02051cas a2200265 a 4500 AALejournalIMF019373 230101c9999 xx r poo 0 0eng d 5.00 USD 9781498317450 1018-5941 BD-DhAAL BD-DhAAL Adler, Gustavo. The Measurement of External Accounts / Gustavo Adler, Daniel Garcia-Macia, Signe Krogstrup. Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, 2019. 1 online resource (30 pages) IMF Working Papers <strong>Off-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required <strong>On-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required Electronic access restricted to authorized BRAC University faculty, staff and students Growing international integration in trade and finance can challenge the measurement of external accounts. This paper presents a unified conceptual framework for identifying sources of mismeasurement of foreign investment income in current account balances. The framework allows to derive a precise definition of measurement distortions and an empirical strategy for estimating their importance. As an application, we empirically estimate two specific distortions related to inflation and retained earnings on portfolio equity for a broad set of countries. We find these may explain a non-trivial share of current account imbalances and that they are particularly relevant in countries with large external investment positions. We also discuss how merchanting and profit-shifting activities could lead to measurement distortions. We suggest areas for future research and underline the need to strengthen data collection efforts. Mode of access: Internet Garcia-Macia, Daniel. Krogstrup, Signe. IMF Working Papers; Working Paper ; No. 2019/132 Full text available on IMF http://elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/001/2019/132/001.2019.issue-132-en.xml IMF e-Library