Invisible Exports - Originating Journalist is remembered

I was looking through my old O level economics class notes a few days ago and in there was a really neat table showing the make up of the balance of payments. Students and teachers of a certain vintage will have no difficulty remembering the vital distinction we were taught to make between visible and invisible trade and this has stayed with ever since - I was well taught! UK newspapers today carry obitiuaries for William Clarke, the doyen of London’s financial journalists and a man thought to be the progenitor of the idea of “invisible trade” and the importance of it to economic growth.

Invisibles were (and remain!) exports of services – as opposed to exports of physical goods. The publication of “Britain’s Invisible Earnings” in 1958 marked an important moment for understanding the importance of services in contributing to aggregate demand and employment. Over fifty years later we need reminding of the significance of service exports. Britain is the second largest exporter of services in the world economy and the annual trade surplus in services makes a major contribution to the current account of the balance of payments. Here is a link to William Clarke’s obituary in the Independent written by Hamish McRae.