Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Business Tendency Surveys (BTS) – also called business opinion or business climate surveys – are economic surveys used to monitor and forecast business cycles. Covering 4 different economic sectors (manufacturing, construction, retail trade and services), they are designed to collect qualitative information useful in monitoring the current business situation and forecasting short-term developments by directly asking company managers about the pulse of their businesses. They are well known for providing advance warning of turning points in aggregate economic activity as measured by GDP or industrial production. As respondents provide answers on a 3 scale options (up, same, down, or above normal, normal, below normal), data are summarised in net balances corresponsing to the difference in % of positive over negative replies. Because of their collection mode, timeliness and immediate availability, they have proved to be a cost‑effective mean of generating timely information especially during crises. In the late '90, in collaboration with the European Commission, the OECD has developed a system of harmonised business tendency surveys in order to collect and compare data across countries. The EC Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs is since then in charge of running the program and collecting data across EU members, while the OECD helped the adoption and implementation of the same harmonised framework in non-EU OECD countries and BRIICS. By construction, BTS questions are formulated in order to exclude seasonal factors. Nevertheless all series are tested for seasonality by both the OECD (using x12) and by the EC for the EU member data (using DAINTIES). This dataset comprises a set of harmonised target indicators available across OECD and BRIICS countries, any departure from target definitions are documented in the metadata.

Main Economic Indicators (MEI) provides a wide range of indicators on recent economic developments in the 35 OECD member countries and 15 non-member countries. The indicators published in MEI have been prepared by national statistical agencies primarily to meet the requirements of users within their own country. In most instances, the indicators are compiled in accordance with international statistical guidelines and recommendations. However, national practices may depart from these guidelines, and these departures may impact on comparability between countries.

The 'Production and Sales (MEI)' dataset is a dataset containing predominantly monthly statistics, and associated statistical methodological information, for the 34 OECD member countries and for selected other economies. The Production and Sales dataset contains industrial statistics on four separate subjects: Production; Sales; Orders; and Work started. The data series presented within these subjects have been chosen as the most relevant industrial statistics for which comparable data across countries is available. For Production, data comprise Indices of industrial production (IIP) for total industry, manufacturing, energy and crude petroleum; and further disaggregation of manufacturing production for intermediate goods and for investment goods and crude steel. For others, they comprise retail trade and registration of passenger cars; and permits issued and work started for dwellings. Considerable effort has been made to ensure that the data are internationally comparable across all countries presented, coverage for as many countries as possible, and that all the subjects have reasonable length of time-series to assist analysis. Most data are available monthly and are presented as an index (where the year 2010 is the base year) or as a level depending on which measure is seen as the most appropriate and/or useful in the economic analysis context. Due to differences in statistical or economic environment at country level, however, availability of data varies from one country to another.

The OECD cross-section sectoral indicators measure regulatory conditions in the professional services and retail distribution sectors. The retail indicators cover barriers to entry, operational restrictions, and price controls. These indicators were updated and revised; they are now estimated for 34 OECD countries for the years 1998, 2003, around 2008 and 2013 and for another set of non-OECD countries for 2013. Users of the data must be aware that they may no longer fully reflect the current situation in fast reforming countries. Not all data are available for all countries for all years.