Kei-Mu Yi
Abstract
Using confidential business data from the U.S. Census Bureau, we measure the extent of international inputs embodied in U.S. exports at the level of the establishment and firm, providing a new way to characterize global value chains (GVCs) in the United States. A direct link between imported inputs and exports at the level of firms and establishments provides a natural benchmark against which alternative measures of GVCs—such as those built from combining national-level input-output tables—can be assessed. Such comparisons yield insights on the role of aggregation bias, proportionality assumptions, and the intermediate vs final goods classification of imports. This new data resource provides a novel window into the complex ways U.S. firms are simultaneously linked to multiple markets through foreign sourcing and foreign sales.