policymakers demonstrate

Developments in Data for Economic Research 583
National Business Register
Data validation
(unit identification, longitudinality, variable values)
MDL Database, Population of enterprises
with selected variables from the statistical
registers 2008-2012 at enterprise level
stored in each NSI
Statistical Registers
• Structural Business
Statistics (SBS)
• International Trade in
Goods Statistics
(ITGS)
• Foreign affiliates
Statistics (FATS)
Code Execution, Tabulation
(performed by the NSIs)
Cross Country Analysis
(performed by the co-ordinators)
Output tables and analysis
to EUROSTAT
Figure 13.1 Typical organization of micro data linking (MDL) projects.
in systems of national accounts (‘what kind of enterprises contribute to GDP?’)
and the organization of cross-border production processes (‘what parts of the
business organization move up or down the value chain?’).
However, implementing micro data linking to a full extent, both across countries
and within countries, is resource-intensive. It also requires coordination
amongst and the cooperation of all national statistical offices. As such it is fair
to conclude that we still have a long way to go.
The Role of Private Data Firms in Producing Harmonized
Firm Data
Statistical offices are not alone in their efforts to harmonize cross-country data.
Private data firms have long been involved in collecting, harmonizing and
repackaging publicly available business data. Bureau van Dijk (BvD) is one
of them. BvD is an established commercial company, collecting financial and
Merger and Acquisition (M&A) data on more than 150 million firms worldwide,
and a prime example that it is indeed possible to gather, and link, timely
available micro data.
The M&A database produced by BvD illustrates some of the challenges
involved in creating reliable and harmonized data from publicly available data.
An M&A transaction involving two public companies does not pose any difficulties
because it follows formal disclosure rules set by the stock exchanges.