Recent Improvements to the Government Finance Statistics Yearbook Database in Response to Analytical Needs
IMF Working Papers, January 14, 2013
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- Recent Improvements to the Government Finance Statistics Yearbook Database in Response to Analytical Needs
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Bibliographic details
- Authors: Mike Seiferling
- Published: January 14, 2013
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781475528251.001
Overview
- The demand for high quality detailed public finance statistics covering a globally representative sample of countries increased dramatically during the recent financial crisis.
- Public finance statistics are complex and typically present trade-offs: either oversimplified high level aggregates lacking methodological transparency, or very detailed unified-methodology datasets that are overly complicated for most users.
- The IMF’s Government Finance Statistics Yearbook (GFSY) provides data over an almost 40 year period for almost 140 countries and is a valuable database, but its complex structure requires specialty knowledge that most data users do not have.
- The IMF's Statistics Department has embarked on several initiatives to improve the GFSY’s accessibility.
- Purpose of the paper: provide a non-technical overview of the methodology and advantages of the GFSY database and discuss how the database is improving to better meet the needs of the user community.
Key findings about the database and user needs
- The GFSY offers a long time series (almost 40 year period) and broad country coverage (almost 140 countries).
- Complexity of the GFSY’s structure limits usability for non-specialist data users.
- There is a growing user demand for detailed, methodologically transparent, and accessible public finance statistics following the financial crisis.
Improvements and initiatives (as described)
- IMF Statistics Department initiatives focus on improving accessibility of the GFSY database to a wider user community.
- The paper provides a non-technical exposition of the GFSY methodology and its advantages to facilitate broader use.
Subject areas and keywords
- Subject: Currencies, Fiscal stance, Government finance statistics, Institutional arrangements for revenue administration
- Keywords: database, eLibrary data homepage, government, government data, government Finance Statistics Manual, WP
Publication and document metadata
- Author: Mike Seiferling
- Date: January 14, 2013
- Pages: 20
- Volume: 2013
- Issue: 015
- Series: Working Paper No. 2013/015
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781475528251.001
- Stock No: WPIEA2013015
- ISBN: 9781475528251
- ISSN: 1018-5941
Source: Recent Improvements to the Government Finance Statistics Yearbook Database in Response to Analytical Needs — IMF Working Paper No. 2013/015.
Content in this bundle
- 1. The IMF’s Government Finance Statistics Yearbook Database: An Overview