On March 30, 2016, the World Bank hosted “The Future of Price Statistics: Innovations in Data, Technology, and Methods” seminar at its headquarters in Washington, DC and online. This half-day seminar brought together key actors from national statistical offices, the private sector, international institutions, and academia to discuss how technological advancements and new data sources can be used to generate a fuller range of price statistics to better measure economic activity.
World Bank Group Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer delivered opening remarks, and Harvard University President Emeritus and Charles W. Eliot University Professor a keynote address emphasizing the importance of data and the relevance of price statistics.
Other speakers included of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; of Georgetown University; and of the World Bank; of Statistics Netherlands; of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics; and of Premise. of the World Bank moderated the discussions.
All presentations and supporting materials are available below. Abridged versions of Summers’ keynote speech were published in the Washington Post’s Wonkblog, Financial Times, and on his personal blog at . The event was covered by media outlets such as the Washington Post and Federal Computer Week.
Livestream video recording
Media coverage
Presentations
The data revolution: New data sources, technology, and methods
Innovations in price data: Applications for policymaking and official statistics