OVERVIEW
Data for the IMPLAN International Product come primarily from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)1, with data originating from several different, but related OECD databases. These include the OECD Input-Output (I-O) Tables, the OECD Trade in Employment (TiM) database, the OECD Inter-Country Input-Output (ICIO) database, and the OECD Global Revenue Database. There are, however, cases where certain data elements are not available and are supplemented by additional, secondary data sources and estimation processes. This article describes the data sources and methods used in the development of IMPLAN’s International Product.
PRIMARY DATA SOURCES
OECD INPUT-OUTPUT TABLES
All Input-Output tables come from the OECD and include distinct I-O (transactions) matrices for each country, as well as Output, Total Value Added, and Final Demand for each Industry by each Institution. Industry detail is harmonized such that there is the same Industry coverage for each country. Read more about the country and Industry coverage in the latest IMPLAN International release notes.
OECD TRADE IN EMPLOYMENT DATA
The OECD I-O tables described above only provide data on Total Value Added by Industry, not the components of Value Added (Employee Compensation (EC), Gross Operating Surplus (GOS), and Other Taxes on Production Net of Subsidies (OTXS)).2 IMPLAN, therefore, relies on the OECD Trade in Employment (TiM) data for current Employee Compensation (EC) by Industry data for all countries. Employee Compensation, a major component of Value Added and a driver of Induced Effects, is comprised of the wages and salaries paid by producers as well as supplements such as contributions to social security, private pensions, health insurance, life insurance, and similar schemes.
For most countries, employment data also come from the OECD TiM database. Employment includes both employees and the self-employed and represents a headcount rather than full-time equivalents. In cases where TiM data is unavailable, IMPLAN uses less-detailed employment data from the International Labour Organization’s Modelled and Projected Estimates (ILO-EST) dataset and a combination of other data sources to estimate Industry employment (as described below).
OECD INTER-COUNTRY INPUT-OUTPUT TABLES
Country-to-country trade data comes from the OECD Inter-Country Input-Output (ICIO) database. The OECD ICIO database is, in fact, the foundation for both the OECD I-O Tables and the OECD TiM database. The ICIO database is a global multi-regional input-output model that provides information about domestic production, consumption, and investment (national I-O tables) combined with trade flows between countries. Provided in an internationally consistent format, the ICIO database provides a globally balanced view of production, consumption, and investment worldwide.
The country-to-country trade data from ICIO enables MRIO analysis between countries in the International Product. Note, however, that commuting flows have not been incorporated due to limited data availability.
OECD GLOBAL REVENUE DATABASE
Finally, IMPLAN data on personal income taxes, corporate taxes, and contributions to social security insurance schemes come primarily from the OECD Global Revenue Statistics database. The OECD Global Revenue Database provides globally comparable tax revenue data in an internationally consistent tax classification scheme and in USD, consistent with the OECD I-O tables.
SECONDARY DATA SOURCES
In cases where data elements are not available from the OECD, IMPLAN uses other, supplementary data sources. This occurs for employment data for some Industries and countries as well as tax data for some countries.
Additionally, as mentioned previously, the OECD I-O tables do not provide data for components of Value Added (EC, GOS, and OTXS). For the components of Value Added not covered by the OECD TiM (GOS and OTXS), IMPLAN uses OECD data from previous years.
GOS AND OTXS DATA
Current GOS and OTXS are estimated based on Total Value Added values from current OECD I-O tables, current EC values from the OECD TiM data, and Value Added ratios from the 2018 edition of the OECD I-O tables.3 The ratio split between OTXS and GOS is applied to the Total Value Added less Employee Compensation.
For new countries that were not covered in the 2018 edition of the OECD I-O tables, IMPLAN utilizes the previous year’s Industry average OTXS/EC ratio for all non-OECD countries that are also covered in the IMPLAN International Product, assuming that the new countries are more similar to non-OECD countries than the global average. Once OTXS is estimated, GOS is set to equal the remainder of Total Value Added less Employee Compensation, less OTXS.
EMPLOYMENT DATA
For employment, secondary data sources include the International Labour Organization’s Modelled and Projected Estimates (ILO-EST). In cases where TiM data is unavailable, IMPLAN uses ILO-EST employment data as our employment controls. However, the ILO-EST employment data does not have as much sector detail as the OECD I-O data. Therefore, this requires using ratios calculated from other data sources (that do have the necessary sector detail) to split the ILO-EST data into the necessary sector detail. The data used to calculate such split ratios is either the ILO-LFS employment data4, the OECD TiM Employee Compensation (EC) data, or some combination of the two. However, the ILO-LFS data are not consistently available for all sectors for all countries, thus necessitating the use of the OECD EC data in many cases.
TAX DATA
When tax data is not available from the OECD Global Revenue database, IMPLAN uses less-detailed tax data from the World Bank World Development Indicators (WDI) database or other data from national statistics agencies. When tax data is not available from the OECD, IMPLAN first turns to the less-detailed World Bank WDI data. This data provides tax revenue data, at higher aggregation (e.g. all Taxes on Income, Profits, and Capital Gains for individuals and corporations rather than for individuals only) and GDP data in local currency values. Using this data, IMPLAN estimates control totals for tax revenues in USD using IMPLAN GDP values and WDI tax revenues as percent of GDP values. Data are further split using data from national statistics offices or average split amongst all countries in the most recent IMPLAN International data that are also covered by the OECD Global Revenue Statistics database. A few countries are not covered by the World Bank WDI data, and in those cases, IMPLAN uses statistics from national statistics agencies.
OTHER STUDY AREA DATA
Other data related to the study area (land area, average household size, etc.) comes from several different international organizations, including the World Bank, EuroStat, and the United Nations, as well as directly from individual countries’ national statistics agencies.
1The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organization, currently made up of 38 member countries. More information about their members, mission, and more can be found on their website: https://www.oecd.org/
2For more information about the components of Value Added in the International Product, please read Components of Value Added and the TOPS Account.
3The OECD releases I-O tables in new editions every two to three years (2018 edition, 2021 edition, 2023 edition). The latest edition with reported values for Gross Operating Surplus and Other Taxes on Production Net of Subsidies was the 2018 edition. Thus, IMPLAN constructs and uses ratios from the 2018 edition to estimate current GOS and OTXS.
4The ILO’s Labour Force Survey (LFS) data have more sector detail than their EST data. IMPLAN only uses the LFS data for splitting the EST data into more detail, rather than using their values outright because a) the LFS data are not available for all sectors for all countries (i.e., they do not represent a complete data set) and b) their values have not been adjusted for differences in survey administration among all the countries, as have the EST data.
Written January 9, 2025