44TH SESSION OF THE UN STATISTICAL COMMISSION
Trade and business statistics:
use of administrative data
Lunch Seminar
Enrico Giovannini
Italian National Statistical Institute (ISTAT)
New York, February, the 27th, 2013
TRADE AND BUSINESS STATISTICS: USE OF ADMINISTRATIVE DATA
ATISTICAL COMMISSION
Outline of the presentation

The converging pattern between Business and International Trade statistics

ISTAT experience in developing:
 an integrated framework between Foreign trade data and the Business
Register: approach, process and main outputs
 an integrated framework for the production of Structural Business
Statistics (SBS) as well as new indicators for statistics on international
trade by business characteristics: approach and expected results
 a micro-level database for analytical purposes integrating international
trade and FATS statistics with administrative data (balance sheets
variables and indicators): approach and main results

Conclusions
THE CONVERGENCE BETWEEN BUSINESS AND TRADE
DRIVERS
Demand side: Shift in foreign trade statistics from “product-market” oriented
questions toward key business related questions: Who is exporting what where?
Which is the performance gap between exporting and non exporting firms? Why
exporting firms outperform non exporting ones?
Supply side: Technological innovations in the management of large databases,
availability of census-like administrative data that allow to measure business
performance (key business variables and performance indicators from balance
sheets data)
OPPORTUNITIES
Large benefits from firm level integration of multiple data sources in terms of
better data quality, reduction of the statistical burden on companies and
dissemination - at virtually zero costs - of new indicators as well as standard
variables according to fine grain strata or new target populations: exporting firms
POSSIBLE DRAWBACKS
Problems of data consistency within but especially across different statistical
domains. Potential diffusion of misleading aggregated figures and/or biased
inference from firm micro-data.
CONVERGING PATTERN BETWEEN BUSINESS AND TRADE
POSSIBLE AVENUES IN THE PROCESS OF CONVERGENCE
Full coverage but
lack of consistency
with SBS data
International
trade data
Administrative
data: Balance
sheets
Business
register
Limited coverage
but consistency
with SBS data
Structural
Business data
FOREIGN TRADE AND BR: APPROACH, PROCESS AND OUTPUTS

The integration between the Italian BR and the register of foreign trade operators
was developed by ISTAT at the beginning of ’90s as a one way process (variables
from the BR were included in foreign trade data with limited benefit for the BR)

At the end of ’90s, the foreign trade register was fully integrated in the process of
set up and yearly upgrade of the Italian business register. Two-way process:
foreign trade data contribute to define the state of activity of enterprises in BR

Since the year 2000 production of a full set of figures on the business structure of
Italian exporting firms published in the “Statistical Yearbook on Foreign Trade
Statistics and Enterprise International Activities” edited by ISTAT and ICE

Last decade: The register on trade operators was increasingly used for analytical
purposes (panel datasets, integration with other surveys and administrative data)

Current decade: Use of the foreign trade register to identify target populations for
the Business Census 2011 as well as to identify “outlier” business units in the BR
(Special purpose entities)
INTEGRATED APPROACH FOR STRUCTURAL BUSINESS DATA

The Italian frame for the compilation of Structural Business statistics is based on
a census survey for large firms and upon a random sample for SMEs. Given the
presence in Italy of a very large number of small businesses (95% of 4,4 millions
of firms active in 2010 employ less than 10 person employed ), the stratified
random sample used to collect business data for SMEs includes 97.000 firms

Administrative data – balance sheets data for firms with a company legal status
and fiscal data for small businesses – cover only partially the target population
and are plagued by different sources of measurement errors

From 2011 as reference year, the new approach for the estimation of SBS
variables is based upon a firm level database which integrates all statistical and
administrative sources. In particular, for each firm in the BR a minimum set of
key economic variables will be made available based on data integration,
validation or estimation. This new “frame” will be available by mid-2013

This new “frame” will make possible the dissemination of new statistics on key
business variables with a fine grain detail or across different types of business
population. In particular, it will generate new indicators or business variables
for the population of exporting enterprises as well as for other target business
populations of firms engaged in globalization in a fully consistent way with
respect to all estimation strata considered by SBS
FIRM LEVEL DATASETS WITH TRADE, FATS AND ADMIN DATA

Firms engaged in globalization usually adopt multiple internationalization
strategies: export of final goods, import of intermediate goods, set up of a
production plan in a country, set up of a wholesale company in another
country

The “internationalization profile” of an enterprise, especially its impact on
employment and economic performance, cannot be assessed using micro
level data from a single statistical domain (stovepipe approach)

Multiple statistical sources focusing on globalization should be integrated
and linked to business data in order to identify a firm “internationalization
profile” and measure the effects in terms of profitability and productivity

Based on the informative needs of multiple national and international
stakeholders (WPGI OECD), a firm level dataset which integrates
international trade data, FATS data with balance sheet information from an
administrative data source was set up in 2012

This experimental database has already been successfully used to support
applied economic analysis. Preliminary results were just published in the first
issue of the Italian Report on Industry and enterprise competitiveness
FIRM LEVEL DATASETS WITH TRADE, FATS AND ADMIN DATA
BUSINESS REGISTER
The firm level integration between
international trade and FATS data allowed
to identify a very interesting taxonomy of
enterprise “internationalization profile”
across all business units included in the
Italian Business Register
ADMINISTRATIVE DATA
Balance sheets data were
used to build productivity
and profitability indicators
FIRM LEVEL DATASETS WITH TRADE, FATS AND ADMIN DATA
Business characteristics and key performance indicators by type of enterprise internationalisation profile
Taxonomy of enterprise
internationalization profile
Number of
firms
(absolute
value)
Number of
firms (share in
%)
Number of
persons
employed
Average size
(numer of
person
employed)
Labour
productivity
Profitability
Export
propensity
Firms under foreign control
Domestic multinational enterprises
Global markets enterprises
Firms engaged in both export and
import
Firms engaged in the import of
intermediate goods
Firms engaged in the import of other
goods
4.261
3.133
10.467
4,7
3,4
11,4
936.749
647.232
933.482
219,8
206,6
89,2
103,9
86,0
65,5
34,8
34,8
35,4
23,3
39,1
47,8
28.176
30,8
992.827
35,2
62,7
40,3
20,9
13.608
14,9
412.095
30,3
60,9
43,6
0,0
7.605
8,3
143.983
18,9
54,3
50,0
0,0
Firms engaged in export activity only
24.168
26,4
323.776
13,4
46,6
41,4
17,7
Total
91.418
100,0
4.390.145
48,0
60,5
40,9
19,0
91.000 limited firms resident in Italy in 2010 were engaged in international activities. They employed 4,4 millions of
people
30% of them were engaged in both export and import, more than 10% were “global” exporters, indeed they exported
goods in more than 5 geographical areas outside the EU
Labor productivity and export propensity (export over turnover) seem to be positively correlated with more complex
forms of enterprise internationalization
FIRM LEVEL DATASETS WITH TRADE, FATS AND ADMIN DATA
Transition Matrix of enterprise internationalisation profile from 2007 to 2010 (share in %)
Internationalization profile in 2010
Firms engaged
Internationalization profile in
Firms under Domestic
Global
Firms engaged in the import of Firms engaged Firms engaged
2007
foreign
multinational markets
in both export intermediate
in the import in export
control
enterprises
enterprises and import
goods
of other goods activity only
Firms under foreign control
95,1
0,3
1,4
1,6
0,8
0,4
0,5
Domestic multinational
enterprises
1,1
74,1
10,2
9,9
1,3
0,8
2,6
Global markets enterprises
Firms engaged in both export
and import
Firms engaged in the import of
intermediate goods
Firms engaged in the import of
other goods
Firms engaged in export
activity only
Total
100
100
1,1
3,5
74,0
15,7
0,1
0,0
5,7
100
0,8
1,4
7,4
72,0
6,5
2,4
9,6
100
0,8
0,5
0,2
29,0
60,0
6,1
3,4
100
0,5
0,4
0,3
24,7
18,6
49,1
6,5
100
0,2
0,5
4,2
24,6
2,9
1,7
65,9
100
A limited but significant share of internationalized firms seem to have evolved in time from “basic” to more complex
internationalization profiles
In particular, almost 30% of all firms engaged in the import of intermediate goods in 2007 became in 2010 firms
active in both the export and the import of goods
CONCLUSIONS

Firm level integration between foreign trade data and the business register
paves the way to further linkages with multiple statistical and administrative
data sources. This approach is very likely to generate great benefits “at virtually
zero costs” in terms of new statistical indicators and new firm level databases
for the analysis of globalization

Firm level integration across multiple statistical and administrative data sources
can be achieved following different avenues. Each avenue presents specific
informative benefits, but is also plagued by potential threats

The integration of international trade data with administrative data allows to
achieve great coverage and very interesting informative gains in the shortmedium term, but it also suffers because of inconsistency problems with SBS
data

The full integration between SBS statistics, international trade and
administrative data is only feasible in the medium-long term. Nevertheless it
can provide more stable and reliable results, since they are fully consistent with
official business figures across all possible classification domains

The integration between FATS and international trade data at the firm level
allows to identify a taxonomy of enterprise internationalization profiles and to
assess their heterogeneous impact on firm performance