Following the Money

Many questions have been raised about America's status in the increasingly interconnected global economy. Yet key facts—such as the amount of foreign assets abroad owned by U.S. citizens—are not known. The crucial data needed to assess the U.S. position are unavailable.This volume explores significant shortcomings in U.S. data on international capital transactions and their implications for policymakers. The volume offers clearcut recommendations for U.S. agencies to bring data collection and analyses of the global economy into the twenty-first century.The volume explores:How factors emerging since the early 1980s have shaped world financial markets and revealed shortcomings in data collection and analysis.How the existing U.S. data system works and where it fails how measurements of international financial transactions are recorded; and how swaps, options, and futures present special reporting problems.How alternative methods, such as collecting data, from sources such as global custodians and international clearinghouses, might improve coverage and accuracy.Table of ContentsFRONT MATTERSUMMARY1 GLOBALIZATION OF FINANCIAL MARKETS2 CURRENT U.S. DATA SYSTEMS3 CAPITAL ACCOUNT DATA: GAPS AND NEEDS4 FINANACIAL DERIVATIVES: DATA GAPS AND NEEDS5 ALTERNATIVE DATA SOURCES AND COLLECTIVE METHODSA MONITORING CAPITAL TRANSACTIONS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM, GERMANY, AND JAPANB VIEWS OF DATA COMPILERS, FILERS, AND USERSREFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHYBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PANEL MEMBERSINDEX