MAIN ECONOMIC INDICATORS Sources and Methods
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STATISTICS DIRECTORATE MAIN ECONOMIC INDICATORS Sources and Methods DOMESTIC FINANCE OCTOBER 1997 ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT Table of contents Page 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 5 2. Methodology ....................................................................................................................................... 8 Canada............................................................................................................................................. 10 Mexico............................................................................................................................................. 13 United States ................................................................................................................................... 15 Australia .......................................................................................................................................... 18 Japan................................................................................................................................................ 20 Korea ............................................................................................................................................... 23 New Zealand ................................................................................................................................... 25 Austria ............................................................................................................................................. 27 Belgium ........................................................................................................................................... 29 Czech Republic ............................................................................................................................... 31 Denmark.......................................................................................................................................... 33 Finland............................................................................................................................................. 35 France.............................................................................................................................................. 37 Germany.......................................................................................................................................... 40 Greece.............................................................................................................................................. 43 Hungary........................................................................................................................................... 45 Iceland ............................................................................................................................................. 47 Ireland ............................................................................................................................................. 49 Italy ................................................................................................................................................. 52 Luxembourg .................................................................................................................................... 55 Netherlands ..................................................................................................................................... 56 Norway............................................................................................................................................ 59 Poland.............................................................................................................................................. 61 Portugal ........................................................................................................................................... 63 Spain................................................................................................................................................ 65 Sweden ............................................................................................................................................ 68 Switzerland...................................................................................................................................... 70 Turkey ............................................................................................................................................. 73 United Kingdom.............................................................................................................................. 76 3. Sources .............................................................................................................................................. 80 4. Annex ................................................................................................................................................ 81 MAIN ECONOMIC INDICATORS 3 SOURCES AND METHODS OECD © October 1997 Supplements to Main Economic Indicators HISTORICAL STATISTICS Consumer Price Indices: Special issue, April 1994. Historical data and sources and definitions for all series Producer Price Indices: Special issue, April 1994. published in Main Economic Indicators are also avail- Labour and Wage Statistics: Sources and Methods, able on MEI on Statwise diskettes and on CD-ROM. April 1997. Sets of diskettes cover the latest 10-year period and each of the decades 1960-1969, 1970-1979 and 1980- Interest Rates and Share Prices: Sources and Methods, 1989. The CD-ROM includes data from 1960, where December 1997 (forthcoming). available. By country: Mexico: Sources and Methods, December 1996. SOURCES AND METHODS Korea: Sources and Methods, March 1997. This supplement is published in occasional instalments dealing either with one country's statistics on all sub- jects or with statistics for all countries on a particular SOURCES AND DEFINITIONS subject. Each booklet refers in principle to the selec- Sources and definitions of the statistics included in Part tion of series contained in the issue of Main Economic One and Part Two are available in English on the Indicators with which it was released. Those published Internet (http://www.oecd.org/std/mei.htm): since 1980 are listed below: The latest printed edition is as follows: By subject: Main Economic Indicators - Sources and Definitions Business Surveys: No. 37, April 1983. 1997, July 1997 OECD Leading Indicators and Business Cycles in Member countries: No. 39, January 1987. MAIN ECONOMIC INDICATORS 4 SOURCES AND METHODS OECD © October 1997 1. Introduction This Sources and Methods publication contains cal measures. In consequence the series selected for detailed descriptions of the methodologies used in inclusion in the MEI have been revised, which in turn Member countries to prepare the monetary indicators makes this update of sources and methods on domestic published in the domestic finance sections of Parts One finance series imperative. and Two of the OECD’s Main Economic Indicators (MEI) publication. The topics covered are: monetary Developments in Domestic Finance aggregates; credit indicators (including mortgages); and others indicators of financial market activity such as Domestic finance indicators aim to capture in deposits, bond issues and capital issues, other liquidity quantitative terms a highly important but heterogene- measures and indicators of public sector financing. ous and fast-evolving area. In the last twenty years, The publication is consistent with the indicators in- financial markets have been marked by turbulent cluded in the October 1997 issue of MEI. change. Key factors driving this change are: global- isation of the financial markets (unfortunately not yet The publication is one of a series produced by accompanied by any marked increase in the harmoni- OECD (those currently available are listed on the page sation of definitions); maturing of national economies opposite ) aimed at enhancing users’ ability to interpret and therefore the structure of the markets required to the quantitative data contained in MEI. The qualitative service their needs; increased sophistication of the ac- information (‘metadata’) provided here is an essential tors in these markets (on the one hand, the suppliers input to understanding the compilation of the underly- and the products they offer and, on the other, purchas- ing numerical data and for evaluating comparability at ers with ever more complex demands); rapid techno- the international level. A standard list of metadata logical change; and evolving regulatory frameworks. items, described below in the section on methodology, Two general results are evident. Firstly, there is an has been used to characterise national statistics ac- ongoing process to refine the concepts of money, li- cording to their definition, coverage, use of standards, quidity etc., and thus there is a need to review the com- data collection methods, data compilation and quality. ponents comprising these measures. Secondly, the In the Part One ‘Indicators by subject’ tables of divergent characteristics of national markets persist, MEI, two domestic finance indicators (narrow and making the compilation and presentation of meaning- broad money, all seasonally adjusted) are presented. ful, analytically useful indicators