[jammer]

But how does one account for the export of services?

Simple, we account for it by counting the dollars coming into the country in exchange for those services outside the country.

If you want to argue the merit or demerits of "trade deficits", I would probably agree with you. But there IS a way to measure financial services sold.

[Asclepius]

But there IS a way to measure financial services sold.

I admire your steadfast optimism, I suppose. But no, alas, there really isn't, or at least not a way that economists and market analysts agree on, and our import-export data fails to account for it. Manufacturing is easy. Simple double entry book keeping will suffice to relate incomes and outflows and costs and liabilities and assets etc. But how do you quantify an asset like a skilled CPA who manages a joint-trust and trades derivatives? Answer: you can't.

Expertise and information still await the rise of a Marx or an Adam Smith of the information age who will show us how to understand them, account for them, provide us with a theory to explain or predict their behaviors etc., etc. What about you? Are you up to the challenge? Back to school with you! Our services sector needs you. Develop a theory or a suite of operational concepts to help show us the way.