Product Highlights – DLI Atlantic, Wolfville, NS

Country Statements, Country Trade Profiles, International Merchandize Trade, Joint Canada/United

States Survey of Health

John Neilson, University of New Brunswick

DLI Atlantic

April 23, 2009

Country Statements, 2002-2007 - tracks imports and exports between Canada and its

trading partners

- deals with quantity and value of goods

- by commodity code (the Harmonized System to the six digit level) see Canadian Export Classification 2009 65-209-x

- each ‘statement’ covers one trading partner only

What does it look like?

Who would use this survey?

- economists, federal and provincial governments (impacts on NAFTA)

- exporters/importers, business/marketing researchers

- international organizations such as the OECD, the WTO, the FAO and UNCTAD

- trade associations such as the Canadian Association of Importers and Exporters and the Canadian Association of Regulated Importers

What else is there? The Country Trade Profiles…

- values based companion database to “Statements”

- statistics for 2002 – 2007 and, like Country Statements, it is in spreadsheet format

- brief survey of two-way trade with Canada

- covers Canada’s six biggest trading partners

What does it look like?

limits to these two trade databases

- covers Canada’s six biggest trading partners

- H.S. 6 is as fine as it gets

- coverage is limited to 2002 – 2007

- no analysis of trade statistics – that’s up to you

But sometimes that’s all you need…

What if it’s not all you need…

Then there’s the International Merchandise Trade Statistical Program

“…[it measures] the change in the stock of material resources of the country resulting from the movement of merchandise into or out of Canada”

And it’s BIG - it monitors and records all goods which

cross Canada’s territorial boundaries - provides inputs into the System of

National Accounts, especially Balance of Payments and GDP

- trade statistics reported on a customs basis or balance of payment basis

How big is it? - the import side alone of IMT, using HS to

the 10 digit level is 458mb - variables include all countries of export or

destination, mode of transportation, month, province of clearance, quantity, unit of measure, if U.S. then State of origin, value and year

- goes back to 1988

What can you use it for? governments, to formulate trade and budgetary

policies, and the other groups mentioned with “Statements” to:

- monitor import penetration and export performance

- monitor commodity price and volume changes - examine transport implications & infrastructure

What does it look like? several flavours including; - The International Merchandize Trade Data

by Commodity Classification (HS) - Canadian International Merchandise

Trade, cat. no. 65-001-x (monthly) - International Merchandise Trade, Annual

review, cat. no. 65-208-x

Joint Canada/United States Survey of Health (JCUSH) - collaborative project by Statscan

and U.S. National Center for Health Statistics

- common set of questions to 3,500 Canadians and 5,200 U.S. Residents

- broad focus is on health status and access to health services

JCUSH – a one-time survey - collection period, November, 2002 –

March 2003 - cross-sectional design by Statscan &

NCHS - age groups 18-44, 45-64 and 65 and over - Canadian & American interviews done by

Statscan permanent employees

And even more detail... - questions on self-perceived health,

chronic conditions, functional status, life-style factors (smoking and obesity), health care utilization, and satisfaction with health care services

- results available in an analytical report (pdf) 82M0022-XIE and a PUMF from the Statistics Canada website

In addition to the pdf ‘findings’ report...

And these sources - a summary in ... au courant, October,

2005, cat. No. 82-005-XIE As well as - “Comparing Health and Health Care Use

in Canada and the United States”. Health Affairs: the policy journal of the

health sphere, v. 25, no. 4 (20060: 1133-1142