speeches · April 18, 1968
Speech
Andrew F. Brimmer · Governor
For Release on Delivery
Friday, April 19, 1963
10:00 A.M., C.S.T.
11:00 A.M., E.S.T.
FOREIGN TRAVEL AND THE UNITED STATES
BALANCE OF PAYMENTS
A Convocation Address
By
Andrew F. Brimmer
Member
Board of Governors of the
Federal Reserve System
Upon Acceptance of the
Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws
Awarded by
Nebraska Wesleyan University
Lincoln, Nebraska
April 19, 1968
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FOREIGN TRAVEL AND THE UNITED STATES
BALANCE OF PAYMENTS
On any agenda of national economic policy issues, the
U. S. balance of payments deficit would rank close to the top of
the list. In fact, the longevity of the deficit -- and the paucity
of results yielded by an array of corrective measures -- may have
led a significant number of people to believe that we simply cannot
cope with the problem. Moreover, the technical nature of the
questions involved may easily convince the typical citizen that the
whole arcane business has nothing to do with him. Besides, still
others may argue, there are far more pressing (and exciting) national
issues confronting us: the war in Vietnam, the decay and disorders
in our cities, the quest of equal opportunity and racial equality,
crime in the streets — and a host of other competitors for the
nation's attention and resources. I, too, would certainly assign
to all of these intractable problems an extremely high priority for
national action. But, as a central banker, I am also deeply con-
scious of the severity of the challenge to our system posed by the
large and persistent deficit in our balance of payments. I think
we can (because I think we must) get on with the task of reducing
this deficit and rebuilding the international position of the
dollar.
In these remarks, I do not propose to recount the detailed
history of our paymonto imbalance nor catalogue all of the policies
adopted over the years to cope with it. Instead, I wish to focus
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on one aspect of the problem where the possibility of progress rests
directly with each individual citizen: that is the contribution to
the deficit made by the rapidly rising expenditures of Americans
traveling abroad. This is a major category (merchandise imports is
another) in which the adverse impact on the balance of payments has
worsened steadily — despite the vigorous efforts aimed at overall
improvement during the last few years• Moreover, it is also an area
in which the real objections of public policy are frequently obscured
by arguments about the basic right to travel -- or unfortunately --
by still other criticisms which seem to be designed more to safeguard
the special position of particular industries or constituencies than
to widen public understanding of the sizable contribution made by
travel expenditures to our balance of payments deficit.
Let me hasten to add that, having served as a member of the
President's Industry-Government Special Task Force on Travel (whose
principal assignment was to devise means of promoting increased
travel to this country), I am acutely aware of the long-run disadvan-
tages to both Americans and to our foreign visitors of relying primarily
on restrictive measures to reduce the travel deficit. On the other
hand, I am also convinced that the seriousness of our balance of
payments difficulties does necessitate noticeable moderation in the
pace of spending abroad by American travelers*
The main points of my comments can be summarized briefly:
- The optimism generated by the President's New Year's
Day message on the balance of payments is rapidly
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- losing its glow. While the statistical evidence is
not yet available, modifications in the original
program and Congressional delay in adopting some of
the key measures recommended all suggest that we may
fall considerably short of the improvement of at
least $3 billion targeted for 1968 — unless we make
a much more vigorous effort to press on with the task.
- In particular, there is likely to be a short-fall in
the expected improvement of $500 million through the
moderation of foreign travel expenditures — in view
of the indifferent Congressional response to the
Administration's tax proposals affecting travel out-
side the Western Hemisphere,
- The promising new programs being developed in the
private sector to stimulate the flow of foreign
visitors to this country will undoubtedly be helpful.
However, this approach alone seems unlikely to yield
an increase in foreign receipts large enough to narrow
significantly our widening travel deficit.
- Moreover, given the strong cultural, recreational and
educational incentives for Americans to travel abroad --
plus their relatively high and steadily rising personal
incomes which enable them to satisfy their desires --
the long-run outlook is for much more, not less, foreign
travel by U. S. citizens. In fact, our travel expenditures
abroad are growing much more rapidly than either our
personal income or domestic consumer spending for all
services. If foreign travel in 1967 had accounted for
the same share of total consumer outlays for services
as it did in 1961, our travel deficit last year would
have been smaller by some $200 million -- or by roughly
10 per cent.
- Thus, our objective should be to find means to moderate
the pace of consumer spending abroad -- and not foreign
travel by Americans as such. We should keep in mind a
significant fact: As far back as we can go in our
balance of payments statistics, we have had a travel
deficit. It would be unreasonable to expect it to
disappear or change to a surplus at any time in the
foreseeable future. On the other hand, it would also be
unreasonable to be complacent about the travel deficit
becoming larger year-by-year.
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Main Trends in the U. S. Balance of Payments
Although the main contours of our balance of payments
have been sketched many times before, a brief summary here would
serve as a background for the subsequent discussion of our travel
deficit. Since late 1957 -- or for more than a decade — we have
run a sizable deficit in our international payments. But 1964
marked a real watershed in our efforts to find a solution to the
problem. In that year, the balance of payments deficit (on the
liquidity basis) was $2.8 billion. While this was only a modest rise
in the total deficit compared with the previous year, there was a
conjuncture of several underlying adverse trends which made it
necessary to adopt a basically new approach to the deficit in early
1965.
During the years 1960 to 1964, (partly reflecting general
price stability at home while prices abroad were rising) there was a
substantial expansion in our current account. This resulted in a
surplus on goods and services of $8.5 billion in the latter year,
while the trade surplus alone amounted to nearly $7 billion. However,
the favorable contributions from the balance on goods and services
from 1960 to 1964 were erased by a rising trend of capital outflows.
While this was dampened somewhat by the Interest Equalization-Tax
after mid-1963, we still had a total capital outflow of $6.5 billion
in 1964. In that year, net bank lending abroad amounted to $2.5 billion,
or more than twice the peak reached in 1960-61. Direct investment out-
flows (especially to continental Western Europe) rose rapidly and also
totaled $2-1/2 billion in 1964.
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Against this background, the Administration adopted a number
of new measures — and strengthened existing ones — to reduce the
balance of payments deficit. The principal new action was the launch-
ing of two voluntary programs to moderate bank lending abroad and
direct foreign investment by industrial corporations.
These programs did enable us to achieve considerable improve-
ment on our overall deficit, which shrank to $1.3 billion and $1.4
billion in 1965 and 1966, respectively. The principal gain centered
in the decline of private capital outflow to the neighborhood of $4
billion in those two years. At the same time, however, we were losing
ground in another area: Our trade surplus shrank drastically from
nearly $7 billion in 1964 to $3.5 billion in 1967. The reason was a
much faster rise in imports than in exports, reflecting primarily
growing domestic inflationary pressures. For example, between 1964
and 1967, imports rose at an annual rate of 15 per cent while the
corresponding rise for exports was less than 7 per cent. In addition,
we began to lose ground again on private capital account. By 1967,
the total outflow had climbed to nearly $5.5 billion, including $3.0
billion of direct investment, $1.3 billion of foreign securities
purchases, and $0.5 billion of net bank lending. Our trade surplus
also declined substantially further. The general result was a balance
of payments deficit on the liquidity basis of $3,6 billion for the
year as a whole. Again, vigorous measures had to be taken, and the
outcome was the President's New Year's Day program.
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Outlook for the U. S. Balance of Payments
As mentioned above, the President's New Year's Day program
visualized an improvement of roughly $3 billion in the balance of
payments during 1968. These gains were expected to be achieved in
several key areas:
- A saving of $1 billion through direct investment outflow,
- A net inflow of $.5 billion through reduced foreign
lending by banks and other financial institutions.
- A gain of $.5 billion on the trade account.
- A reduction of $.5 billion in the travel deficit.
- A saving of $,5 billion in foreign outlays by the
Federal Government.
What is the outlook for the achievement of these goals?
As of today, the chances are far less promising than they seemed a
few months ago.
With respect to direct investment, very little can be said
on the basis of quantitative evidence actually in hand. The March
decision of the Administration to exempt Canada from the program may
well produce a larger direct investment outflow to that country than
otherwise would have occurred. Canada received $1,087 million in
direct investment from the United States in 1966 and $383 million in
1967. These amounts represented just under one-third of the total
outflow of this type of capital in 1966 and one-eighth last year.
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The sharp drop in 1967 reflected the completion of very large
investments in the automotive industry pursuant to the U. S.-
Canadian automotive agreement of 1965. While we have no firm
estimate of the outflow in 1968, U. S. subsidiaries in Canada have
tendency to increase their
shown a/plant and equipment expenditures in recent years and may
continue to do so. In the past (at least until the advent of the
voluntary programs), the growth of such outlays usually had been
associated with increased capital outflow from this country.
For other areas it appears that a number of company-by-
company rulings have been given under the mandatory regulations of
the Commerce Department the result of which is also a net reduction
in the amount of savings. Other modifications in the general
regulations since the program was announced point in the same
direction. Thus, the overall prospect is for a short fall with
respect to the projected $1 billion savings in direct investment --
although there is no way to estimate its magnitude.
In contrast, the expected net inflow of $.5 billion through
reduced foreign lending by banks and other financial institutions
seems fairly assured. As mentioned above, there was a net outflow of
$455 million in bank funds last year, following net inflows in 1965
and 1966. Thus, the expected turn-around in lending abroad may
amount to nearly $1 billion. During the first two months of this
year, there was a net inflow of about $290 million under the bank
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program administered by the Federal Reserve Board. Further inflows
can be counted on because of the lower ceiling on foreign lending,
as banks1 term loans in Continental Western Europe are repaid, and
as they reduce their liquid assets held abroad. The exemption of
Canada from the balance of payments program may result in somewhat
smaller improvements on the part of nonbank financial institutions,
but this adverse impact is not expected to be very large.
Progress in improving the trade account seems to be par-
ticularly disappointing. According to the preliminary estimates
of the Department of Commerce, our trade surplus in the first
quarter of this year amounted to $1.6 billion, and the surplus on
goods and services was about $2.6 billion, both at a seasonally
adjusted annual rate. The trade surplus rose somewhat from the
extremely low annual rate of $1 billion registered in the final
quarter of last year, the smallest trade surplus since 1959. For
goods and services combined, the surplus shrank further from the
annual rate of $3 billion recorded in the previous three months.
In the first quarter of 1967, the trade surplus was at an annual
rate of $4 billion. Imports of goods in the first three months of
this year were at an annual rate of $30.8 billion, or about 7 per
per cent above the fourth quarter and 16 per cent higher than in the
first quarter of last year. Imports of steel and refined copper
(the two commodities principally affected by domestic strikes or
strike threats) accounted £or a sizable share of the rise in
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imports. Exports in the first quarter were at an annual rate of
$32.4 billion, about 9 per cent larger than in the fourth quarter
and 6 per cent above the rate in the corresponding quarter of last
year.
Despite the modest recovery of the trade surplus in the
early months of this year, it will be a steep up-hill effort to
attain the improvement visualized in the Presidentfs message.
This task will be made even more difficult by the failure (so far)
of Congress to enact the President's proposed 10 per cent surtax
on corporate and personal incomes. Adoption of the proposal
would help appreciably in the dampening of domestic inflationary
pressures and hence of the sharp rise in imports. Moreover,
Congress has not approved two other recommendations designed to
stimulate exports--the creation of a special $.5 billion export
financing fund at the Export-Import Bank and the appropriation of
$2.5 million for the Commerce Department to help support joint-
export associations among U. S. companies. In the light of these
adverse developments, the outlook for the trade account seems not
to be very bright, even though the export advance is now beginning
to be stimulated by a vigorous business expansion in Europe.
So far, little can be said about success of the efforts
to reduce foreign spending by Federal Government agencies. A
number of steps have been taken by civilian agencies which will
yield some savings. Unfortunately, these may be substantially
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offset by the further deterioration attributable to the military
account. In 1967, the net contribution of the Vietnam War to
our balance of payments deficit was in the neighborhood of $1*5
billion, having risen from $1 billion in 1966 and about $.8 billion
in 1965. While no new estimate is available, it seems virtually
certain that the current rate is greater than $1.5 billion—
given the further acceleration in military activity in Vietnam
through the end of March and the announced rise of $2.5 billion in
military spending above the budget estimate for the 1968 fiscal
year ending next June 30.
As mentioned above, the outlook for the travel deficit
is of particular concern to me, and to it I shall devote the
remainder of my remark**.
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Foreign Travel and the Balance of Payments Deficit
Travel expenditures by U. S. residents abroad in 1967 are
estimated to have increased by $500 million compared to the 1966
increase of $200 million. At the same time foreign visitors in the
U. S. spent about $65 million more in 1967 than in 1966. As a result
the net U. S. travel deficit in 1967 was about $2.1 billion compared
to $1.6 billion in 1966. EXPO '67 adversely affected net U. S. travel
by about $400 million as U. S. expenditures in Canada increased, and
Canadian expenditures in the U. S. decreased.
Since 1961 U. S. travel expenditures in Europe and the
Mediterranean have increased by over 50 per cent; foreign travelers
from Europe and the Mediterranean, on the other hand, increased their
expenditures in the United States by nearly 140 per cent. The net
effect of these expenditures has been a travel deficit for the U. S.
with this area of $525 in 1961 which jumped to nearly $650 in 1963,
but which increased by only a further $50 million by 1966.
Until 1967, the U. S. travel deficit with Mexico was the
next largest, averaging about $150 million each year since 1961. In
1967 the U. S. travel deficit with Canada was about $500; for the
previous three years it had averaged $100 million.
With the passing of EXPO, one would normally expect a
slackening in the pace of spending in Canada by U. S. residents. How-
ever, the location of the Olympic Games in Mexico will undoubtedly
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result ifi Increased travel by Americans to that country. Yet, the
rise in our travel expenditures will probably be substantially less
than that refcorded in 1967 because of EXPO.
Economics of Foreign Travel
The ratio of U. S. travel expenditures abroad to total
domestic consumer expenditures for all services increased from about
1.7 per cent in 1961 to about 1.8 per cent in 1967, exlusive of
expenditures attributable to EXPO. At current levels of consumer
expenditures on services, this change represents an increase of about
$200 million more in outlays abroad than would be true if the 1961
ratio had been maintained.
This tendency for foreign travel expenditures to rise
faster than personal income or consumer spending is evident in a
number of foreign countries as well as in the United States. The
statistics for Americans, showing U. S. foreign travel expenditures
as a percentage of disposable personal income, are summarized in
Table 1, attached; comparable data for selected foreign countries
are shown in Table 2. This last table indicates that in 1965 all
foreign countries surveyed (with the exceptions of Japan and
Australia) foreign travel accounts for a larger percentage of
disposable personal income than in the United States. In most cases,
the percentage increased between I960 and 1965 by more than it did in
the United States. While some of the OECD countries still have
restrictions on foreign travel, these apparently were not particularly
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meaningful, at least in 1965, since the percentages in all
these countries rose along with the ratios in countries without
such restrictions. Since 1965, however, the United Kingdom has
imposed new currency restrictions affecting foreign travel
which are quite severe.
For our own country, we can get an even better insight in-
to the pattern of demand for foreign travel. This is derived from
a review of the comparative percentage rates of growth of passport
applications, population and personal income, by geographic areas,
during the period 1960 to 1967. (Growth rates are annual average
rates of change.)
Passport Personal
Area Applications Population Income
(1960-67) (1960-67) (1960-66)
U. S. 10.2 1.4 6.5
Northeast 8.5 1.1 7.4
North Central 11.6 0.9 6.3
Nebraska 11.5 0.2 5.8
Pacific 10.3 2.5 7.0
South Atlantic 13.1 1.8 7.7
South Central 12.2 1.4 7.0
Mountain 8.7 1.9 6.1
Using passport applications as a proxy for the demand for
foreign travel, it is clear that the growth of such demand has far
outstripped both population and personal income in every area of the
country. In the North Central region, where both income and population
growth lagged that in the nation at large, passport application's
climbed more rapidly than in the rest of the country. The situation
is particularly striking for the State of Nebraska; it even lagged
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the Notfth Central region in income and population growth, yet about
matched the area in the expansion of passport applications.
On the basis of the above analysis, I am personally
convinced that we are likely to be faced with a growing demand for
foreign travel -- and a deepening travel deficit -- for quite a few
years. For this reason, I am also convinced that we need to exert
a particularly vigorous effort to attract more foreign visitors and
to moderate expenditures abroad by Americans.
Outlook for the Foreign Travel Program
It is far too early to judge the probably outcome of the
efforts to reduce our foreign travel deficit this year. Nevertheless,
on the basis of the fragmentary evidence we do have, it seems
doubtful that we will achieve the $.5 billion improvement in 1968
visualized in the President's New Year's Day message.
It will be recalled that the travel section of that message
called on the President's Travel Task Force to accelerate its
recommendations regarding ways of attracting more foreign visitors
to this country; it also directed the Secretary of the Treasury to
work out with the Congress legislative measures to moderate spending
by Americans on travel outside the Western Hemisphere. The President
also appealed to U. S. citizens to forego nonessential travel outside
the Western Hemisphere for the next two years.
The Travel Task Force submitted its Report in mid-February;
this included a number of voluntary actions which (when fully implemented)
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might yield a balance of payments benefit of more than $100 million
per year. With the assistance of private industry and Federal agencies,
the Task Force initiated steps which were expected to result in
considerable reductions in the cost of travel in the U. S. for foreign
visitors. The actions set in motion involved domestic air fares,
railroad fares, hotel and motel rates, inter city bus fares, car
rental charges, and package tour prices. Reductions in the cost of
directional fares to the U. S. were also initiated by international
air carriers and steamship lines serving the North Atlantic routes.
The progress to date in carrying out the Travel Task Force's
recommendations is noticeable:
- First of all, the President established a Commission
on Travel (under the direction of Ambassador
Robert McKinney who headed the Task Force) to see
that the momentum does not slacken.
- The International Air Transport Association has
unanimously approved the recommended family rate
for travelers from Europe and the Middle East to the
United States. The discount, which ranges from 11
to 38 per cent, is expected to bring some 100,000
new visitors to the United States this year.
- The Civil Aeronautics Board has approved 50 per
cent discounts for domestic fares effective April 23.
The new fares will provide almost unlimited travel
opportunities for foreign visitors within and across
the United States at one-half the cost of published
regular first-class and coach fares.
The railroads have filed for a 25 per cent fare reduc-
tion for foreign visitors. It will become effective
on April 29 if no objections are entered.
The CAB has approved the U. S. airlines' request for
authority to bring 2,000 active travel agents, tour
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- operators, and travel editors to the U. S. this year
and next for the purpose of familiarization tours.
- Major motion picture studios, under the direction of
the Motion Picture Association of America, are produc-
ing a series of one-minute television commercials,
utilizing the talents of international film stars, to
promote more foreign travel to the United States.
- The Advertising Council has agreed to mount a major
$5 million domestic campaign geared toward: asking all
Americans to invite their friends and relatives from
abroad to visit the United States this year and next;
and requesting that all Americans be hospitable and
courteous to all foreign visitors in the United States.
- A Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee is
holding hearings on a bill which would grant the
Secretary of State and the Attorney General authority to
waive visa requirements for business and pleasure visits
of up to 90 days.
- Commencing May 5, the new U. S. Government Hospitality
Card will be available to foreign visitors. The Card
entitles foreign visitors to a broad range of discounts
throughout the U. S. A 111-page discount book has also
been made available to the travel industry which stipu-
lates what discounts are available and where.
- Work has begun on the creation of a new National Tourist
Office which will not only promote abroad to attract
more foreign visitors to the United States, but will also
organize and coordinate efforts here in the U. S. to host
foreign visitors.
The legislative program to moderate spending on foreign
travel by Americans has been much less successful. The Secretary
of the Treasury, after much discussion with the appropriate Congres-
sional committees, finally presented a set of proposals calling for
a foreign travel tax program with the follox^ing features: the first
$7 of spending per day x^ould be exempt from the tax; between $7 and
$15 per day, the rate would be 15 per cent, and above $15 per day
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the tax rate would be 30 per cent. The tax would apply on trips
to Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific (except Hawaii and
Samoa). The Secretary also proposed that Congress extend to
international airline tickets and sea travel the 5 per cent tax
which currently applies to domestic airline flights. The tax
on sea travel would be temporary. The existing duty-free
allowance of $100 for foreign purchases accompanying passengers
would be reduced to $10; the present $10 limit on mailed and
unsolicited gifts would be set at $1.
Congressional reaction to the entire tax proposal has
been particularly cold. To the surprise of no one, the proposal
ran into sharp criticism from travel industry representatives,
academicians, newspapers and many others who saw in the proposal
a threat to the freedom to travel (or to their own business
prospects). Reacting to this criticism, the Uays and Means
Coimnittee split off the proposed tax on spending and recommended
to the full House the main features of the rest of the Secretary's
proposal. If finally enacted by the Congress, these minor measures
may result in an improvement of about $100 million in the travel
account. The much more substantial savings (on the order of $250
million to $300 million) which might have been expected from the
tax to moderate spending on foreign trips outside the Western
Hemisphere can no longer be anticipated -- unless Congress changes
what appears to be a deep-seated conviction against the proposal.
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Personally, I wish it would recognize the basic need
to moderate the persistently rising trend of spending by
Americans traveling abroad. This is the central issue — and
not travel itself.
Concluding Remarks
As I have stressed throughout these remarks, our balance
of payments deficit is an extremely serious problem, and it will
require a vigorous national effort to correct it. For this reason,
all of us -- and especially Congress -- ought to try very hard to
get the President's New Year's Day program moving again. At the
top of the list should be early passage of the income surtax and
reductions in low-priority Federal spending. But, as I also
mentioned above, because of the sizable contribution to our overall
balance of payments deficit made by foreign travel expenditures,
we also need to devise a means to moderate such spending. Some
variety of a tax on travel outlays abroad seems the best means of
doing this.
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TABLE 1
U.S. Foreign Travel Expenditures
as % of Disposable Personal Income
(dollar amounts billions)
(2)
(1) Foreign Travel bv
Year Disposable Personal Income U.S. Residents 2 as % of 1
1957 308.5 1.4 0.45
1958 318.2 1.5 0.47
1959 337.3 1.6 0.47
1960 350.0 1.75 0.50
1961 364.4 1.8 0.49
1962 385.3 1.9 0.49
1963 404.6 2.1 0.52
1964 436.6 2.2 0.50
1965 472.2 2.4 0.51
1966 508.8 2.7 0.53
1/ Excludes travel by military personnel and other Government
employees stationed abroad and by their dependents and U.S. citizens
residing abroad. Excludes international transportation, but includes
transportation within the countries visited.
Source: QBE, Department of Commerce
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TABLE 2
Foreign Travel Expenditures of Selected
Countries as Per Cent of Disposable
Personal Income
(dollar amounts in millions)
Disposable Foreign Travel (2) as % of (1)
srsonal Income 1/ Expenditures 2/ 1960 1965
Country I960 1965 1960 1965
Western Europe
U.K. 50,355 68,054 520 810 1.03 1.19
France 41,540 65 280 265 930 0.64 1.42
a
Italy 21,386* 35,339* 95 225 0.44 0.64
Germany 49,875 75,175 635 1,370 1.27 1.82
Netherlands 7,856 12,997 125 310 1.59 2.39
Sweden 7,135* 10,748* 85 .210 1.19 1.95
Norway 2,653* 3,783* 55 80 2.09 2.11
Greece 2,640 4,494 20 40 0.76 0.89
Western Hemisphere
Canada 23,465 32,763 645 720 2.75 2.20
Mexico 10,144* 15,568* 288 414 2.84 2.66
Pacific Area
Japan 29,436 59,481 40 85 0.14 0.14
Australia 21,666 33,090 42 118 0.19 0.36
New Zealand 2,582 3,667 13 40 0.50 1.10
1/ Source: U.N. National Accounts Statistics, 1966. Total personal income
minus direct taxes. Amounts marked with asterisk (*) are private consumption
expenditures. All amounts converted from local currencies at official ex-
change rates.
2/ Source: IMF Balance of Payments Yearbook. Includes all payments for
goods and services (including internal transportation) provided by foreigners
to the reporting country's residents traveling abroad. It covers expenditures
on account of tourists, business travelers, students, patients undergoing
medical treatment, military personnel on leave, and traveling government
officials. Passenger fares and shipboard expenses paid to ships and aircraft
on account of international travel are not included.
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Cite this document
APA
Andrew F. Brimmer (1968, April 18). Speech. Speeches, Federal Reserve. https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/speech_19680419_brimmer
BibTeX
@misc{wtfs_speech_19680419_brimmer,
author = {Andrew F. Brimmer},
title = {Speech},
year = {1968},
month = {Apr},
howpublished = {Speeches, Federal Reserve},
url = {https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/speech_19680419_brimmer},
note = {Retrieved via When the Fed Speaks corpus}
}