Data revision is defined as an adjustment published after the initial announcement had been made; it may reflect rectification of errors, availability of new information, etc. When economists use a database, they may not even be aware that some of the values have been revised, perhaps repeatedly,...

Data and metadata exchange between organizations requires a common language for describing structure and content of statistical data and metadata. The SDMX consortium develops content oriented guidelines (COG) recommending harmonized cross-domain concepts and terminology to increase the...

This paper introduces a new database of financial reforms, covering 91 economies over 1973–2005. It describes the content of the database, the information sources utilized, and the coding rules used to create an index of financial reform. It also compares the database with other measures of...

Since the IMF launched the data standards initiatives a decade ago, 145 of its 184 member countries have participated. This 80 percent participation rate reaffirms the importance countries place on data transparency in the globalized economy, which the initiatives promote. The wide participation...