Third Annual ESDS International Conference

ESDS International held a very successful third annual conference, Data Without Borders on the 3rd December 2007 at the Institute of Materials in London. The conference was well attended and attracted delegates from international governmental agencies, higher and further education, the library community, European social science data archives and the commercial sector. The event provided an opportunity for these users and providers of international data to meet and share their ideas on issues relating to international data research.

Siobhan Carey of the Department for International Development (DFID) opened the conference with the keynote speech. She spoke of the central role of evidence–based policy making plays in international development and how ESDS International has been instrumental in developing crucial data skills amongst researchers as well as stimulating the curiosity of students. Highlighting the difficulties DFID have in recruiting staff with a sufficient knowledge of international data sources, she argued that ESDS International was “essential for the development of a cohort of researchers with the skills to undertake comparative analyses”.  Later in the day, many of the data providers also raised the problems they face recruiting skilled staff with practical experience handling with international data as an issue, and welcomed the existence of ESDS International as a way to address this skills shortage.

Next to speak was Eileen Capponi, who presented the OECD’s three new data dissemination services and explained how they address the needs of a wide variety of audiences. Cathy Wright then spoke of the IMF’s move ‘into the 21st century’. She discussed how in the past the Fund had focused on the collection of data but is now working on the development of a statistics portal designed around user needs.  She also spoke about how the IMF works with other intergovernmental agencies to reduce the burden of reporting on developing countries through the establishment of data exchange processes and standards. Finally, she highlighted the two new databases the Fund currently has under development: a global database on bilateral foreign direct investment and the Financial Soundness Indicators, which addresses the need for better tools to assess the strengths and vulnerabilities of the financial system.

After a short break, Jeff Johnson of the International Labour Organisation spoke of the establishment of a new millennium development goal that reflects the central role of productive and decent work in poverty alleviation. Labour, he argued, is often the only asset the poor can offer and lies at the heart of social development.  The revised indicators include measures of vulnerable employment, such as paid or unpaid family work which often lacks social protection, and the share of the working poor (those earning under a US$1 a day) in total employment.  Jeff was followed by Jean-Yves Garnier of the International Energy agency, who gave a lively presentation on the development of the IEA’s statistics resources on energy security, economic development and the environment. He too stressed the shortage of experienced staff with practical data handling skills and discussed how the Agency is working to raise the profile of statistics and the role of statisticians.

From Left: Jeff Johnson, Cathy Wright, Eileen Capponi and Jean-Yves Garnier.

The data providers' panel discussion then followed, chaired by Andre Noor of the School of Oriental and African Studies.  Questions included:

How do you measure the informal economy?
Jeff Johnson of the International Labour Organization responded that different countries often have data relating to the informal economy but there is a problem of standard definitions.  The International Energy Agency cited bio fuel, such as the domestic burning of wood, as an example of an energy source that is difficult to capture, although an important resource for developing countries.

Changing standards with the GFS resulted in a slicing of the time series. Is there anything the IMF can do to avoid this in future?  
Cathy Wright replied that the IMF understand that long runs of data are valuable and one of the major steps in introducing changes is to go back through time to find concordances within the data.  As custodians of the data, the IMF revise data back as far as possible after the introduction of new methodological standards. However, the Fund do not want to send out misleading data and these revisions take place only as far as is believed to be reliable. 

Will the GFS data be revised back to 1972?
No the data will not be revised back that far.  The GFS is troublesome in that countries provide the IMF with data that may be politically acceptable but different from the actual data used for their operational purposes.

How will the reforms that have taken place at the IMF over the last year affect the statistical activities of the Fund?
The reforms present new challenges for the Statistical department of the Fund but it is not at present anticipated that the statistical activities will be impacted.

Over lunch the poster session included international data researchers, Styliani Christodoulopoulou from the University of Essex who presented 'The determinants of business cycle correlations: a comparison between OECD and non-OECD economies' and Gabriele Amorosi from the University of Kent presenting the ' Income Inequality, Economic Growth and the role of Financial Markets; some new empirical evidence'. The remaining poster presentations focused on services and projects, including 'ESRC Society Today' presented by Sarah Dickinson, 'Intute: Social Sciences' and four EDINA repository projects - 'JORUM, Depot, GRADE and DataShare' all presented by Stuart Macdonald and the CESSDA Data Portal presented by Margaret Ward and Jack Kneeshaw from the UK Data Archive.

After lunch the International Data Academic Research session chaired by Luis Martinez Uribe of the London School of Economics began with a presentation by Silvia Dal Bianco from the University of Oxford and University of Pavia on an ‘Alternative hypothesis of cross-country convergence. A non-parametric analysis of manufacturing sectors’.  There followed a comprehensive talk on the ‘Effect of external debt on economic growth in middle-income countries’ by Marianna Koli of the University of Manchester.  Hamna Ahmad from the University of Warwick presented her paper ‘Is inflation a fiscal phenomenon in Pakistan?’ and Prof Glauco De Vita, Oxford Brookes University and Dr Andrew Abbott from the University of Bath presented their planned research project ‘How do different exchange rate regimes affect foreign direct investment flows?

The day ended with an ESDS International session chaired by the ESDS Director Prof Kevin Schürer during which Celia Russell, Susan Noble and Jack Kneeshaw gave a presentation on the specialist international data service and how to access both the macro and micro data.

The conference was enjoyed by all with animated discussions throughout the day. Comments following the event included:

• A very good conference! I found it very enjoyable indeed.
• Many thanks for the ESDS International Conference on Monday 3 December. I enjoyed it very much and found it very informative
• I’m always amazed by the detailed questions asked by conference participants, indicating a very good knowledge of the data from international organizations. 
• The greatest aspect of the conference was the bringing together of data providers and data users. This allowed researchers such as myself to have some face to face time with data providers which is amazingly more efficient than communicating electronically and allows data providers the opportunity to gain greater insight into what user concerns are.
• Very convenient, easy to find, and also very nice venue! Good atmosphere! 
• Do it again next year!

Further information about all ESDS Internationals annual conferences including reports, programmes and proceedings can be found at http://www.esds.ac.uk/international/news/conf.asp.