Mesurer l’activité durant la crise sanitaire. Premiers éléments de bilan

Didier Blanchet and Jean-Luc Tavernier

Revue de l'OFCE, 2020, vol. N° 166, issue 2, 23-44

Abstract: The health crisis of recent months has been unprecedented and has led to unprecedented adaptations for the system of statistical observation. What initial assessments can we make for this period? We examine three questions. The first relates to our tools for measurement: as unconventional data sources are being mobilized, should this mark a turning point towards a new way of monitoring the economic situation? Answering this question requires reviewing the advantages and limitations of different types of sources, because none is universally suited to all types of context. The second question relates to the very purpose of measurement. Have we measured what needs to be measured? Has the crisis not revealed new limits to GDP, making the need for alternative indicators even more pressing? It is clear that the national accounts measure only part of what matters and that other indicators are needed. It is also necessary to give a better explanation of what GDP measures. Faced with such a crisis, however, it is not that the national accounts are needed less: what has happened and what awaits us make it even more necessary than usual to monitor the situation of the different agents and to appreciate which need support and at what level. The third question concerns the international comparability of the data: faced with a shock like this, the statistical institutes have given a heterogeneous response. In ordinary times, the comparability of the figures is already not as solid as we should be able to expect. The crisis has further aggravated this problem.

Keywords: health crisis; cyclical analysis; national accounts (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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