SNA Research agenda Herman Smith United Nations Statistics Division - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

SNA Research agenda Herman Smith United Nations Statistics Division Thirteenth Meeting of the UN Committee of Experts on Environmental-Economic Accounting 21-22 June 2018

Outline ▪ Background ▪ ISWGNA Task Force on Research Agenda ▪ Some example of issues ▪ Timeline 2

Background ▪ 10-year anniversary since the adoption of the 2008 SNA ▪ Reflection by the international community on • Progress so far in the implementation of the 2008 SNA • What lies ahead for the SNA to remain relevant for measuring new developments in the economy (e.g. digitalization and globalization) as well in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 3

SNA research agenda ▪ Present focus on issues related to the practical implementation, clarification and interpretation of the 2008 SNA. ▪ At present, not any interest in updating the 2008 SNA. ▪ However, it is inevitable that the 2008 SNA will need to be updated at some point in the future to ensure its relevance. 4

Statistical Commission 49 th Statistical Commission endorsed recommendations of ▪ ISWGNA and AEG to • Focus on following three priority areas for further research and development ▫ Globalization ▫ Digitalization ▫ Economic wellbeing and sustainability 5

ISWGNA Task Force on Research Agenda ▪ Established in May 2018 ▪ Chair: Eurostat , Secretariat: UNSD ▪ Objective: • to establish a programme of work to resolve issues related to globalization , digitalization and economic well-being and sustainability , through broad consultation among key stakeholders 6

ISWGNA Task Force on Research Agenda ▪ The specific objectives of the Task Force are: • analyse the various research agendas and propose a consolidated list of all issues, linked, where relevant, to the three priority areas; • analyse the feasibility of making progress on these issues in the short to medium term (thereby identifying remaining issues for the longer term); • analyse the issues as regards their potential impact on the current SNA ; • analyse the issues as regards their potential cost of implementation ; • analyse the issues as regards their potential impact on key SNA aggregates (GDP, GNI). 7

Consolidated list of issues -Globalization -Digitalization -Well-being and sustainability SEEA-CF Annex 4 of SEEA-EEA 2008 SNA Other issues External sector under statistics discussion by AEG Balance of Government Payments Finance 8 Statistics (GFS)

Assessing SNA research priorities ▪ Three questions used to assess the priority to be given to a research item • How urgent and important is the topic to ensure that the SNA continues to be relevant to the users? • How widespread are the consequences of change and how complicated will implementation be? • Is the topic completely new or has much of the preparation for considering the item been completed? 9

Updating procedure for the SNA 10

Example of issues from the SEEA-CF ▪ Development of consistent valuation techniques ▪ Depletion of natural biological resources • and non-renewable resources ▪ Recording of losses and their impact on the accounts and on households ▪ Imputations for taxes and subsidies when government regulation requires industry support 11

Example of issues from the SEEA-EEA ▪ Recording of ecosystem services in the sequence of institutional sector accounts ▪ Institutional arrangements in the valuation of non- market transactions ▪ Valuation and recording of degradation of ecosystem assets ▪ Assumptions when applying NPV ▪ Valuation approaches when resource rents are low or negative 12

Timeline of the Task Force 2020 UNSC Nov 2019 Reporting on Mar-Oct update 2008 AEG 2019 SNA and its meeting procedure Identify 2019 UNSC way Reporting on forward in Nov 2018- the list of the Feb 2019 issues short/med Global ium term Nov 2018 consultation in-depth AEG meeting on analysis of the consolidated research list of issues priorities 13

Thank You 14