1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910812138203321

Autore

Gonzalez-Garcia Jesus

Titolo

Benford’s Law and Macroeconomic Data Quality / / Jesus Gonzalez-Garcia, Gonzalo Pastor Campos

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Washington, D.C. : , : International Monetary Fund, , 2009

ISBN

1-4623-0634-9

1-4527-9144-9

1-4518-7157-0

9786612842320

1-282-84232-3

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (22 p.)

Collana

IMF Working Papers

Altri autori (Persone)

Pastor CamposGonzalo

Disciplina

339

Soggetti

Business & Economics

Economic Theory

Investments: General

Macroeconomics

Money and Monetary Policy

Statistics

Econometric and Statistical Methods: General

Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Macroeconomic Data

Data Access

Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth

Environmental Accounts

Monetary Systems

Standards

Regimes

Government and the Monetary System

Payment Systems

General Aggregative Models: General

Investment

Capital

Intangible Capital

Capacity

Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology

Computer Programs: Other

Current Account Adjustment

Short-term Capital Movements



Econometrics & economic statistics

Monetary economics

Currencies

National accounts

Gross fixed investment

Government finance statistics

Balance of payments statistics

Money

Economic and financial statistics

National income

Saving and investment

Finance

Balance of payments

United States

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di contenuto

Contents; I. Introduction; II. Benford's Law and Testing Methodology; A. Benford's Law; B. Testing Methodology; III. Conformity of Macroeconomic Data with Benford's Law; IV. Comparison of Goodness of Fit Tests Results with ROSC Assessments of Data Quality; V. Can Tests of Conformity with Benford's Law be Considered Reliable Indicators of Macroeconomic Data Quality ?; VI. Conclusion; Text Tables; 1. Banking Survey Statistics: Goodness of Fit Tests; 2. Balance of Payments Statistics: Goodness of Fit Tests; 3. National Accounts Statistics: Goodness of Fit Tests

4. Government Finance Statistics: Goodness of Fit Tests5. Rejections of Benford's Law and Shares of LNO and NO Ratings; Appendix: Country Groups and Data Series Used; Appendix Tables; A.1. Groups of Countries; A2. Data Series Tested; Text Figures; 1. Finland and Japan Nominal GDP; 2. Niger Nominal GDP, Household Consumption and Gross Fixed Capital Formation; References

Sommario/riassunto

This paper examines the usefulness of testing the conformity of macroeconomic data with Benford's law as indicator of data quality. Most of the macroeconomic data series tested conform with Benford's law. However, questions emerge on the reliability of such tests as indicators of data quality once conformity with Benford's law is contrasted with the data quality ratings included in the data module of the Reports on the Observance of Standards and Codes (data ROSCs). Furthermore, the analysis shows that rejection of Benford's law may be unrelated to the quality of statistics, and instead may result from marked structural shifts in the data series. Hence, nonconformity with Benford's law should not be interpreted as a reliable indication of poor quality in macroeconomic data.