## Introductory Remarks by the First Deputy Managing Diriector David Lipton at the Sixth IMF Statistical Forum

_IMF News, November 19, 2018_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Introductory Remarks by the First Deputy Managing Diriector David Lipton at the Sixth IMF Statistical Forum](https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2018/11/19/sp111918fdmd-intro-remarks)

## Other formats

- [Markdown version](/en/news/articles/2018/11/19/sp111918fdmd-intro-remarks/index.md)
- [Structured JSON version](/en/news/articles/2018/11/19/sp111918fdmd-intro-remarks/index.json)
- [Bundle manifest](/en/news/articles/2018/11/19/sp111918fdmd-intro-remarks/bundle-manifest.json)

## Bibliographic details
- Published: November 19, 2018

---

### Purpose and context
- Opening remarks to the 6th annual IMF Statistical Forum, theme “Measuring Economic Welfare in the Digital Age: What and How?”
- Emphasizes statisticians and the IMF Statistics Department taking a central role in addressing measurement challenges posed by digitalization.
- Notes prior year’s focus on measurement of GDP in the digital age, and positions this year’s discussion as advancing from GDP measurement to welfare measurement.

### Measurement challenges identified
- Traditional indicators "don't show the true size of the economy, and they don’t do a good job of gauging how well we are doing."
- Digitalization raises stakes for measurement in the context of inequality and inclusive growth.
- Specific measurement gaps:
  - Free and nearly-free services from digital platforms are not measured in household consumption despite reducing cost of living and raising standard of living.
  - Household nonmarket production and gender participation in the workforce need to be taken into account.
  - Consumer savings from digital services may imply an overestimation of inflation in consumer price indices and underestimation of productivity growth.
- Conceptual uncertainty about magnitudes: "it is not clear how much [technological improvements] do so, and how to measure the change."

### Historical and intellectual references
- Cites Paul Douglas (almost 60 years ago) saying “a large part of satisfaction cannot be plumbed by figures.”
- References Robert Gordon’s observation: “some inventions are more important than others” as a caution about the magnitude of digital revolution impacts.
- Mentions the 2008 study coordinated by Joe Stiglitz, Amartya Sen, and Jean-Paul Fitoussi on inclusive growth and sustainability.

### Proposed measurement directions and questions
- Calls for enhanced welfare indicators and discusses proposals such as “GDP-plus” to capture positive welfare effects from the digital economy.
- Key questions for research and measurement efforts:
  - why does welfare from consumption grow more than consumption itself in the digital age?
  - what is the value of free software, free online services, and digital data?
  - what are the highest priorities?
  - what is feasible to measure and realistic to ask national compilers?

### Examples of digital economy effects on welfare
- Teleworking and “gig economy” platform jobs changing work patterns, especially for young people and women with children.
- Mobile money in African countries bringing millions into the market economy and helping women to start and grow small businesses.
- Personal anecdote: value of free video calls to family contrasted with trivial benefits like Solitaire.

### Policy relevance and institutional implications
- Enhanced welfare measurement can guide policies that both foster innovation and manage technology’s effects on daily life, including regulatory tradeoffs between data privacy and incentives for innovation-driven growth.
- Notes IMF research linking higher levels of inequality to less sustainable economic growth and less financial stability, underscoring the relevance of welfare measures to IMF work.
- Emphasizes practicality: official statistics work must consider limited statistical capacity and resources of national agencies; IMF’s responsibility to work with these agencies to operationalize research.

### Conference agenda and expected contributions
- Topics to be addressed over the next two days:
  - conceptual frameworks for measuring welfare beyond GDP;
  - the current state of play and the way forward for official statistics;
  - the value of unpriced software and data;
  - measuring welfare growth;
  - detailed looks at e-commerce and fintech (covered tomorrow);
  - presentations on how technology could raise inequality and challenge development opportunities (final session).
- Anticipates progress from presentations and discussions to advance understanding of measuring welfare in the digital age.

*Introductory Remarks by the First Deputy Managing Diriector David Lipton at the Sixth IMF Statistical Forum*

---


## References

- [David Lipton](http://www.imf.org/external/np/omd/bios/dl.htm)
- [The Sixth IMF Statistical Forum: Measuring Economic Welfare in the Digital Age: What and How?](https://www.imf.org/en/news/seminars/conferences/2018/04/06/6th-statistics-forum)
- [Speeches](https://www.imf.org/en/news/searchnews)
- [PRESS CENTER](http://presscenter.imf.org/)
- [https://www.imf.org/en/home](https://www.imf.org/en/home)

_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2018/11/19/sp111918fdmd-intro-remarks_