Data uncertainties : their sources and consequences

Official economic statistics are uncertain even if not always interpreted or treated as such. From a historical perspective, this paper reviews different categorisations of data uncertainty, specifically the traditional typology that distinguishes sampling from nonsampling errors and a newer typology of Manski (2015, Journal of Economic Literature). Throughout the importance of measuring and communicating these uncertainties is emphasised, as hard as it can prove to measure especially some sources of data uncertainty relevant for administrative and big datasets. Accordingly, this paper both seeks to encourage further work into the measurement and communication of data uncertainty in general and introduce the COMUNIKOS project sponsored by Eurostat. COMUNIKOS is designed to evaluate alternative ways of measuring and communicating data uncertainty specifically in contexts relevant for official economic statistics.