On March 30, 2016, the World Bank hosted “The Future of Price Statistics: Innovations in Data, Technology, and Methods” seminar at its headquarters in Washington, DC and online. This half-day seminar brought together key actors from national statistical offices, the private sector, international institutions, and academia to discuss how technological advancements and new data sources can be used to generate a fuller range of price statistics to better measure economic activity.
World Bank Group Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer Sri Mulyani Indrawati delivered opening remarks, and Harvard University President Emeritus and Charles W. Eliot University Professor Lawrence H. Summers a keynote address emphasizing the importance of data and the relevance of price statistics.
Other speakers included Alberto Cavallo of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Alexis Antoniades of Georgetown University; Deborah Wetzel and Haishan Fu of the World Bank; Jan Walschots of Statistics Netherlands; Jim Thomas of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics; and Joe Reisinger of Premise. Nada Hamadeh of the World Bank moderated the discussions.
All presentations and supporting materials are available below. Abridged versions of Summers’ keynote speech were published in the Washington Post’s Wonkblog, Financial Times, and on his personal blog at https://larrysummers.com. The event was covered by media outlets such as the Washington Post and Federal Computer Week.
Livestream video recording
Media coverage
Presentations
The data revolution: New data sources, technology, and methods
- The data revolution and improving price statistics over the next decade, Haishan Fu, The World Bank Group
- Targeted crowds: Modernizing statistical data collection with local expertise, Joe Reisinger, Premise
- The Billion Prices Project: Using online data for measurement and research, Alberto Cavallo, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- International price comparisons: Lessons from scanner data, Alexis Antoniades, Georgetown University
Innovations in price data: Applications for policymaking and official statistics
- Price data capture innovations for health, taxes, and procurement: A governance performance lens, Deborah Wetzel, The World Bank Group
- Alternative sources of price data and current uses at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Jim Thomas, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Fifteen years of progress in the collection of price data in the Netherlands, Jan Walschots, Statistics Netherlands