Recently GDP has come under some close scrutiny for failing to capture unpaid work and the impact of economic growth on the environment. Jonathan Athow looks at GDP’s strengths as well as some other measures and statistics that can be used to understand wider measures of well-being.
Read more on GDP: a worthwhile, but incomplete, measure
How properly to measure the impact of digital technology is a big challenge for statisticians and economists the world over. Media reports have suggested that historic mismeasurement of the telecoms sector means that the UK’s recent economic history will have to be significantly rewritten. As ONS Deputy Economist Richard Heys explains, it really isn’t as simple as that.
Read more on Measuring the digital economy: Is history about to be rewritten?
The intelligent use of data gathered by our leading financial institutions can result in faster, more detailed economic statistics. Tom Smith describes how a joint event staged by ONS and Barclaycard illustrates the vast statistical potential of anonymised payments data.
Read more on Using credit card payments data for the public good
The monthly UK consumer prices release is one of our most closely-watched outputs. Not least by the Governor of the Bank of England who must explain to the Chancellor when inflation misses its target. Now the long history of UK prices measurement is the subject of a new book charting the development of its complex methodologies and the people and institutions behind them. As co-author and ONS Methodologist Dr Jeff Ralph explains, it all began with a handful of pioneers and visionaries.
Read more on The inflation story – history of prices measurement told for the first time in new book
The Office for National Statistics is poised to start using VAT data from thousands of firms to produce its estimates of GDP. Chief Economist Nick Vaughan explains how this innovation will provide a much clearer view of economic performance by sector and area.
Read more on New data will give ONS a uniquely detailed view of the UK economy