The papers in this volume analyze the deployment of Big Data to solve
both existing and novel challenges in economic measurement.
The existing infrastructure for the production of key economic
statistics relies heavily on data collected through sample surveys and
periodic censuses, together with administrative records generated in
connection with tax administration. The increasing difficulty of
obtaining survey and census responses threatens the viability of
existing data collection approaches. The growing availability of new
sources of Big Data--such as scanner data on purchases, credit card
transaction records, payroll information, and prices of various goods
scraped from the websites of online sellers--has changed the data
landscape. These new sources of data hold the promise of allowing the
statistical agencies to produce more accurate, more disaggregated, and
more timely economic data to meet the needs of policymakers and other
data users. This volume documents progress made toward that goal and the
challenges to be overcome to realize the full potential of Big Data in
the production of economic statistics. It describes the deployment of
Big Data to solve both existing and novel challenges in economic
measurement, and it will be of interest to statistical agency staff,
academic researchers, and serious users of economic statistics.