STAT 212:

INDEX NUMBERS AND ECONOMIC STATISTICS

LECTURER 12: ECONOMIC SURVEYS

BY:
EDWARD LEMAN
Prelude
• A survey is a method of gathering information using relevant questions from a sample of
people with the aim of understanding populations as a whole
• A survey is different from a census
• The main difference between census and survey is that census gathers information from
every member of the population whereas survey collects information from a sample of the
population

• There are so many kinds of survey, we want to look at Economic and Business surveys
• There is little international guidance for conducting surveys of businesses; every country will
have its own approach
Types of survey

• Regular inquiries: limited resources usually dictate that data are collated from a small
number of (the most important) businesses. Key topics may be producer prices, indicators of
production, turnover, employment and the earnings of employees. Experience shows that
successful regular surveys depend on making the questions as few and as simple to answer
as possible. In short-period economic statistics the interest is in monitoring a very few key
indicators, not in complicated analyses

• More detailed inquiries: obtain more structural detail. Usually it will cover a larger
sample of businesses than in the short-period inquiries. Typically, different questionnaires are
needed for different kinds of activity. The surveys are expensive, often requiring additional
external funding e.g. Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC), Integrated
Household Survey
Business registers vs business census
• Some times as economists we are interested in information about the businesses operating in
a country
• We therefore keep records of businesses in the economy
• New businesses are required to register and in Malawi we register with the Department of
Registrar General
• Some of the required information for registering include:
➢ Name and address (and location) of the business (a contact and telephone number would
be very useful)
➢ A rough indication of its size (e.g. turnover or number of employees)
➢ The main activity
• In developed countries registers capture larger proportion of the economy as compared to
developing countries
• A better approach, if a complete count is required, is to undertake a large scale, systematic
operation similar to a population census, but the cost means this can only be done from time
to time
• Business census can reveal important issues about the structure of the economy
 Structural data about businesses
• Data collected on businesses can be used for various purposes
• For national accounts purposes, the number one priority is to establish the level of turnover
(or, more precisely, output), intermediate consumption and value added
• The main elements of value added (at basic prices) are the following:
➢ Compensation of employees: Important to measure productivity
➢ Taxes
➢ Gross operating surplus
Maximising quality responses

• In a large scale survey of businesses, the questionnaire should be kept as simple as

possible
• Adhere to professional guidelines
• Provide prior notification
• Make follow ups and triangulations if necessary
• Incentivize People
• Use Simple, Clear Language Throughout
• Target right people: Some large formal sector enterprises (like banks) may have
several establishments located in different parts of the country. Therefore, know
which information can be obtained from where
 Other economic surveys
1. THE HOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURE SURVEY
• Probably the most important household survey for economic purposes is a Household
Expenditure Survey (including consumption of own produce). These data are required for
three main purposes:
➢ poverty analysis
➢ deriving weights for the consumer prices index (CPI)
➢ compiling a supply-use table (SUT) or GDP from the expenditure approach
• Care should be taken when using HES data because there is a tendency for respondents to
underestimate expenditure, especially on undesirable items
• Nevertheless, HES has some advantages including:
➢ People are more willing to disclose expenditure as compare to income
➢ sampling errors of expenditure data will tend to be smaller than those of production as
household expenditure surveys can cover the full range of goods and services household
purchase or consume of their own produce
2. LABOUR FORCE SURVEYS
• A household Labour Force Survey (LFS) may provide useful data on the numbers of workers
in the full range of industries, whether formal or informal. When coupled with separate
estimates of the value added per worker in different industries, these data may be used to
make (benchmark) estimates of GDP by certain types of activity from an income point of
view.
3. AGRICULTURAL SURVEYS

4. OTHER INFORMAL ACTIVITY

5. SURVEYS OF DEPARTING VISITOR

In Malawi, some of the usually conducted surveys include the Integrated Household Survey,
Demographic and Health Survey, Annual Economic Survey, Consumer Price Index, etc
THE END