1. Peter van de Ven Head of National Accounts, OECD
The value added of official statistics: an overview of possible methods for Monetisation
CESS-conference, October , 2016
Session A3
Peter van de Ven
Head of National Accounts, OECD

2. Starting point UNECE Task Force on the Value of Statistics
Preliminary report discussed at the 2016 meeting of the Conference of European Statisticians
More fundamental remark: further expand the report to include (im)possibilities to monetise official statistics
A draft report has recently been finalised, for consultation among members of the Task Force
Five different approaches described, with pros and cons

3. Five approaches Cost-based approach Market (equivalent) pricing
Stated preference methods
Revealed preference methods
Impact assessments
Short discussion of the first three methods, Thilo Klein will present some examples of the latter two methods
Shortly address the main pros and cons of each of the methods

4. Cost-based approach (1)
Monetary value = operational costs to produce statistics (compensation of employees, intermediate consumption and depreciation of fixed assets)
Method similar to national accounts
Represents the willingness to pay for statistics by the society at large
Some measurement issues:
Coverage of official statistics: including costs of all statistical authorities; including/excluding costs incurred by respondents, database providers and users?
Treatment of one-off budgets (census, investment for improving statistics, etc.)

5. Cost-based approach (2)
However …, this valuation does not truly represent the output value of statistics
So, what’s the value added?
Showing the relatively low costs (per capita, as % of GDP)
Monitoring of developments of inputs over time, also allowing for comparisons with some output indicators
Comparisons across countries, but …
Comparisons with the monetary values derived from the other methods (returns on expenditures related to statistics)

6. Market (equivalent) pricing
Various private companies exploit statistics commercially:
CPI: Premise and Pricestats
Business data: Bureau van Dijk
Macro-economic statistics: CEIC and Haver Analytics
General: Statista.com
Use the market prices charged to monetise official statistics
However …
The relevant companies exploit certain commercial niches
They may also provide additional services
Limited to specific areas of statistics
Underemphasising the use for policy and research
But … it may be a useful approach for certain areas

7. Stated preference method
Basically, asking users of statistics directly, via surveys, what they would be “willing to pay” for or “willing to accept” in return for official statistics
Main advantages:
Flexible and straightforward
Potential to arrive at a relatively complete coverage
Most widely accepted method
Main disadvantages:
Willingness to pay can differ substantially from what people would be willing to pay in practice
Survey can be expensive and time-consuming

8. Revealed preference method and impact assessments
Examples, see presentation by Thilo Klein
Main difference between stated preference and revealed preference: instead of asking people about their willingness to pay, inferring their preferences from actual choices
Main advantages:
Very compelling stories
Standardised methodology (advertisement method)
Main disadvantages:
Coverage issues: only focused on general public (advertisement method), problematic to generalise the methodology, difficult to replicate (school choice)
Other factors impacting on the analysis (school choice)

9. Overall conclusions
For reasons of coverage and ease of application, the cost-based approach, the stated preference method and the revealed preference method (advertisements) are to be preferred,
Although … stated preference method may be quite expensive and time-consuming, also lacking external validation
However … revealed preference method (school choice) and impact assessment are able to provide very compelling stories on the value added of statistics
More experience needed, encourage countries to apply certain methods, to be put in a repository

10. A health warning!

11. Thank you for your attention!