Konrad Pesendorfer Director General Statistics Austria Quality Conference

Konrad Pesendorfer Director General Statistics Austria Quality Conference 2018 Krakow, 27 June 2018 www. statistik. at Quality makes the Difference Comparative Advantage and Raison d’Être of Official Statistics in the 21 st Century We provide information

…once upon a time Georg Ferdinand Waldmüller www. statistik. at Lawr Kusmitsch Plachow slide 2 |

…live was clearly structured… Otto Wellingk www. statistik. at Philippe de Champaigne Georg Ferdinand Waldmüller slide 3 |

Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) www. statistik. at slide 4 |

Industrial Revolution www. statistik. at slide 5 |

Digital Revolution Facebook launched in 2004 Google founded in 1998 www. statistik. at You. Tube started in 2005 slide 6 |

Communication has fundamentally changed Features • • www. statistik. at Speed 24 h/24 h direct anonymous 140/280 Characters Pictures replace words Echo Chambers slide 7 |

The Internet Minute www. statistik. at slide 8 |

Societies have become more diverse… …and the complexity of our lives has increased www. statistik. at slide 9 |

…dealing with complexity (1) Information selection mechanism www. statistik. at (2) Complexity Rejection slide 10 |

“Everything should be made as simple as possible… …but not simpler!” (Albert Einstein, 1879 – 1955) www. statistik. at slide 11 |

Implications for Statistics Group 1 Group 2 More data More timeliness • • Digitalisation • • Loss of information monopoly New data sources www. statistik. at t s u r T • • • Fact fatigue Reject institutions Reject evidence and expertise Complex world • • Global phenomena cannot be measured nationally Number of complex phenomena to be described increased slide 12 |

Institutional Environment EU-Statistics Regulation (EC) Nr. 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council Statistical Principles www. statistik. at Professional Independence Impartiality Objectivity Reliability Statistical Confidentiality Cost Effectiveness slide 13 |

Quality of Official Statistics: Quality Dimensions Relevance Accuracy Timeliness Punctuality Accessibility Coherence www. statistik. at Comparability slide 14 |

Quality Dimensions Positive correlation Negative correlation Accuracy Relevance Timeliness Punctuality Accessibility Coherence www. statistik. at Comparability slide 15 |

Users‘ Utility Curves – Timeliness/Accuracy Statistical Utility Curves of different Users 80% Official Statistics Comfort Zone 70% 60% 50% user 1 user 2 user 3 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% quick and dirty www. statistik. at standard quality highest accuracy slide 16 |

Competitive Position - Official Statistics Quality dimensions Competitive Position of official statistics comparative disadvantage comparative advantage relevance accuracy timeliness punctual. . . accessibi. . . compara. . . coherence -3 www. statistik. at -2 -1 0 1 2 3 Subjective Survey: n = 1 slide 17 |

Relevance (1) • Do we measure the right things? Agriculture & Geospatial Statistics Environment Tourism Datagap Geo-related Statistics Land use and Land prices www. statistik. at Economic Statistics Business Statistics National Accounts Social Statistics Datagap Services Sector Wealth Micro-Macro linking GVC Commercial Real Estate Prices Health Comparable TUS Victims of Crime Trust in institutions Mobility slide 18 |

Relevance (2) • Do measure the right things in the right way? Labour Market Statistics International Trade • Services not covered • Summing up goods crossing borders www. statistik. at • New forms of work • Migrant workers Environment Statistics • Green Jobs Digitalisation Social Exclusion • Productivity impact • Gig economy • Price/quality adjustments • Comparable vs national poverty measures • Measurement beyond poverty slide 19 |

Timeliness Dimensions of timeliness Time lag www. statistik. at Reactivity to new demands slide 20 |

Timeliness: Timelag e c en Pe d o ri n o ti il ca r e f Re b u P • Constraints: Ø www. statistik. at data availibility • Instruments: Ø Preliminary data Ø Modelling/early estimates slide 21 |

Timeliness: Reactivity to new demands in the EU EC proposal ESS Experts Groups ESSC CWPS EP trilogue EP Council Decision National Implementation Reference Period Statistics Production • Comparability: multilateral debate/agreements needed • Coherence: time required for development • Democratic processes take time • Get the stability/flexibility balance right • No leeway to speed up? www. statistik. at slide 22 |

Product development cycle a p i c it n a e t New products development takes several years… www. statistik. at slide 23 |

Timeliness: Reactivity to new demands nationally EC proposal ESS Experts Groups ESSC CWPS EP trilogue EP Council Decision National Implementation Reference Period Statistics Production • Give up on comparability • Experimental statistics • Use new/alternative data sources www. statistik. at slide 24 |

Accessability www. statistik. at slide 25 |

From accessability to proactive data communication Visualisation www. statistik. at slide 26 |

Conclusions • Today‘s world has become very complex • Implications for statistics mixed • Digitalisation Ø Huge opportunities Ø Loss of monopoly for official statistics • Quality is our comparative advantage • But we need to improve Ø anticipate Ø innovate Ø communicate www. statistik. at slide 27 |

…and we need to dare trying new things… www. statistik. at slide 28 |