Statistical Business Register Research Articles

A register-based statistical system in New Zealand: Progress and opportunities

This paper provides an overview of progress and opportunities in Stats NZ’s journey towards a register-based statistical system. It sets out to provide a status update of the components of the system at Stats NZ – Statistical Business Register (SBR), Statistical Person Register (SPR), and Statistical Location Register (SLR). The drivers for change and changes to the authorising environment are described, including the prioritisation of a register-based statistical system through Stats NZ’s strategic priorities and the updates to the legislative context through the Data and Statistics Act 2022. The current state of each of the base registers is briefly described and detail is provided on the evolution of a SPR and concept development of a property-centric location register.

Estimating Tax Evasion in the Medical Sector in Comparison with Other Human-to-human (Η2Η) Life Services

This paper attempts to measure and report the extent and magnitude of tax evasion in the medical sector and to be compared with other selected human-to-human (Η2Η) life services in the Greek economy. Specific household expenditures for human (Η2Η) services for the period 2011–2017 were analysed, using data from the annual ‘Household Budget Survey (HBS)’ of the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) and were compared with the financial administrative data from the ‘Statistical Business Register (SBR)’, which is updated on an annual basis with data provided by the tax authority, depending on the case-specific characteristics of each sector under study that have been taken into account in the calculations. The research showed that the participation of doctors in the phenomenon of tax evasion as a whole has been declining in recent years while other human economic activities are responsible many times over for the perpetuation and exacerbation of the phenomenon. The annual tax evasion on average for the period 2011–2017, for the medical sector, is estimated to amount to €565.6 million (0.31% of the Greek GDP – mean value of the same period), while for the ‘accommodation services (hotels)’ sector, it is estimated to €3.3 billion (1.84% of GDP), to €6.8 billion for the catering sector (3.76% of GDP), to €2.1 billion for the education sector (1.18% of GDP), to €87.3 million for the hairdressing/other beauty treatment services of the personal service sector and finally to €50.3 million for the funeral and related services sector.

THE LATEST TRENDS IN GEORGIA’S BUSINESS REGISTER

Lia Dzebisauri i 
 E-mail: lia.dzebisauri@tsu.ge 
 Associate Professor, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University 
 Tbilisi, Georgia
 https://orcid.org/0009-0002-2604-9323
 
 Marine (Maia) Mindorashvili 
 E-mail: maia.mindorashvili@tsu.ge 
 Associate Professor, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University 
 Tbilisi, Georgia
 https://orcid.org/0009-0001-7177-9870
 Abstract .In this paper, we examine the Statistical Business Register (SBR) in Georgia, which serves as the foundation for economic statistics. To keep up with the demands of the modern digital economy, the SBR requires ongoing capacity-building efforts. It's a critical component in generating official statistics that inform evidence-based decision-making. In light of the ongoing globalization process, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, there's a growing demand for high-quality, comparable SBR and economic statistics at the international level. Geostat's BR is unique in that it allows for determining an entity's activity status. However, the current globalization process presents a challenge to creating a perfect SBR, increasing the need for an internationally comparable SBR in the post-COVID-19 pandemic world. Our paper highlights the significance of the SBR and investigates registered and active business entities in Georgia according to various parameters, such as economic activities, legal status, and territorial distribution by regions, and statistical trends of active companies during pre and pandemic periods. We also identify areas where COVID-19 had the most detrimental effect and where further recovery is necessary for the sustainable development of Georgia's economy. As the backbone for economic statistics, the SBR needs continued capacity-building activities in the modern digital economy. It plays a central role in producing official statistics, both in terms of how the statistics are produced and the quality of the statistics that draw on information from them. Our article, in particular, is devoted to improving the quality and modernizing the indicators of the statistical business register, which further contributes to producing high level business and macroeconomic statistics.

The Economics of Shadow Economy in Health: The Case of Greek Physicians Sector

The article attempts to measure and report the extent and magnitude of shadow economy in Greek physicians’ sector. Tax evasion of self-employed doctors as well as informal payments to doctors in public health structures are identified as the two main parameters of shadow economy in this sector. This research attempts to create a standard multidimensional methodological model of approach and analysis of the shadow economy in physicians’ sector. This multidimensional model applied in Greece includes two phases of development of the research tools used. In the first phase, the level of tax evasion of self-employed doctors was assessed with a specific innovative methodology based on the following. Household expenditures for services of private doctors for the period 2011–2017 were analysed using data from the annual ‘Household Budget Survey-(HBS)’ of the Greek Statistical Authority and were compared with the financial data of the ‘Statistical Business Register-(SBR)’, which is updated with data from the Hellenic Tax Authority. In the second phase, the amount of ‘informal payments’ to doctors of the public sector was determined for the period 2011–2017. The survey made use of the HBS data on household expenditure for public care, which were compared with the revenue of public hospitals from private patients.

Combined Business Tax Statistics 2016 of the Federal Statistical Office of Germany – A Micro Data Set for Scientific Use

Abstract This article aims to give background information of the combined business tax statistics 2016 of the Federal Statistical Office of Germany. The micro data set includes the different German business tax statistics, which are linked together (i.e. trade tax statistics, corporate income tax statistics, turnover tax statistics, statistics on business partnerships and associations as well as additional information of the statistical business register). With more than three million businesses the micro data set provides linked information on the German business structure and is available in anonymised form for scientific use at the Research Data Centre of the Federal Statistical Office.

The Canadian experience of building a privacy-responsible integrated statistical register infrastructure

Statistics Canada has maintained statistical business and address registers for decades. Its Statistical Business Register is continuously being modernized to adapt to needs for more and more timely business and institutional statistics at lower levels of geography. The statistical address register is being replaced in 2022 by a Statistical Building Register that expands coverage to the non-residential building units and includes more attributes. Since 2016, Statistics Canada had also been investigating options to add a population component to this integrated system of registers. The organization settled in 2021 on a privacy-responsible population linkage infrastructure that is designed with privacy in mind from the onset. This paper presents how the privacy landscape has evolved and shaped the statistical register infrastructure in Canada. It also describes the Secure Infrastructure for Data Integration that will be elaborated to produce reference population files to support the production of statistical information for Canadians, and how it is entrenched in privacy principles.

A Statistical Business Register spine as a new approach to support data integration and firm-level data linking: An ABS perspective

Statistical Business Registers (SBR) have historically underpinned the compilation of economic statistics by providing consistent unit structures and classifications for survey frame production and business demography data. To meet emerging data needs for both regular statistical production releases and for specific questions asked by policy makers, the SBR can also be used as a data integrating framework. This paper outlines the “spine” approach proposed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to support more flexible integration and linking of firm-level data that will also expand the uses of the SBR. The spine is the minimum set of information required to identify an entity and act as the linking variable(s) to other datasets. Its application involves a new approach to management of input datasets and can be applied across statistical registers. This paper will provide (1) a description of the ABS spine proposal for statistical registers; (2) benefits of a spine approach for both regular statistical production and new data solutions; and (3) an overview of how the ABS BLADE (Business Longitudinal Analysis Data Environment) is used to integrate firm-level datasets to enable policy evaluation and statistical research by analysts from government and academia.

A strategic and data production frameworks for the development of business statistics

This paper highlights the key characteristics and implications of the strategic and data production frameworks designed and progressively implemented by the United Nations Committee of Experts on Business and Trade Statistics (UNCEBTS) to enhance the relevance, accuracy and coverage of business statistics, according to an internationally comparable, result-oriented and sustainable approach. The strategic framework aims to expand the traditional scope of official business statistics by including all relevant environmental and social related issues. NSOs may achieve relevant improvements by focusing their efforts upon specific global goals consistent with their national ones, and sourcing from knowledge sharing with other countries and international coordination. It also highlights the relevance of an enterprise-centered approach for a better understanding of emerging phenomena by official statisticians, and for priority setting in improving the quality of business statistics. The data production framework is dominated by the crucial role of the Statistical Business Register (SBR) as the backbone of any current and future improvements in the relevance and accuracy of business statistics. Its implications, both in terms of sustainability of production lines, data integration and production of new indicators that exploit the variability dimension of business statistics are further investigated in the paper.

Development and application of the african development bank statistical business register guidelines

Development and application of the african development bank statistical business register guidelines

The Irish Statistical System and the emerging Census opportunity

This paper looks at the evolving National Data Infrastructure in Ireland and describes developments to date before considering the emerging Census opportunity. The National Data Infrastructure concept is influenced by the ideas of Svein Nordbotten first introduced in the 1960s and by the representation of three pillars or linked registers (persons, business and property) presented by Lars Thygesen in the 1980s. The National Data Infrastructure is, in turn, laying a foundation for the modernisation of the Irish Statistical System. The statisticalbusiness register at the Central StatisticsOffice (CSO) led to the publication of a comprehensive system of business demography statistics for the first time in 2010. This statistical business register, the first pillar to be developed, is typical of many registers in the European Statistical System, in that it is based on the profiling of businesses from administrative data sources (typically sourced from tax authorities). Subsequently, the employer-employee tax returns from the tax authorities were used to provide insights into dynamics in the Irish Labour market. This allowed for the investigation of the flow of workers and jobs between firms and sectors. This underlying development is also of strategic value to the Irish Statistical System in that it facilitates linking the social statistics framework with the business statistics framework at a micro or person business level. CSO is currently investigating a system of population estimates based solely on administrative data sources. This project lever- ages on the recently developed person activity register - a register that captures a high level annual summary of each person's engagement on public administration systems. The person activity register is considered as the second base register required for the modernisation of the Irish Statistical System. Currently, a critical gap in the National Data Infrastructure is the absence of a standardised addressing system or postal code system. In 2015, Ireland will rollout a new postcode system and, unlike other jurisdictions, the postcode in Ireland will identify a letter box rather than a group of houses. The implementation and use of this postcode (for both business and persons) will facilitate the compilation of small area statistics (including population estimates). It could also contribute to the development of household composition based statistics through the linking of individuals via postcode. In effect, postcodes will provide the last of the three registers identified in the National Data Infrastructure. To date, Ireland has deployed a traditional census model whereby forms are dropped off and picked up from every household in the state. The implementation of letterbox based postcodes creates an opportunity for a new Census model. The options for a new model include any combination of internet response, postal response, administrative data or field/telephone follow up underpinned by a high quality address register developed from administrative data sources. The lowest cost option may be a Census model based solely on administrative data with the required attributes not present in administrative data sources estimated from existing household surveys. A higher cost/higher quality option may be an internet first with a traditional field force follow up for non-response. There is still a lot more investigative work to be done before a preferred model emerges, but regardless, the developing National Data Infrastructure and the rollout of the postcode creates an opportunity for a new lower cost Census model.

Statistical business registers in the CIS countries: Evidence from the UNECE questionnaire surveys

The UNECE Statistical Division has been conducting questionnaire surveys and collecting information on statistical business registers in the region on a regular basis since 1995. The paper describes the results of the last two questionnaire surveys (2004 and 2006) carried out among the CIS countries, focusing on the observed changes in the sources, the coverage of statistical units, the included variables, and in the usage of statistical business registers. The comparison of these countries’ practices reveals important disparities in the status of the business register and its use for economic statistics. On the other hand, it demonstrates some convergence in approaches to statistical business register and attempts to follow more closely the advanced practice of European Union and North American countries.

Concepts Used in Statistical Business Registers in View of Globalisation and the Information Society

SummaryThe globalisation of markets and the development of the information society are two factors increasingly affecting statistical business registers. The article describes a number of problems caused by the globalisation process and the information society as which kind of business units should be recorded‐enterprises or enterprise groups, how cross‐border ownership, control and cooperation could be identified in the administrative registers, classification of activity in connection with foreign subsidiaries, recording of date of commencement of foreign subsidiaries in a national economy, recording of places of work in the case of teleworking, problems in connection with the recording of individuals involved in teleworking as self‐employed persons and the emergence of virtual enterprises. The article also raises the question of whether there is a need for an international satellite register for (transnational) concerns. Both globalisation and the growing information society therefore place new demands on statistical business registers, and these demands might necessitate mobilisation of additional resources for maintaining and developing the registers.