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New OECD Statistical Tools for Economic Analysis Presentation: Enrico Giovannini OECD Chief Statistician and Director of the Statistics Directorate

This event took place on Thursday, October 19, 2006
Capitol Hill Club, Private Dining Room 1
300 First Street SE, Washington DC 20036

Event Description:

Over the last two years the OECD carried out several projects to improve the availability and accessibility of short-term economic statistics. Particularly important has been the improvement of the Main Economic Indicators database, with the inclusion of several new indicators for OECD countries and the better coverage of key non-Members (Brazil, China, Russia, India and South Africa). Moreover, the OECD system of Composite Leading Indicators has been improved and extended to cover the largest non-OECD countries, offering to analysts a fundamental tool to assess the short-term evolution of the world economy.

More recently, special attention has been paid to revision analysis of economic indicators. As well known, the first releases of official statistics are often revised in subsequent releases, sometimes substantially.  Such revisions can impact on policy decisions, as revisions to first published data may alter the previous assessment of the state of the economy. Whilst this is a recognized issue of key importance, most producers of official statistics do not quantify expected revisions to their data and economists do not have the required data to test the sensitivity of their econometric models to revisions in input data.  This important gap motivated the OECD to develop a unique new product: the Main Economic Indicators Original Release Data and Revisions Database, which will enable economists to perform real-time data analysis of econometric models and producers of official statistics to study the magnitude and direction of subsequent revisions to published data.

Finally, in the context of the effort made to better measure economic globalization, the OECD has recently developed a brand new set of trade indicators, which allows very interesting analyses about competitiveness and market orientation for OECD countries.  

Mr. Giovannini will present these new developments, with concrete examples focused on the position of the United States vis-à-vis other OECD countries. 

Biography:

Enrico Giovannini has served as the Director of the Statistics Directorate and Chief Statistician of the OECD since 2001.  Mr. Giovannini has published and edited widely on applied econometrics, statistical analysis and national accounts.  He is an economist and Full Professor of economic statistics at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata.”  Under his leadership, in 2001 the OECD launched a new statistical strategy and reinforced its role in the international market of statistical information.  He currently serves on several committees of the United Nations, European Union and other international organizations.  Prior to joining the OECD, Mr. Giovannini was the Central Director for Economic Statistics on business and institutions at the Italian Statistical Institute (ISTAT).  He has also been a consultant on economic and econometric issues for the Ministry of Treasury and for the Italian Industrial Confederation, and is a member of a number of Italian and international committees.  Mr. Giovannini holds a degree in Economics from the University of Rome “La Sapienza.”