Director's Page

BEA strives to provide the most timely, relevant and accurate economic data to you, our users, to help promote a better understanding of the U.S. economy. These reliable and consistent measures of economic activity are essential to the informed decisionmaking of policymakers, business leaders and every American household. The success of our statistical programs, in large part, is determined by your confidence in our data, and your suggestions for improving that data. As one of the world's leading statistical agencies, we are dedicated to staying on the cutting edge of the economy.

Stay informed by visiting this page to learn more about BEA’s full range of activities. A review of activities at the Bureau, including research, IT developments, and recent data releases are available below. The 5-year BEA Strategic Plan is available below for your review as well as a report card of our successes in meeting the over 200 annual milestones in the Plan. Information on the President's current budget request for BEA also is available. Finally, articles, presentations, and other materials can be found here to keep you informed on topics ranging from GDP and the measurement of standards of living to the response of the statistical system to the financial crisis.

If you have any questions or issues about BEA that you would like to share, I encourage you to contact me or any member of the BEA staff. We welcome your comments and suggestions. When you talk, we listen.

State of the Bureau

• Director's Message - Survey of Current Business (PDF)
• Taking Account: BEA paper looks at RIMS II multipliers (PDF)
• Research Spotlight: Estimates of Categories of Personal Consumption Expenditures Adjusted for Net Foreign Travel Spending (PDF)
• BEA Briefing: Prototype Quarterly Statistics on U.S. GDP by Industry (PDF)

Meet the Director

• "Meet BEA Director Steve Landefeld"
  Taken from AMSTATNEWS.
  The Membership Magazine of the American Statistical Association, August 2011

Recent FAQs

• How will the effects of the 2012 Midwest drought be reflected in GDP?
• How did the payroll tax holiday and the expiration of the Making Work Pay Credit affect disposable personal income for January 2011?
• Why were international transactions in U.S. Treasury securities revised up so much for 2010 and 2011 with the June 2012 annual revision of the U.S. international transactions accounts (ITAs)?
• What is final consumption expenditures of nonprofit institutions serving households (NPISHs) and how do revisions to this category affect total personal consumption expenditures (PCE)?
• What is the difference between “foreign parent” and “ultimate beneficial owner” in BEA’s data on foreign direct investment in the United States?

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BEA Advisory Committee Topics

Presentations from the May 11, 2012 Meeting

• Seasonal Adjustment and BEA’s Estimates of GDP and GDI, by Bob Kornfeld (PPT)
• Modeling Recession Effects and the Consequences for Seasonal Adjustment, by Demetra Lytras (PPT)
• Recessions and the Seasonal Adjustment of Industrial Production, by Charles Gilbert (PPT)
• Seasonal Adjustment, by Maurine Haver (PPT)
• Comments on Seasonal Adjustment, by Lewis Alexander (PPT)
• BEA’s Budget: Setting Priorities in the Face of Tight Budgets, by Brian Moyer (PPT)
• Looking Ahead: 2013 NIPA Comprehensive Revision, by Brent Moulton (PPT)
• Actuarial Measures of Defined Benefit Pension Plans for the National Accounts, by Marshall Reinsdorf (PPT)
• Comments on: Actuarial Measures of DB Pension Plans, by Barry Bosworth (PPT)

Federal Economic Statistics (BEA, BLS, Census) Advisory Committee Topics

Presentations from the June 17th, 2011 Meeting

• Consumer Expenditure Survey (PDF)
• Financial Sector Statistics (PDF)
• Health Price Statistics (PDF)

Strategic Plan and Budget

• BEA and Federal Information Technology Management Reforms (PDF)
• Strategic Objectives (PDF)
• Bureau of Economic Analysis Strategic Plan 2012-2016 (PDF)
• FY2010 Strategic Plan Report Card (PDF)
• Budget
• FY2011 Budget Justification (PDF)
• FY2012 Budget Justification (PDF)
• FY2013 Budget Justification (PDF)
• Balanced Scorecard Performance Review, August 2012 (PDF)
• Congressional Testimony

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Bureau Performance Measures

Customers

• FY2009 Report on Customer Satisfaction, January 2010 (PDF)

Staff

• Organizational Assessment Survey Results 2010 (PDF)

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Selected Articles, Presentations, and Papers on BEA Activities

Papers and Remarks

General

• BEA Director on Washington Journal, C-SPAN (Video) - Steve Landefeld discusses measuring economic progress and sustainability.
• BEA Director on Washington Journal, C-SPAN (Video) - Steve Landefeld talks about trade and who owns America.
• Charts, C-SPAN (PDF)
• BEA Director on Washington Journal, C-SPAN (Video) - Steve Landefeld discusses productivity, GDP and the standard of living.
• Charts, C-SPAN (PDF)
• "Taking the Pulse of the Economy: Measuring GDP" (PDF) with Eugene P. Seskin and Barbara M. Fraumeni
  Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring 2008

Expanded GDP Measures

• "Why GDP is like GPA” National Public Radio, October 2011
• "GDP and Beyond: Measuring Economic Progress and Sustainability" with Brent R. Moulton, Joel D. Platt, and Shaunda M. Villones (PDF)
  Survey of Current Business, April 2010
• "National Time Accounting and National Economic Accounting" with Shaunda M. Villones
  Measuring the Subjective Well-Being of Nations, NBER
• Debate on GDP as Measure of Standards of Living (PDF)
  The Economist

History

• Director's remarks on World Statistics Day 2010 (PDF)
• "GDP, One of the Greatest Inventions of the 20th Century" (PDF)
  Survey of Current Business, April 2010

Household Production

• "Accounting for Household Production: A Prototype Satellite Account Using the American Time Use Survey" with Barbara M. Fraumeni and Cindy M. Vojtech (PDF)
  Review of Income and Wealth, June 2009

Integrated National Accounts

• "The New Architecture of the U.S. National Accounts and its Relationship to the SNA" (PDF)
  by Andre Vanoli
• "A New Architecture of the U.S. National Accounts: A Reply to Andre Vanoli" (PDF) with Dale Jorgenson and William Nordhaus
  Review of Income and Wealth, December 2010

Statistical Discrepancy

• "Comments on "The Income - and Product Side-Estimates of U.S. Output Growth" (Word)
  Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Spring 2010

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Presentations

2011

• Measuring U.S. Economic Progress & Sustainability (PPT)
  July 2011 - 16th World Congress of International Economic Association, “Measuring of Social Welfare: Beyond GDP”
• Measurement of the Financial Sector: FESAC Agencies Response to the Financial Crisis (PPT)
  June 2011 - FESAC Meeting
• The Role of Statistics in the United States Economic Future (PPT)
  March 2011 - "Statistics for policymaking: Europe 2020”
• Report of the Friends of the Chair on Integrated Economic Statistics (PDF)
  February 2011 - United Nations Economic and Social Council
  

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• State of the Bureau
• Meet the Director
• Recent FAQs
• BEA Advisory Committee Topics
• Federal Economic Statistics (BEA, BLS, Census) Advisory Committee Topics
• Strategic Plan and Budget
• Bureau Performance Measures
• Selected Articles, Presentations & Papers on BEA Activities