Statistics to Meet Policy Needs: The Labour of Sisypho

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Statistics to Meet Policy Needs The Labour of
Sisypho

• Enrico Giovannini

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Some basic facts

• According to users opinion
• data always come too late
• the coverage is insufficient
• the comparability is poor
• classifications are outdated
• independence in official statistics is questioned
• Conclusion confidence in official statistics is
  often limited

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New challenges

• Integration between economic, social and
  environmental dimensions
• Increasing role of intangible products
• Globalisation of economic and social phenomena
• Reduction in overall resources devoted to
  official statistics
• Competition between official and private sources

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Aim of the paper

• Instruments used in OECD countries to identify
  users needs
• Initiatives to improve the dialogue between
  statisticians and policy makers in developing
  countries
• The involvement of statisticians in policy
  decision making processes
• How to improve the dialogue
• the role of national statistical agencies
• the role of international organisations

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Instruments to identify users needs

• In all OECD countries there is a full awareness
  of the importance of establishing and maintaining
  a continuous dialogue with users
• The state of the art depends on
• the seniority of the national statistical system
• the organisation of the national statistical
  system
• institutional and cultural factors

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The importance of having a National Statistical
Council

• According to the UN Handbook on the Organisation
  of a Statistical Agency, the Council
• can be used for the defence of the Agency
• can be the guardian of fundamental values
• can evaluate how existing resources are allocated
  to meet different needs
• can support initiatives proposed or undertaken by
  the Statistical Agency
• Ad hoc committees are also used

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At international level the picture is very
heterogeneous (1)

• Eurostat
• Dialogue with other DGs and with ECB
• Co-operation with NSOs (working groups, etc.)
• Advisory Committee on Statistical Information in
  the Economic and Social Spheres (CEIES)
• Co-decision procedure involves the EU Council and
  the European Parliament
• OECD
• Co-operation with national experts (committees,
  etc.)
• High Level Group on Statistics

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At international level the picture is very
heterogeneous (2)

• UN Statistical Division
• UN Regional Commissions
• UN bodies
• UN Statistical Commission
• Dialogue with the rest of the UN family
• International Monetary Fund
• Working groups and committees
• Dialogue with IMF Directorates

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At international level the picture is very
heterogeneous (3)

• Other tools
• Co-operation between international organisations
• Conference of European Statisticians
• National statistical societies
• International statistical associations
• Ad-hoc conferences and workshops

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In conclusion

• Several tools are available, at national and
  international levels, to identify users needs
• At least in OECD countries
• Therefore, the often mentioned lack of
  statisticians capacity in meeting users needs
  is not due to the lack of opportunities where to
  have a dialogue between statisticians and policy
  makers

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The case of developing countries

• The Millennium Declaration stated the goal of
• halving the proportion of people living under 1
  a
• day in 2015
• UN, IMF, OECD and WB agreed a formulation for
• the Millennium Development Goals and related
• indicators
• 8 goals
• 18 targets
• 48 indicators
• The UN Secretary General has to produce annual
• reports, starting in 2002

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• The MDGs provide an accountability framework for
  reporting at national and international levels
• Such monitoring and reporting system requires
  reliable, timely and relevant statistics
• This, in turn, requires that sufficient resources
  are put into the statistical system
• The issue is how to ensure
• that policy makers allocate necessary resources?
• that good statistics are produced following the
  MDG framework?

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The PARIS21 initiative

• UN, OECD, WB, IMF and Eurostat have founded a
• Consortium to
• bring together donors and governments in support
  of country-owned development strategies
• demonstrate the power and use of statistics for
  policy decisions
• support the collection of the right information
  for policy making
• share knowledge and foster co-ordination
• build sustainable statistical capacity, by better
  use of data as a tool for more effective
  development

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• Main tools
• regional workshops,
• brochures,
• newsletter
• web-site
• etc.
• Initiatives are financed by a Trust Fund for
• Statistical capacity Building, managed by the
• World Bank

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In conclusion

• In developing countries the main problem is the
  creation of a statistical culture among policy
  makers and civil societies
• Various initiatives undertaken by international
  organisations and individual countries are
  important
• Co-ordination between international organisations
  is quite good
• Funds available for this purpose are largely
  insufficient

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The involvement of statisticians in policy
decision making processes

• When data are already available,
• statisticians have
• the responsibility to make them easily accessible
  and interpretable to policy makers
• to prepare tailored products/services for helping
  legislators to take their decisions
• to present integrated frameworks where available
  statistical information provided by different
  sources is presented
• to co-operate with substantive analysts to
  develop models, to interpret their results, etc.

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• When new data have to be collected, policy makers
• have
• to involve official statisticians in identifying
  new needs, from the early beginning
• to leave official statisticians free to establish
  definitions and classifications according to
  scientific criteria
• to ensure that necessary resources are provided
• to balance new and existing needs, ensuring that
  official statistics provide a comprehensive and
  up-to-date picture of the economy and the
  society, taking into account the demand coming
  from the civil society

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In conclusion

• The role of official statisticians as pure data
  providers is too narrow
• Official statisticians have to help lawmakers to
  understand economic and social phenomena, as well
  as their interactions
• Needs expressed by policy makers have to be
  balanced with those expressed by the rest of the
  society
• The scientific independence of statisticians has
  to be guaranteed by law and by concrete policy
  makers behaviours

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How to improve the dialogue?

• The role of national statistical agencies
• to develop as wide as possible relationships with
  academia
• to develop specific products to help lawmakers,
  and in particular parliamentarians, in preparing
  legislation
• to invest resources to improve the dialogue with
  media and their understanding of statistics
• to develop close relationships with business
  associations and their opinion leaders
• to promote the general confidence in the national
  statistical system as a key player in the
  information society

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• The role of International Organisations. The case
  of
• the OECD
• several research projects have been launched in
  co-operation with academic institutions and
  researchers
• the OECD work programme is established by
  national delegates representing governments
• initiatives have been undertaken to improve
  visibility of statistics to journalists and
  opinion leaders
• a joint action plan has been defined with the
  OECD Business and Industry Advisory Committee
• two new media have been developed
• The OECD Statistics Newsletter
• Statistics Brief.

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• More generally, international organisations
• have to play a role of facilitator for exchanging
  experiences
• can offer policy makers an integrated view of
  what are current and emerging users needs
• have to improve the communication to the
  non-statistical world about the main conclusions
  of international statistical meetings
• have to collect and invest more resources
• in developing new statistical concepts,
  definitions, classifications
• in helping the creation of adequate statistical
  capacities in developing countries and in
  emerging global players

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Is it really a labour of Sisypho?

• Yes, it is, because even though statisticians are
  trying to do their best to meet current and
  future needs, there will always be a group of
  unsatisfied users
• However, this is our life and we have to do our
  best, balancing between different and
  contradictory needs, as well as the optimal
  allocation of resources
• New technologies offer a fundamental contribution
  in improving the cost-efficiency of statistical
  activities, but they cannot solve all problems
• It is still up to statisticians to develop new
  institutional, methodological and organisational
  solutions to make the statistical picture of
  society as accurate, timely and reliable as
  possible

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Is it really a labour of Sisypho?

• International organisations can play a
  fundamental role in helping national policy
  makers and statisticians to identify needs and
  the most appropriate solutions
• In addition, they have to promote the awareness
  of policy makers on the role of statistics and an
  instrument of democracy, in each country and at
  international level
• We statisticians have to help both policy makers
  and individuals to adopt well informed
  decision-making processes
• Because the quality of our life, and the life of
  future generations, depends on these processes,
  we should be happy to be condemned to play the
  role of Sisypho