Affiliations: [a] Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System,
Washington, DC, USA | [b] Yale School of Management and NBER, New Haven, CT,
USA
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: Justin R. Pierce, Board of
Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 20th & C ST NW, Washington, DC
20551; Tel.: +1 202 452 2980; Fax: +1 202 736 1937; E-mail:
justin.r.pierce@frb.gov
Abstract: While the relationship between international trade and domestic economic activity
is an important topic in economics, research in this area has been slowed due to
data limitations. In this paper we provide tools that improve the existing data
in two ways. First, we develop an algorithm that yields concordances between the
ten-digit Harmonized System (HS) codes used to classify products in U.S.
international trade and the SIC and NAICS industry codes used to classify
domestic economic activity. These concordances then yield novel time series of
industry-level international trade data for the years 1989 to 2009. Second, we
provide concordances between HS codes and the SIC and NAICS product classes used
to classify U.S. manufacturing production, allowing for matching at a more
disaggregated level than was previously available.
Keywords: International trade, industry classification
