U.S. entity in an ownership chain. Though well suited for many purposes, this approach can mask the ultimate destination of investment because many affiliates of U.S. multinational enterprises are holding companies or other special-purpose entities that exist mainly to route funds elsewhere. BEA's research into UHE statistics examines a series of techniques that reallocate the USDIA equity position by immediate host economy, thereby providing a clearer picture of the economies that are the ultimate targets of USDIA.

December 19, 2025

Experimental Quarterly State PCE Statistics

BEA's annual statistics on personal consumption expenditures (PCE) at the state level provide critical insights into households’ consumption. However, they are produced with a 10-month lag and do not always capture important nuances. To address this, BEA has been developing quarterly state-level PCE statistics to yield timelier and more complete information. A recent working paper by BEA researchers outlines the methods and data sources used in this effort, along with preliminary results.

May 28, 2025

How Diffusion of Product Quality Knowledge Impacts Measures of Price Change

There is a consensus that the bias associated with the entry of new merchants has nontrivial implications for measuring inflation. However, quantifying that bias has proven difficult, in part because little is known about what portion of the price differences in goods and services sold by new versus old merchants represents differences in quality rather than pure price differences. A recent working paper by Daniel Ripperger-Suhler of the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis seeks to shed new light on this topic.

January 7, 2025

Measuring Open Source Software Innovation

The use and creation of open source software has grown rapidly in recent years due to its contribution in the business sector and the overall economy; however, there have been no explicit estimates of investment in this critical public asset. A method to meet that need is presented in a recent study by J. Bayoán Santiago Calderón and Ledia Guci of the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Gizem Korkmaz of Westat, Brandon L. Kramer of Edge & Node, and Carol A. Robbins of the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics.

February 20, 2024

Proof of Concept for a U.S. Air Emissions Physical Flows Account

Measurement of the impact of economic activity on the environment contributes to good long-term decision-making, but it is absent from traditional economic accounts. Environmental economic accounts help fill this data gap. A working paper by Matthew Chambers of the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis presents a proof of concept for an air emissions physical flows account.

January 10, 2024

Experimental Statistics for U.S. Direct Investment Abroad

Current bilateral U.S. direct investment abroad statistics on the immediate partner economy basis might not adequately reflect where foreign affiliates of U.S. multinational enterprises produce and sell goods and services. A working paper by BEA economists Kirsten Brew, Jessica Hanson, Ricardo Limes, Ryan Smith, and Larkin Terrie describes BEA's initial effort to produce U.S. direct investment abroad statistics on the basis of ultimate host economy.

November 13, 2023

Measuring Innovation's Effect on Health Care Spending Growth

Technological innovation is believed to be a key driver of health care spending growth, but it has historically been difficult to measure. A new research paper by Abe C. Dunn and Lasanthi Fernando of the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and Eli Liebman of the University of Georgia takes a unique approach to overcome this challenge.

November 13, 2023

Considering Marketing as an Asset in the National Accounts

Previous empirical research has shown that marketing investment often increases purchases for several years. An October 2023 working paper by Leo Sveikauskas, Rachel Soloveichik, Corby Garner, Peter B. Meyer, James Bessen, and Matthew Russell contributes to the discussion around including marketing investment as an intangible in the System of National Accounts 2025 by developing macroeconomic measures of marketing investments and stocks for the United States.

November 9, 2023

New Approach to Measuring the Digital Economy

Measuring the digital economy is a high priority for analysts of economic growth, but it is a difficult task. A working paper by Benjamin Bridgman, Tina Highfill, and Jon Samuels, all of the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), offers a new approach that augments the measures in BEA's Digital Economy Satellite Account to include digital services provided by high-tech consumer durables.

July 13, 2023

Multinational Firms in the U.S. Economy: New Insights

The economic significance of multinational enterprises (MNEs) necessitates a greater understanding of their impacts on domestic firms, workers, and local economies. Fariha Kamal and Wei Ouyang of the U.S. Census Bureau and Jessica McCloskey of the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis describe the construction of two confidential crosswalks that permit a comprehensive identification of MNEs operating in the United States.

July 13, 2023

An Updated Look at Government Enterprises

Using Census of Governments data for 1967–2017, a working paper by Tina Highfill of the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis shows that housing and urban renewal as well as public transit should no longer be classified as state and local government enterprises in the National Income and Product Accounts as of 1972 and 1982, respectively. Additionally, hospitals and solid waste management should be classified as state and local government enterprises beginning in 1977 and 1992, respectively.

July 13, 2023

Measuring Infrastructure: Highways and Streets

Recent debates on increased infrastructure spending have highlighted the need to measure infrastructure and its effects on economic growth and well-being. That's the topic of a working paper by Robert Kornfeld of the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and Barbara Fraumeni of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

July 13, 2023