Global Economic Issues

Econ 300

Homework Assignment: Balance of Trade

1.        Visit the Bureau of Economic Analysis web site at www.bea.gov. On the main page you will find a section titled International, click on Balance of Payments.  Find Interactive Tables, click on International Transactions (expanded details).   The Tables Type is International Transaction (ITA).  Using the data, download XLS to Excel.  Find the annual balance on goods and services, in Excel.  Copy and paste the data since 1980 in another Excel file. 

Visit the Bureau of Labor Statistics, bls.gov. Select Databases and Tools, scroll down to the subheading Unemployment.  Find Labor Force Statistics including National Unemployment, click on Top Picks and select unemployment rate.  Change so that monthly data from 1980 to December 2012 is visible. Download these data to an excel file.

Using the unemployment data obtained above, select the December data for the years since 1980 to 2012. You should have two columns, the December unemployment rates and the other the balance on goods and services. Plot a graph with the unemployment rate on the horizontal axis and the Balance of Goods and Services on the vertical axis (if you are using Excel, use a scatter graph). 

Describe the relationship between the two variables. Does there seem to be a direct or inverse relationship between trade deficits and unemployment rates? Or is there no apparent relationship? What does this relationship say about trade and jobs?

2.       The International Trade Administration, a US agency, provides detailed data on US import and exports. Visit http://tse.export.gov/TSE/ and click on National Trade Data, then select Global Patterns of US Merchandise Trade. Find US annual exports since 2002. You will see a colored map of the world and a list of countries. On that screen you will see a menu bar, click on Download Center. Select Data in CSV format to open data in an excel file.  

a.       Attach a graph with the pattern of World Exports (the first row on the file) since 2002 and describe it in one paragraph.

b.      Which are the top ten buyers of American goods?

c.       Describe in two paragraphs the pattern of exports to these trade partners; show a graph with exports of the top ten partners. Have there been changes the top ten buyers of American products?

3.       a. Which countries’ economies seem to be most important to the US?

b. Which continents’ economies seem to be most important to the US?  

4.       From the same site as in #2, find the US annual imports since 2002.

a.       Show graphically the pattern of total imports since 2002 and describe it in one paragraph.

b.      Which are the top ten sources of US imports? Have there been changes over time?

c.       Describe in two paragraphs the pattern of imports from these trade partners, show a graph with top ten producers of goods imported by the US.