Services grow in importance in world trade

When we think of exports, we tend to visualize container ships, trains or planes carrying large, heavy cargo. But former Federal Reserve economist W. Michael Cox tries to correct that impression in today’s New York Times (Feb. 17). While praising President Obama’s State of the Union speech call for the United States to “export more of our goods”, Cox says it would have been much better to have said “goods and services.” As Cox points out, the United States has a $144 billion surplus in services, including an 8-1 edge in operational leasing — handling short-term deals on planes, vehicles and other equipment — a 6-1 margin in movie and television program distribution, and a 4-1 advantage in architectural, construction and engineering services. In total, the United States is competitive in 21 of 22 services categories, with significant surpluses in 12 of them.

It would be interesting to see numbers on our industry. The White House Writers Group, of course, has provided considerable client services outside the United States, even outside this hemisphere. Ours is more of an export industry than ever, and we can expect it to become even more of one in the future. Just as technologies have made it possible to compete in communications services beyond one’s own shores, it will become an even more global market, as improvements in telecommunciations make it easier to communicate with clients and keep up-to-date on developments in international markets.

More and more, the most exportable products are ideas, and the ability to communicate them.