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Methodology of the USDA, Economic Research Service’s Agricultural Trade Multipliers
Zahniser, Steven; Zeng, Wendy; Dong, Fengxia; Ivanic, Maros; Husby, Megan; Pham, Xuan; Meade, Douglas
2024
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Abstract

USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) produces the Agricultural Trade Multipliers (ATMs)—a data product that provides annual estimates of the economic output and number of jobs supported by U.S. agricultural trade, with detail for 124 product groups. The ATMs are a resource for government agencies, academics, and other stakeholders to estimate the effect that U.S. agricultural trade has on the farm and nonfarm sectors of the U.S. economy and the contribution of U.S. agricultural exports to employment and economic output. In 2021, ERS researchers overhauled the computer programming used to estimate the multipliers to implement an approach that was more streamlined and automated while retaining the structure of the existing model. This bulletin outlines the methodology used in the new programming to access the data needed to estimate the ATMs and to utilize that information to calculate the estimates.

Details

Title
Methodology of the USDA, Economic Research Service’s Agricultural Trade Multipliers
Keywords
Author(s)
Zahniser, Steven
Zeng, Wendy
Dong, Fengxia
Ivanic, Maros
Husby, Megan
Pham, Xuan
Meade, Douglas
Subject(s)
Issue Date
2024-10
Publication Type
Report
DOI and Other Identifiers
10.22004/ag.econ.347597
Record Identifier
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/347597
Language
English
Total Pages
34
Note
The USDA, ERS researchers who wrote the new computer program for calculating the ATMs also constructed an annotated version. The notes to the computer program were then used to write a description in nontechnical language of how the program works—including the main steps taken by the program to generate the ATMs, the data sources used in the ATM model, and how these data were utilized. The new program contains several features: • It directly extracts most of the data from the publicly available Federal Government databases used in the ATM model; • It is written in the R Language, an open source and free programming language for statistical computing and graphics that can run on a variety of operating systems and computing platforms; and • The steps for generating the multipliers are all contained within a single R program. These features were incorporated in the ATMs to lower the probability of human error, increase the calculating and processing speed, and provide a platform to conduct subsequent research using the multipliers that would allow for better replicability and transparency of the model.
Series Statement
Technical Bulletin No. 1968
Record Appears in
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) > Economic Research Service > Technical Bulletins

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