Newsletter - IAOS

ISI - International Statistical Institute
ISI Newsletter Volume 26 no. 1 (76) 2002

		Editorial Address	Irena Krizman, Vice- President IAOS, Vozarski pot 12, P.O.B. 3570, 1001 Ljubljana, Slovenia tel.: +386 1 2415 302 – fax: +386 1 2415 344 – E-mail: irena.krizman@gov.si
		President	Paul Cheung, Department of Statistics, 100 High Street, The Treasury #05-01, 179434 Singapore Tel: +65 3327686 – Fax: +65-3327689 – E-mail: Paul_Cheung@singstat.gov.sg
		Website	http://tilastokeskus.fi/iaos

When: 27-29 August 2002
Where: The Conference Centre, Church House, London
Hosted by the UK Office for National Statistics
Want to get together with the world's leading statistical analysts? Want to be part of the international debate on Official Statistics? Interested in the future development of the New Economy?
…then this Conference is an important event in your 2002 Calendar.
Organiser/co-organiser(s): The UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) is pleased to announce that it will be hosting this major international statistical conference. The conference will be organised in collaboration with the Royal Statistical Society (RSS).
Conference Reception and Conference Dinner: A conference reception will be held on Tuesday 27 August 2002 at the Under Globe (The Globe Theatre, London). A con-ference dinner will be held on Wednesday 28 August 2002 at "The Painted Hall" in Greenwich. Both events will be open to all those participating in the conference as well as any accompanying partners.
Registration: The on-line registration form is now active on the Conference website: www.statistics.gov.uk/iaoslondon2002

ISI members will enjoy a reduced rate. If you register before 31 May 2002 you will also receive a £20 reduction (please note that prices include the Reception, lunch on each day and all refreshments during the Conference). Delegates from developing countries may be eligible for financial support for both the delegate fees and flights and accommodation. If you think that you are eligible, please register under the category 'developing country'. Applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis as they are received and you will be notified as soon as possible if you are to receive financial support. No financial transactions will be processed until you have been notified of the delegate fee you are to pay, and your agreement has been given to proceed with processing your application.

RSS 2002 Conference
You may wish to combine IAOS 2002 with the RSS 2002 Conference, which takes place in Plymouth from: 3-6 September 2002. Please note that non-RSS Fellows attending IAOS 2002 can register at the Fellow rate for RSS 2002. For more information please consult: www.tech.plym.ac.uk/maths/research/stats/RSS2002.html.

Hotel accommodation:
Reduced rate hotel accommodation is now available. Please book early to take advantage of the special rates. You can book via the web site www.statistics.gov.uk/iaoslondon2002

Papers (including posters)
All participants are invited to submit papers or posters on any of the themes. Contributed papers should be limited to 5 pages. Invited papers should be limited to 15 pages.

As soon as possible - Title of paper/poster plus a 10 line description should be submitted to James O'Leary (james.o'leary@ons.gov.uk). [Programme Committee will sort titles and descriptions into provisional contributed paper/poster sessions].

By 28 February 2002 - Please submit a 200 word summary of your paper electronically in word or pdf format to James O'Leary (james.o'leary@ons.gov.uk). [Programme Committee makes a final decision on suitability - we hope to place all 'invited' and 'contributed' papers on the Conference web site].

By 15 March 2002 - Programme Committee gives clearance to authors to proceed with submitted contributed and poster session papers.

By 1 May 2002 - Final papers should be submitted electronically in word or pdf format to James O'Leary (james.o'leary@ons.gov.uk).

Programme 1 February 2002
The official language of the Conference will be English
Opening keynote address to be given by Dale Jorgenson, the Frederic E. Abbe Professor of Economics, Harvard University

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY THE NEW ECONOMY?
Schedule: Tuesday 27 August, 09.00-10.30
Organiser: Steve Landefeld , BEA, United States
Speaker: Dale Jorgenson, Harvard University, U.K.

1. International comparisons
Schedule: Tuesday 27 August, 11.00-12.15
Organiser: Francois Lequiller, OECD/INSEE
Speaker: Graham Vickery, Directorate of Science and Technology, OECD: "Measuring the ICT sector: recent results from OECD countries".

2. NAIRU/Inflation/Productivity
Schedule: Tuesday 27 August, 11.00-12.15
Organiser: Peter Bull, European Central Bank
Speaker: Mark Wynne, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, USA.

3. Is there a New Economy?
Schedule: Wednesday 28 August, 09.00-10.15 (probably)
Organiser: Steve Landefeld, BEA, United States
Speakers: Bob Gordon, Kevin Stiroh, Senior Economist, Federal Reserve.

POLICY IMPLICATIONS AND THEIR STATISTICAL NEEDS
Schedule: Tuesday 27 August, 14.00-15.15
Organiser: Tim Holt, U.K.
Chair: Tim Holt, UK
Speaker: Diane Coyle, Enlightenment Economics: "Where is the New Economy?"

Six Parallel Sessions:
First set of three Parallel Sessions:
1. Monetary/Economic Policy
Schedule: Tuesday 27 August, 15.45-17.00
Organiser: Vitor Gaspar, European Central Bank

2. Labour Market/ Education Policy
Schedule: Tuesday 27 August, 15.45-17.00
Organiser: Denise Lievesley, UNESCO Institute for Statistics

3. International Agency/Developing Country Policy
Schedule: Tuesday 27 August, 15.45-17.00
Organiser: Fred Vogel, USDA
Speakers:

Paper 1:	R. Ramachandran: National Information Technology Council, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, "K-Measures Towards Building a Knowledge Society and Economy".
Paper 2:	Michael Ward, World Bank: "Is Open Government Spinning Out of Control?".
Paper 3:	Enrico Giovannini, OECD: "Statistics to Meet Policy Needs: The Labour of Sisypho".

4. Fiscal Policy
Schedule: Wednesday 28 August, 09.00-10.30
Organiser: Bob Dennis

5. Structural/Micro-economic policy
Schedule: Wednesday 28 August, 09.00-10.30
Organiser: Dean Parham, Australian Productivity Commission, Australia.
Speakers: Dean Parham, Australian Productivity Commission & Dirk Pilat, OECD.

6. Implications for the Citizen
Schedule: Tuesday 27 August, 11.00-12.15 (probably)
Organiser: Jan Plovsing, Statistics Denmark
Speakers: Marianne Roennebaek, deputy permanent secretary in the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation: "Use of Statistics in Danish IT Policy" & Ann Macintosh, director of the International Teledemocracy Centre, Napier University, Title - T.B.A.

1. Knowledge management
Schedule: Wednesday 28 August, 14.00-15.15
Organiser: John Pullinger, ONS, U.K.

2. E-commerce
Schedule: Wednesday 28 August, 14.00-15.15
Organiser: Amanda Rowlatt, ONS, U.K.

3. Business-Business organisational implications
Schedule: Wednesday 28 August, 14.00-15.15
Organiser: Arie Van Bellen.

Schedule: Wednesday 28 August, 15.45-17.00
Organiser: Tim Holt
Speaker: Steve Landefeld: Measuring the New Economy.

1. Classification of products and industries
Schedule: Thursday 29 August, 09.00-10.30
Organiser: Andrew Wyckoff, OECD.

2. Measuring prices/Quality changes
Schedule: Thursday 29 August, 09.00-10.30
Organiser: Henning Ahnert, ECB.
Speakers:

Paper 1- Goods:	Paul Konijn, Dietmar Moch, Jörgen Dalén: "Searching for the European Hedonic Function for PCs".
Paper 2: Services:	Irwin Gerduk, BLS, and Nicholas Palmer, ONS UK: "Producer Price Measurement and Quality Adjustment in the New Economy".

3. Collection of e-commerce, IT statistics
Schedule: Thursday 29 August, 09.00-10.30
Organiser: Pedro Dias, Eurostat

4. Perceived deficiencies with SNA93
Schedule: Thursday 29August, 11.00-12.15
Organiser: Rob Edwards, ABS, Australia
Speakers: Rob Edwards, ABS.

5. Electronic/Internet data collection/ new data sources
Schedule: Thursday 29 August, 11.00-12.15
Organiser: John Cornish, Statistics New Zealand
Speakers: Statistics New Zealand.

6. The Digital Divide
Schedule: Thursday 29 August, 11.00-12.15
Organiser: Paul Cheung, Singapore Statistics

7. Productivity measurement
Schedule: Thursday 29 August, 14.00-15.15
Organiser: Mike Harper, BLS
Speakers:

Tarek Harchaoui, Faouzi Tarkhani, Philip Armstrong and Chris Jackson, Statistics Canada:	"A Comparison of Canada-US Economic Growth in the Information Age, 1981-2000: The Importance of Investments in Information and Communication Technologies"
William Gullickson and Michael J. Harper, BLS:	"Bias in Aggregate Productivity Measures"

8. A framework for New Economy statistics
Schedule: Thursday 29 August, 14.00-15.15
Organiser: Sheridan Roberts, ABS, Australia.
Speakers:

Sheridan Roberts:	"A Statistical Framework for Describing a Knowledge-based Economy/Society"
Andries Kuipers, CBS Netherlands	"Building Blocks for a Statistical Description of the Digital Economy"

9. Measuring the impact of the New Economy on Health and Education outputs
Schedule: Thursday 29 August, 14.00-15.15
Organiser: Michael Wolfson, Statistics Canada
Speakers:

Albert Tuijnman, formerly of the OECD, and now Professor and Director, Institute of International Education, Stockholm University:	"Measuring the Impact of the 'New Economy' on Education Sector Outputs"
Michael Wolfson, Statistics Canada:	"Measuring the Impact of the 'New Economy' on Health Sector Outputs"

Please note that the programme is currently under development. Keynote speakers, discussants and Chairs of the Sessions will be added to the website once they have been confirmed.

Guidance for submitting papers: Download Guidance for authors of contributed paper and poster sessions (29Kb word format) and Rules and guidlines for organisers of keynote and invited paper sessions (27Kb word format) from the above mentioned website.

State of Preparations for the ISI Berlin Session - 2003:
Organisers for the IAOS Sessions in ISI Berlin 2003 up to now are:

IP 36:	Knowledge and competence management in national statistical offices; Organiser Heli Jeskanen-Sundstrom (Finland);
IP 37:	The measurement of economic progress; Organiser: Enrico Giovannini (Italy);
P 38:	IMicro data - managing the dilemma between access, privacy and confidentiality; organiser: Irena Krizman (Slovenia);
IP 39:	Managing and maintaining the independence and integrity of national statistics - experience of developed and developing countries; Organiser: Olav Ljones (Norway);
IP 40:	New directions in social statistics; organiser: R. Virola (Philippines);
IP 41:	Measuring the performance of National Statistics Offices; Organiser: Frederick W. H. Ho (Hong Kong, China).
IP 42:	Intra-city differentials and their measurement issues; Organiser: Markanday Rai (India);
IP 43:	Impact of migration on urban areas; Organiser: Klaus Trutzel (Germany);
IP 67:	Use of administrative data for business statistics; organiser: Geoff Lee (Australia).

The IASS and IAOS have started taking steps such that the conference planned by IAOS in 2004 can be co-organized by the two Associations, in the same way as the 1998 Conference in Aguascalientes (Mexico). The 2004 Conference will take place in Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire). The general topic will be Poverty. E-mail address: xavier.charoy@libertysurf.fr

The IAOS Executive Committee has just agreed upon the design of a new poster to promote the IAOS.
The printing of the poster has been completed.

Shortly, the President will write to the Chief statisticians of NSOs, together with copies of the new poster, to ask them to encourage the official statisticians and users to join the IAOS.

As part of the drive to increase IAOS membership, particularly among young official statisticians or users of statistics, the Executive Committee has also agreed to provide a biennial award, Young Official Statistician's Prize, to the author of the best published paper on official statistics. Also to encourage attendance to IAOS and SCORUS conferences by members of developing countries, the Executive Committee decided to make available some funds to assist successful applicants to travel to the conferences. Details of these proposals are being worked on and will be advised to members once available.

Since the last newsletter, SCORUS has been active on many fronts. Its main activity has been concerned with the organisation of the 23^rd Conference on Regional and Urban Statistics and Research that will be hosted by Instituto Nacional De Estatistica in Lisbon, Portugal from June 12^th to 15^th 2002. It has also held its annual conference on Statistics and Young People in Urban Areas in Berlin (see separate report from the organiser Prof. E. Elsner). In addition, members of SCORUS have been busy planning for the next ISI Congress in Berlin and continuing to develop the relaunched journal Cities and Regions.

The 23^rd Biennial conference on Regional and Urban Statistics and Research will be held in Lisbon, Portugal between June 12^th and 15^th. The conference is hosted by the Instituto Nacional De Estatistica (INE). The Scientific Programme Committee under the Presidency of Markandey Rai (Chairperson of SCORUS) has prepared an interesting and cutting edge series of invited paper sessions under the general theme of 'Statistics for the City of Tomorrow'. The main topics, which will be discussed under this theme, are:

Amongst the speakers that have so far confirmed their participation in the Conference are: Dr. Berthold Feldmann, Eurostat, Dr. Langhui Huang and Dr. Xiaojie Chen, China, Mrs. Anna K. Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, Joanna Van Antwerpen, The Netherlands. A full programme for the Invited paper sessions can be found at the conference website at http://www.ine.pt/novidades/semin/scorus.html.

The Scientific Programme Committee is currently developing the contributed paper sessions and welcome submissions of papers in any area of regional or urban statistics and research. Abstracts should be sent to Dr. Pina at alberto.pina@ine.pt. Papers presented at the conference will be published in the conference proceedings and will also be considered for publication in the SCORUS journal Cities and Regions.

The third issue of the re-launched SCORUS journal Cities and Regions was published in December and circulated to all IAOS members. The theme of the issue was Cultural Statistics and included articles by Sari Karttunen on Constructing Cultural Statistics, Michael Söndermann on Cultural Industries and Employment in Europe and Michael Månsson on Beware of Cultural Statistics. The editors of Cities and Regions are actively soliciting papers and proposals for topics should be sent to the editor asta.manninen@hel.fi. SCORUS is pleased to announce that Eurostat has agreed to continue its support for the journal.

SCORUS is organising two invited paper sessions during the 54^th session of ISI in Berlin, 13-20 August 2003. The topics that will be covered are:

The SCORUS Chairperson is exploring the possibility to host the 24^th session of the SCORUS at the United Nations Office at Nairobi, Kenya in 2004. He will report on it in the Executive Committee meeting in Lisbon.
Further information can be obtained from:

"Rupenhorn" - Report on the Third Berlin SCORUS conference on Statistics and Young People

For the third time "Rupenhorn" has been held as a SCORUS meeting. Rupenhorn is a place situated in Berlin. While SCORUS organises a large conference on regional and urban statistics, the Berlin SCORUS conferences are smaller. In the German capital in January of each year they are organised parallel to the big events every two years. Their title is always the same: "Statistics and help for young people in big cities" and they deal with the problems of children in urban agglomeration areas. But the focus of these meetings changes from year to year.

The conference is organised every year by Statistisches Landesamt Berlin (Prof. Dr. Eckart Elsner) and the venue is "Haus am Rupenhorn". Usually about forty or fifty participants from different countries come to Berlin to take part in the conference.

In 2002 they came from fourteen nations. It was the sixth Rupenhorn conference and the third Berlin SCORUS meeting. In 2002, the focus was on "Education and cultural heritage". All the lectures and discussions dealt with this topic. Lecturers at Rupenhorn are always asked to report not only about the situation at home in their familiar surroundings, but to give some international comparisons as well. This is not an easy task. Even in ones own language some difficulties can be experienced. For example, during a previous meeting, it was not easy to quickly determine the difference between "burglary" and "aggravated theft". Internationally, the problem is much more difficult, as even in "general education" each country has its specialities, but in "vocational training" there is a very big variety of systems which are not easily comparable. What is "Culture"? Derek Bond from the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland asked this question during his lecture and Marcel Van den Broecke, Director of ISI's Permanent Office, showed the audience how the Netherlands tries to measure the pursuit and state of happiness in different European countries.

The Rupenhorn meetings are important in helping to obtain more knowledge from and about urban and regional statistics. Rupenhorn fosters the understanding of the situation faced by young people in big cities, it assists the planning institutions, and shows in many cases a more international point of view.

Next year "Rupenhorn" will be held from 8 to 10 January 2003 and the focus will be on "The Gender Dimension", i.e. we will speak about the problems, handicaps, privileges and discrimination faced by men and women. More information can be obtained from e.elsner@statistik-berlin.de (Tel. +49-30-9021 3488, Fax +49-30-9021 2561).

Last, but not least, in connection with the 54^th Session that will be held in Berlin from 13-20 August 2003, SCORUS is planning an extraordinary satellite meeting in nearby Potsdam. For those who are able to understand German, it might be good to know that the "Statistische Woche", a meeting of all German statistians and demographers, will take place in combination with this event in Potsdam from 20 - 23 August next year.