Incorporating microdata into macro policy decision-making

Author(s): 
Jean-Marc Israël, Former Head of Division, European Central Bank and Bruno Tissot, Head of Statistics and Research Support, Bank for International Settlements

Click the button below to download the full text of the article.

 

 

Abstract: The ongoing expansion of granular data sets calls for broadening official statistical frameworks to benefit from this information in order to assist the assembling of macroeconomic aggregates and/or facilitate the linkage between micro- and macrolevel statistics. It can also provide important analytical benefits and effectively support central bank policies, with a greater ability to ‘zoom in’ on particular areas of interest and assess the distribution of macroeconomic aggregates within reporting populations. There are, however, important challenges associated with dealing with these data sets, for instance with regard to their quality, confidentiality and the manner of accessing them. Indeed, the task of integrating (granular and) microfinancial information in macro frameworks has proved more complex than initially thought, and many challenges have yet to be addressed. This paper discusses an important issue: how to make use of granular information from private sources which are not part of the official statistics framework.

 

Keywords: official statistics; granular data; policymaking; central banking; data integration

 

Jean-Marc Israël is head of division in the ECB DG-Statistics. Over 20 years he has successively dealt with external statistics, eg balance of payments and effective exchange rates, with monetary and financial statistics covering nearly all financial sectors in the euro area, eg banks, insurance, investment funds, securitisation vehicles, and market indicators such as (daily) money market rates, (monthly) bank retail interest rates or payment statistics. He now steers large projects related to banks’ reporting, notably AnaCredit, the banks’ integrated reporting dictionary and the integrated reporting framework. He started his career at Banque de France and has coauthored three ECB Occasional Papers.

Bruno Tissot is the Head of Statistics and Research Support at the BIS and Head of the Secretariat of the Irving Fisher Committee on Central Bank Statistics (IFC). He has been at the BIS since 2001, as Senior Economist and Secretary to the Markets Committee of Central Banks in the Monetary and Economic Department and then as the Adviser to the General Manager and Secretary to the BIS Executive Committee. Between 1994 and 2001 he worked for the French Ministry of Finance. He is currently Head of BIS Statistics and Research Support, having graduated from École Polytechnique (Paris) and the French Statistical Office, INSEE.
 

Volume Number: 
6
Read this featured article now.
To read this article and receive further updates on Henry Stewart Publications content please register using the form below.