INDICSER

Indicators for evaluating international performance in service sectors

 Partecipanti

Mappa

 Word cloud

Esplora la "nuvola delle parole (Word Cloud) per avere un'idea di massima del progetto.

 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The objective of the INDICSER project is to develop indicators which provide information on the performance of service sectors in the EU. At the heart of the project are concerns that such indicators should be valid in terms of concepts, measurement methods and feasibility but should also have value in terms of their usefulness for policy. Therefore the approach adopted is to include both an EU-wide application of existing concepts and develop and experiment with new concepts. This will be carried out within an overall coherent structural framework designed to address the key issues of productivity and value for money. The indicators are divided into two broad areas, market services, whose performance are crucial for raising growth in the EU relative to its competitors, and non-market services, mostly government run, where it is important that tax-payers can assess how far public spending is effective, as well as their contribution to the economy. For market services the project will construct indicators that describe trends in growth and productivity in service sectors and indicators that are useful in analysing determinants of growth, such as innovation, ICT, intangible capital, competitive environment and foreign presence. In view of the global financial crisis, financial services will be covered in greater detail with new output measures developed and applied to a large set of EU countries. For non-market services much of the analysis will focus on indicators for health and education where significant new research is required on both the conceptual framework and practical implementation. Finally the project will also develop experimental indicators which might be useful in the future, covering insurance, collective services, distributive trades and research sector output. The result will be a comprehensive summary on indicators that might be measured, the feasibility of estimation given current data constraints and recommendations that will inform the using communities.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

The productivity gap between the EU and the United States has not been well measured. An EU study identified labour and information and communication technology (ICT) indicators for the performance of service sectors, and showed the complex impact of financial regulation.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Service sectors are believed to play a major role in the perceived productivity gap between Europe and the United States. Non-market services probably also contribute substantially, though hitherto their output has been poorly measured.

Providing a measure was the EU-funded 'Indicators for evaluating international performance in service sectors' (http://www.indicser.com (INDICSER)) project. The eight-member group aimed to devise the needed new indicators for growth in European service sectors. The investigation was structured into three main areas: measurement and conceptual issues, indicator development and research into performance.

The project ran for three years to the end of 2012.

In the first phase, conceptual groundwork identified problems in current practice and suggested alternatives. INDICSER documented labour force composition, and estimated investments in human and other capital. The study developed composite indicators about ICT use, plus new measures for labour market regulation. Europe's educational attainments were compared against Europe 2020 targets, and a separate study evaluated the research performance of EU universities.

A second part of the research yielded numerous data series, available to the public via the project website. The data reflect many aspects of labour composition. The work led to sector-specific indicators, including a comprehensive database on performance aspects of EU financial services.

Research using these data suggested larger increases in labour hoarding during the financial crisis compared to previous downturns. That led to lower productivity growth and lower wages, yet appeared not to have increased unemployment. The study identified potentially negative impacts of financial regulation on growth, given certain circumstances. However, the actual effects of financial regulation on investment depended on more complex factors.

INDICISER studied and published on numerous economic issues. It highlighted areas where further work is necessary to ensure adequate performance measurement.The impact of the consortium's research was three-fold. It will enable academic and policy use of the database, yield insights into current information needs, and inform policy through its analytical results.