Presentazione di PowerPoint

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Maximising the Effectiveness of National
Statistical Offices What Does It Mean?
Enrico Giovannini President of the Italian
Statistical Institute
New York, February 2010
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• The Istat mission
• To serve the society through the production
  and communication of high-quality statistical
  information and analyses, produced in full
  authonomy using rigourous ethical and
  professional principles and the most advanced
  statistical standards, in order to develop an
  in-depth knowledge of environmental, economic and
  social conditions of Italy, at different
  territorial levels, and to foster decision-making
  processes of all components of the society
  (citizens, policy makers, etc.)

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• The Istat vision
• Istat intends to be an innovative
  administration, committed to serve the society
  fostering the professionalism and the integrity
  of its staff, establishing appropriate working
  conditions and minimising its impact on the
  environment.Istat respects the privacy of
  respondents, protects the confidentiality of data
  collected and carries out its work in a
  transparent and independent manner. Istat is
  committed to achieve the maximum effectiveness
  and efficiency in the use of available resources
  and to foster the development of the National
  Statistical System and the collaboration with
  other public administrations, research institutes
  and civil society, also to improve statistical
  literacy.
• Istat is part of the European Statistical System
  and cooperates with the other members of the
  international statistical system.

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• The output of official statistics
• A recent carried out on 28 countries indicates
  that the most frequently used output indicators
  include
• number of publications (or number of releases)
• number of publication copies sent to subscribers
  
• number of visits to the Internet page
• number of indicators accessible in the Internet
  databases
• number of tables viewed in the Internet
  databases
• number of presentations at conferences and
  seminars number of media quotations.
• Many NSOs also try to measure the quality of
  output with quantitative indicators (punctuality
  of releases, revisions in statistical database,
  etc.) or users satisfaction surveys

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• How to measure the output of official statistics
• According to the International Standard Industry
  Classification (ISIC Rev.1), the production of
  official statistics is a non-market service
• Part of Section L, Division 75 Public
  Administration and Defence
• Group 7511 Administration of the State and the
  economic and social policy of the community,
  which includes
• administration and operation of overall economic
  and social planning and statistical services at
  the various levels of government

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• How to measure the output of official statistics
• According to the SNA93, services are the result
  of a production activity that changes the
  conditions of the consuming units
• The changes that consumers of services engage the
  producers to bring about can take a variety of
  different forms such as
• (a) changes in the condition of the consumers
  goods
• (b) changes in the physical condition of persons
• (c) changes in the mental condition of persons

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• How to measure the output of official statistics
• According to the Atkinsons Report
• the output of the government sector should
  in principle be measured in a way that is
  adjusted for quality, taking into account of the
  attributable incremental contribution of the
  service to the outcome
• So, what is the outcome of the consumption of
  statistics?
• Knowledge

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• How to measure the output of official statistics
• N
• VAS S (QSA MFi RSi TSi NLi)
  CS
• i 1
• VAS value added of official statistics
• QSA official statistical information produced
• MFi role played by media to disseminate QSA to
  the user
• RSi relevance of QSA to the user
• TSi trust in official statistics
• NLi users numeracy
• CS cost of producing official statistics

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• Empirical evidence
• 69 of Europeans think that it is necessary to
  know economic key data
• 53 of Europeans are not able even to guess the
  GDP growth rate in their country. 8 know the
  right figure
• 45 of Europeans do not trust official statistics
• In the US the five main TV channels report GDP
  figures only in the 46 of cases, the 27 main
  newspapers in the 39 of cases
• 40 of Americans never heard of official GDP data
  or the source agency

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• Statistical information produced (QSA)
• More information available than ever
• New domains, new breakdowns
• Longitudinal studies and microdata
• Indicators
• ...
• Competition with the private sector
• Opinion polls
• Administrative data
• Growing users needs
• Globalisation
• Timeliness
• MAIN MESSAGE resources are the constraint

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• Role of media (MFi)
• New channels
• Internet
• YouTube
• ...
• New tools
• Visualisation and videos
• Wikis, blogs, twitter, ...
• ...
• New information brokers
• Specialised websites
• People
• ...
• MAIN MESSAGE be proactive and innovative

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• Relevance for each and every user (RSi)
• New formats of releases
• Redesign press releases, websites and
  datawarehouses
• Establish links to other content (tagging,
  wordclouds, etc.)
• ...
• Engage users in designing products
• Statistical tables and charts
• Wikis and blogs
• ...
• Change the language
• Use laymans language
• Engage young generations and prosumers
• ...
• MAIN MESSAGE harness the power of new
  technologies and of collective intelligence

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• Role of Trust (TSi)
• Measure trust and evaluate the corporate image
• Opinion surveys
• Focus groups
• ...
• Be transparent
• Admit mistakes and manage revisions
• Engage users in regular quality evaluations
• ...
• Be authoritative
• Implement the IV fundamental principle in a
  balanced way
• Establish a continuous dialogue with media
• ...
• MAIN MESSAGE do not take trust for granted

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• Role of numeracy (NLi)
• Invest in statistical literacy
• Statistics at school
• Training courses for journalists and policy
  makers
• ...
• Establish partnerships
• Governmental and non-governamental organisations
• Scientific associations
• ...
• Engage parliaments at national and local levels
• Provide dedicated services
• Establish a continuous dialogue with
  parlamentarians
• ...
• MAIN MESSAGE enhancing numeracy is part of
  statistical offices mandate

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• Cost of producing statistics (CS)
• Develop an effective system for planning
• Continuous evaluation of positive and negative
  priorities
• Build medium term scenarios
• ...
• Establish a quality framework
• Rolling reviews to identify and share best
  practices
• Create a conducive environment for innovation
• ...
• Engage external experts and reviewers
• Exploit new developments in ICT
• Engage academics and research institutes to test
  new ideas
• ...
• MAIN MESSAGE exploit all opportunities and
  be ready to implement both minor and radical
  changes