Papers and policy notes | Preliminary 2023 release
Clear insights on the role and activities of multinational enterprises (MNEs) are central to understanding global value chains (GVCs), the strong growth of which has dramatically challenged existing economic insights and policy implications related to globalisation.
The challenge of collecting empirical evidence on MNEs has meant we have not always had the full picture of key issues in trade and industrial policy such as the role of MNEs in GVCs and how firms combine trade and investment in their cross-border activities. A better understanding of MNEs would allow for more informed debates about the role of these companies in the economy and in society more broadly.
To address the data deficit, the OECD has developed a new and comprehensive database on MNE activities across countries and industries. By linking to TiVA and the OECD Inter-country Inter-Industry Input-Output (ICIO) database, the Analytical Activities of MNEs (AMNE) database for the first time allows for the analysis of MNE activities in value-added terms.
This database distinguishes between three types of firms: foreign affiliates (firms with at least 50% foreign ownership), domestic MNEs (domestic firms with foreign affiliates) and domestic firms not involved in international investment. To understand the breakdown of firm types we can take the Japanese automotive industry as an example. From the perspective of Japan, a majority Japanese-owned car manufacturer with affiliates in other countries would be classified as a domestic MNE; the majority owned affiliate of a French car manufacturer in Japan would be a foreign affiliate; and a majority Japanese-owned parts supplier with no foreign affiliates would fall into the category of domestic firms not involved in international investment.
The database allows for detailed analysis of a broad range of important policy issues, including:
This release of the Analytical AMNE database builds on a preliminary unpublished version of the 2023 OECD ICIO tables. Accordingly, it is itself preliminary and will be subject to changes and revisions.
The Analytical AMNE database covers 41 industries and 76 countries plus a rest of the world region over the period 2000-2019. It has three main components: i) the bilateral output matrix; ii) the output, value added and trade dataset; iii) a series of ICIO tables split according to ownership. The bilateral output matrix breaks down global gross output by country, industry and country where the controlling entity is based. The output, value added and trade dataset separates industry-level gross output, value-added, exports and imports of intermediate inputs between foreign affiliates and domestic entities. Finally, the split ICIO tables describe inter-industry transactions with an additional distinction between domestic-owned and foreign-owned firms. The three components of the Analytical AMNE database are fully consistent with each other, as well as with the underlying OECD ICIO tables.
The Analytical AMNE database was constructed on the basis of the OECD AMNE database which contains the official data on AMNE collected and published by national statistical offices (34 OECD countries, over 50 industries, since 1985). In order to estimate the missing information across countries and industries, additional national sources have been used and various statistical methodologies applied. It is important to note that analytical papers up to mid-2019 were based on a previous version of the database.
Note: If downloads do not begin automatically, right-click and select "save as" to download the files or open the download link in a new window and refresh.
Preliminary 2023 OECD Inter-Country Input-Output tables split according to ownership (domestic-owned and foreign-owned firms). Downloads in .zip format:
The 2023 preliminary release of the Analytical AMNE database is analogous to the previous release of 2018 in terms of its basic structure. The 2023 version, however, has expanded country coverage, increased industry granularity, and longer time series. For comparison, the 2018 Analytical AMNE data ran from 2005 to 2016 and consisted of 34 industries and 59 countries plus a rest of the world region. In addition, a number of methodological improvements in the area of missing value imputation have been introduced with the new release. Also, a greater range of data sources is now used to model the rest of the world region.
The 2018 Analytical AMNE database is available for download below.
Note: If downloads do not begin automatically, right-click and select "save as" to download the files or open the download link in a new window and refresh.
2018 OECD Inter-Country Input-Output tables split according to ownership (domestic-owned and foreign-owned firms). Downloads in .zip format:
Value-added decomposition of domestic sales of domestic-owned and foreign-owned firms: Domestic sales decomposition (.xlsx)
Questions and comments are invited and may be sent to analyticalAMNE@oecd.org.
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