« Patent Wars - Apple vs Microsoft | Main | US science losing the edge - WSJ »
August 12, 2005
June trade in intangibles
The trade deficit increased in June as imports rose to record levels and exports remaining unchanged, the BEA reported this morning. The balance of trade in intangibles was basically unchanged with a surplus of $7.2 billion. Imports of intangibles continued to increase faster than exports; exports by .6% and imports by 1.1%. During the first half of 2005, the surplus has declined in every month except March, after generally increasing during 2004. The June 2005 surplus is $250 million below the balance in Dec 2004.
The deficit in Advanced Technology Products declined slightly in June to $3.7 billion (from a deficit of $3.9 billion in May) as exports rose much greater that the increase in imports. The last monthly surplus in this category was in June 2002 and the last sustained series of monthly surpluses were in the first half of 2001.
Note: we define trade in intangibles as the sum of "royalties and license fees" and "other private services". The BEA/Census Bureau definitions of those categories are as follows:
Royalties and License Fees - Transactions with foreign residents involving intangible assets and proprietary rights, such as the use of patents, techniques, processes, formulas, designs, know-how, trademarks, copyrights, franchises, and manufacturing rights. The term "royalties" generally refers to payments for the utilization of copyrights or trademarks, and the term "license fees" generally refers to payments for the use of patents or industrial processes.
Other Private Services - Transactions with affiliated foreigners, for which no identification by type is available, and of transactions with unaffiliated foreigners. (The term "affiliated" refers to a direct investment relationship, which exists when a U.S. person has ownership or control, directly or indirectly, of 10 percent or more of a foreign business enterprise's voting securities or the equivalent, or when a foreign person has a similar interest in a U.S. enterprise.) Transactions with unaffiliated foreigners consist of education services; financial services (includes commissions and other transactions fees associated with the purchase and sale of securities and noninterest income of banks, and excludes investment income); insurance services; telecommunications services (includes transmission services and value-added services); and business, professional, and technical services. Included in the last group are advertising services; computer and data processing services; database and other information services; research, development, and testing services; management, consulting, and public relations services; legal services; construction, engineering, architectural, and mining services; industrial engineering services; installation, maintenance, and repair of equipment; and other services, including medical services and film and tape rentals.
Posted by Ken Jarboe at August 12, 2005 9:03 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.athenaalliance.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/284