S5 Ep31: Closing the European data gap

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: The episode argues that Europe’s main data problem is not scarcity but restricted access and poor harmonization of existing administrative microdata. Filippo de Muro and Ugo Panizza say this limits cross-country research, slows policymaking, and pushes officials toward lower-quality commercial sources. They call for better incentives, funding, and infrastructure so national statistical institutes can safely open data for researchers and policymakers.

Main Topics: Europe’s data problem is access, not absence (Priority: 5/5): The speakers stress that important data already exist inside national statistical institutes, but are difficult to access and therefore underused. Cross-country research is constrained by fragmentation (Priority: 5/5): Because each European country has its own statistical office and reporting system, most research remains single-country, limiting European comparisons. Policy decisions are made with incomplete information (Priority: 5/5): The episode argues that data access delays and restrictions can force policymakers to rely on commercial or proxy data instead of official statistics. CompNet as a model for harmonizing microdata (Priority: 4/5): Filippo explains how CompNet coordinates with national providers, sends code rather than raw data, and checks outputs for consistency across countries. Administrative data can support high-value policy analysis (Priority: 4/5): Even older but solid firm-level data can be linked to crisis-era aid data to assess whether support reached the right firms. The solution is institutional capacity and incentives (Priority: 5/5): Rather than inventing new sources, the speakers argue for better staffing, funding, and political will to unlock existing official data. Future infrastructure: harmonized metadata and remote code execution (Priority: 4/5): They describe a future system where researchers submit code to run on harmonized datasets in secure facilities, improving access while protecting confidentiality.

Key Arguments: European statistical data are abundant but hidden in national institutions and seldom used because access systems are incomplete or uneven across countries. Most empirical research in Europe is still done within one country, which weakens cross-country comparison and reduces the value of European-scale analysis. The access problem is not uniquely European; the U.S. is also difficult, but Europe’s multi-country structure makes fragmentation especially costly. Data limitations affect both research and policymaking because policymaking depends on statistics and research feeds better policy. National statistical institutes are overworked and understaffed, so access improvements require resources and stronger incentives rather than only technical solutions. Privacy concerns are real but not an insurmountable barrier; anonymization and secure remote access can protect confidentiality while enabling use. Older high-quality data remain valuable because core economic structures do not change rapidly, and can be combined with newer crisis data for strong analysis. Making data available can attract top researchers to work on a country’s economy, producing valuable external research for policymakers at little direct cost.

Data Points: Number of CompNet data providers: 23 - Filippo describes the scale of CompNet’s coordination effort across Europe. Countries with especially good remote-access facilities: France and the Netherlands - Named as the best examples of countries granting secure access to microdata. Nordic countries highlighted for administrative data quality: 4 Nordic countries - Referenced as part of the countries with strong data infrastructure and availability. Countries involved in the microdata infrastructure exercise: 6 - Filippo says six countries are currently involved in the statistical infrastructure project. Historical window used in firm-level linkage: 20 years - Ugo notes that COVID-era aid was linked to firms’ prior 20-year histories to evaluate targeting. Episode origin: CEPR Paris Symposium 2022 - The conversation was recorded live over coffee at the symposium. Podcast library size: More than 200 episodes - Mentioned in the closing promo for VoxTalks Economics.

Pivotal Quotes: "The problem is, these data are entirely hidden within national statistical institutes and very barely used." — Filippo de Muro: Explaining why Europe’s data challenge is access, not a lack of data. "It gets in the way of everything." — Ugo Panizza: On whether data limitations affect only research or also policymaking. "We need political willingness to do it, and resources." — Filippo de Muro: On overcoming legal/privacy concerns and improving access to official data.

Implications: Better access to secure, harmonized official data could improve European research quality, reduce policy blind spots, and make cross-country analysis far more effective without sacrificing privacy.