Discovering Data In this problem you will learn how to download data for U.S.

export and imports for highly disaggregated products. Suppose that you are hired by a company that wants to start exporting the product it already sells in the United States. You are asked to find out how much is already sold abroad by other U.S. firms and to which countries. To answer this question, you can access the “Trade Stats Express” database at the International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.

a. Start at the webpage http://www.trade.gov/, and find Trade Stats Express under the Data & Analysis tab. Choose National Trade Data, and Product Profiles of U.S. Merchandise Trade with a Selected Market. You will be asked to select a Region or Trade Partner, to select Export, Imports, or Trade Balance, and then to select a Product. The method of keeping track of products is called the Harmonized System (HS). On this page, the HS codes for products can have 2 digits or 4 digits, so choose 4 digits. Change the product from HS-total to any particular product that you find interesting out of the 99 HS codes that are shown, from HS 01 to HS 99. For the product you have selected, choose a region of the world, and write down in a table the exports to that region of the 2-digit and detailed 4-digit products that are shown (see an example for HS 09 in the table).

U.S. Exports and Imports for 2014 HS Code Product Region or Country Export ($

thousands)

Import ($

thousands)

09 Coffee, Tea, Mate, and Spices Africa 3,666 356,399 0901 Coffee Africa 209 225,090 0902 Tea Africa 291 34,781 0904 Pepper Africa 1,794 0 0905 Vanilla Beans Africa 0 74,809 0910 Ginger, Saffron, Turmeric, Thyme, Bay Leaves, etc.

Africa 1,235 9,359 09 Coffee, Tea, Mate, and Spices Kenya 12 52,966 0901 Coffee Kenya 12 43,692 0902 Tea Kenya 0 9,260 0904 Pepper Kenya 0 0 0905 Vanilla Beans Kenya 0 0 0910 Ginger, Saffron, Turmeric, Thyme, Bay Leaves, etc.

Kenya 0 14

b. Repeat the same exercise for the imports to the United States from that region for the 2-digit and detailed 4-digit products that are shown (see table on the previous page).

c. Now choose at least one specific country in the region that you have chosen, and write down the U.S.

exports and imports for the same 2-digit and 4-digit HS products (see table on the previous page).

d. Do you think that the U.S. exports and imports for this region/country/products you have chosen support the predictions of the Heckscher–Ohlin theorem? Explain why or why not. Do you think that there is potential for the U.S. firm that hired you to begin exporting these products? Explain.

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