Improving Business Statistics Through Interagency Data Sharing Summary of a Workshop (2006) / Chapter Skim
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3 Research and Policy Perspectives on the Benefits of Business Data Sharing
3 Research and Policy Perspectives on the Benefits of Business Data Sharing
Pages 27-38
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From page 27... ...
. Schultze cited the widely held view that, in the short to medium run, the CES payroll series is the best measure for judging cyclical strength or weakness of the economy, but he suggested that policy makers and analysts should pay attention to the employment estimates in the CPS household survey as well and support efforts to reconcile the two series.
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From page 28... ...
The afternoon session featured the perspectives of data users outside the statistical agencies. Carol Corrado opened the discussion of user needs and concerns related to data sharing with a presentation on monetary policy and research at the Federal Reserve Board (FRB)
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From page 29... ...
Conventional industry-based productivity studies rely on output data from the Census Bureau and input measures from the BLS. Corrado pointed out that a calculation in which the numerator and the denominator are derived from the same survey or survey frame would have obvious statistical advantages.
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From page 30... ...
A reconciliation of the Census Bureau and BLS business lists has the potential to create more uniform and comparable measures of output, employment, and, in turn, productivity. Although anecdotal information will always be used to some extent, Corrado argued that a system that includes a consistent historical time series is vital to research and policy at the FRB.
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From page 31... ...
DOMESTIC CAPITAL ACCOUNT 5. FOREIGN TRANSACTION CAPITAL ACCOUNT Gross Domestic Capital Formation Equals Balance on Current Account Equals Gross Domestic Savings Payments to Rest of the World and Net Lending or Borrowing 6.
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From page 32... ...
Jorgenson provided these examples to illustrate how data choice (in this case, the Census Bureau versus BLS data on shares of labor and growth measures) affects the internal consistency of the accounts and the ability to obtain accurate macroeconomic measures.
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From page 33... ...
To illustrate, Jorgenson calculated differences in productivity growth implied by the Census Bureau and BLS data. Differences at the industry level are typically much higher than the 5 percent that he found in the aggregate
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From page 34... ...
For some industries, such as oil and gas extraction, the Census Bureau figure is 50 percent lower than the BLS figure. At the industry level, one of the most dramatic differences between value-added growth, as estimated using the Census Bureau data rather than BLS data on wages and salaries, is for the computer and office equipment industry.
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From page 35... ...
Given the earlier access to book statements, if the relationship between a firm's tax returns and the book financial statements is clear, then the latter should enable analysts to begin modeling a year or two ahead of the release of SOI figures. A problem arising from using financial statements is that more than one, and possibly several hundred, matching tax returns may exist.
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From page 36... ...
Benefits of the Schedule M-3 include reconciliation of income from the worldwide consolidated financial statement and from the income statement of includible corporations; reconciliation of book income of includible corporations with tax net income; and delineation of differences between book and tax income as temporary or permanent. The new form should help the IRS, Treasury, and BEA better understand how financial reporting can inform tax administration.
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From page 37... ...
To the extent that it is possible to enlarge the effective sample sizes through sharing of existing resources, budget analysts might be able to anticipate and answer questions before they arise. Holtz-Eakin suggested that timeliness of input data improves budget forecasting in an important way: when budget forecasts can be based on timely data, fewer revisions are required, leading to more consistent histories.
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From page 38... ...
Holtz-Eakin noted the importance of providing access to data used by CBO in order to improve the transparency of the processes, since the ability to explain how forecasting is done is just as important as doing it. For example, allowing outside analysts to produce a parallel set of estimates facilitates two important kinds of comparisons: comparisons that are "prickly and uncomfortable" but that provide information from the mistakes, and ones that provide transparency to the policy process.
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