Assorted Reports

2010 Human Development Report

Land, Environment and Climate Change; Challenges, responses and Tools

Urban Land Markets:Economic Concepts and Tools for engaging in Africa

State of the World Population 2010: from conflict and crisis to renewal: generations of change

Measuring the Information Society

Information Economy Report 2010: ICTs, Enterprises and Poverty Alleviation

Economic Diversification in Africa: A Review of Selected Countries

World Economic Outlook : Recovery, Risk and Rebalancing October 2010

Trends in Sustainable Development – Small Island Developing States 2010-2011

2010 World Social Science report

eAtlas of the Millennium Development Goals

Financial Access Report 2010: the state of financial inclusion through the crisis

Charting the progress of the millennium development goals in the Arab Region: a statistical portrait

2010 Global Education Digest

Trade and Development Report 2010: Employment, globalization and development

World Trade Report 2010: Trade in natural resources


Global Employment Trends for Youth 2010

World Investment Report 2010:Investing in a low-carbon economy

Land Inventory in Botswana: Processes and Lessons

Philippines - Study on agribusiness, infrastructure, and logistics for growth in Mindanao : policy note

Poland - Public land and property asset management in Warsaw : strategic opportunities

Afghanistan - Scoping strategic options for development of the Kabul River Basin : a multisectoral decision support system approach

China - Concessionary financing programs for the water and sanitation sector : policy note

Effective discipline with adequate autonomy : the direction for further reform of China's SOE dividend policy

Syrian Arab Republic - Electricity sector strategy note

Niger - Towards an integrated and sustainable pension system

Solomon Islands growth prospects : constraints and policy priorities

Vietnam development report 2010 : modern institutions

Cambodia - Sustaining rapid growth in a challenging environment : country economic memorandum

Tunisia - Development policy review : towards innovation-driven growth


Education, training, and labor market outcomes for youth in Indonesia

Pakistan - City development strategy for Peshawar

Serbia - Right-sizing the government wage bill

Malaysia economic monitor : repositioning for growth

Peru - Rethinking private sector participation in infrastructure

South Africa - Enhancing the effectiveness of government in promoting mcro, small and medium enterprise

Strengthening Caribbean pensions : improving equity and sustainability

Kosovo - Youth in jeopardy : being young, unemployed, and poor in Kosovo - a report on youth employment in Kosovo

Armenia - Public financial management reform priorities

Understanding Economic Statistics: An OECD Perspective

A book review;

Good economic statistics are fundamental for good research and policymaking, and Understanding Economic Statistics: An OECD Perspective shows how to avoid confusion and get to the information the user really wants. Its aim is to help readers to better understand how to use economic statistics in general and OECD statistics in particular.

If you want to know how the production of international statistics is organised, who the main data producers are and what databases are available over the internet, this is the book for you. Students and researchers will find it useful in gathering the evidence they need to do their work. The book will help journalists and other analysts evaluate economic trends or assess the effectiveness of policies.

It starts by giving a brief account of how the demand for statistics has evolved over the last 50 years and also takes a look into the future. If you wish to know the difference between a trend, a cycle and a seasonal variation, or how an economic system is defined, or even how the growth of an economy is measured, then this book will tell you. Understanding Economic Statistics describes how the international statistical system is organised and tells us who the main producers of economic statistics are. It also contains references to the main databases available on the internet. A whole chapter is entirely devoted to the OECD’s own statistical work and shows how to compare the economic structure of OECD countries, or measure innovation or globalisation.

So, can you always believe the numbers you read? This book debates this question and helps distinguish between good and bad data, including official ones. Readers will quickly realise that, much to statisticians chagrin, not all policy decisions are based on them!

Chapter 1. The Demand for Economic Statistics
Chapter 2. Basic Concepts, Definitions, and Classifications
-The Economic System
-Economic Agents
--Households
--Enterprises
--General Government
-Economic Aggregates
--Production
--Consumption
--Values at Current and Constant Prices
--Index Numbers
--Time Series
Chapter 3. The Main Producers of Economic Statistics
-The International Statistical System
-The OECD Statistical System
-The European Statistical System and the European System of Central Banks
Chapter 4. An Overview of OECD Economic Statistics
-Agriculture and Fisheries Statistics
-Energy Statistics
-Industry and Services Statistics
-General Government
-Science, Technology and Innovation
-Globalisation
-Short-Term Economic Indicators
-Labour Statistics
-Income Distribution and Housholds' Conditions
-Monetary and Financial Statistics
-National Accounts
-OECD Economic Forecasts
-Territorial Statistics
-Economic History
Chapter 5. Assessing the Quality of Economic Statistics
-The Dimensions of Quality
-International Initiatives for the Evaluation of Quality