Official Statistics in Spain: Current status and perspectives

Juan M. Rodriguez Poo

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37830/SJS.2019.1.01   Nº SJS/001

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Spanish Journal of Statistics: Welcome message from the new Editor-in-Chief

José María Sarabia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37830/SJS.2019.1.02   Nº SJS/001

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Recovering income distributions from aggregated data via micro-simulations

I. Moral-Arce, A. de las Heras Perez and S. Sperlich

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37830/SJS.2019.1.03   Nº SJS/001

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  For the studies of wealth, inequality and poverty, the analysis of income distribution of the individuals is a crucial issue. In practice, however, only aggregated data are available, either ingroups or as a few quantiles of the distribution. To perform counterfactual exercises, it is desirable to generate samples of micro income data corresponding to the same population structure. This methodserves also for the imputation of income densities corresponding to the observed grouped data. This work introduce a method of density estimation from grouped data. Small sample properties and twoempirical examples are delivered.

Peer Reviews of the European Statistics and the Involvement of users in the Quality assurance of official statistics: An example focused in the Spanish Living Conditions Survey

Agustín Cañada Martínez

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37830/SJS.2019.1.04   Nº SJS/001

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  Nowadays, the national statistical offices are moving a step forward from traditional quality assessment done by the offices themselves, towards a more complete quality system that involvesexternal experts and other stakeholders. The INE has launched several initiatives in this context, one of them being the one described in this section of the SSJ: the organization of seminars with experts(researchers and academia) focused in a specific statistic. In this paper, this initiative is described,by putting it in the context of the European Union’s Peer Review, processes for auditing the qualityof the activity of the statistical Offices. The article also justifies the selection of the “Spanish Living Conditions Survey” (ES-SILC) integrated in the European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions(EU-SILC) for this action, based on the inherent importance of the subjects studied by this statistic (income inequality, poverty. . . ), and on the attention paid to the quality assessment of their data,both in the European and the Spanish environments.

The Spanish Survey of Living Conditions (ES-SILC). Characteristics and methodological development

José María Méndez Martín

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37830/SJS.2019.1.05   Nº SJS/001

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  The Encuesta de Condiciones de Vida (Spanish SILC Survey) is an annual survey integrated in the European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). The primary aim of this survey is the regular production of statistics on household income and living conditions, collecting key variables like the total household income and the income components. Initially income information was obtained using exclusively the questionnaires. Nevertheless, access to administrative records offers a good opportunity to improve the quality of income data and allows the use of a more efficient collection method. In 2013 a new methodology was adopted in ES-SILC for the production of the income variables based on the use of administrative files (data from the Spanish Tax Agency and the Social Security system), in combination with the information available in the questionnaires. This paper offers a comparative overview of both methodologies assessing the impact on the main indicators. Also the future scheme of this statistical operation in 2021 is introduced. The new design of the contents will be based on a series of rotating modules that will cover different dimensions of the living conditions of the household.

Using EU-SILC to design and evaluate policies against child poverty in Spain

Alejandro Arias, Albert F. Arcarons, Amparo González

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37830/SJS.2019.1.06   Nº SJS/001

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  EU-SILC is an essential tool for research on social policy. This article compiles, on one hand, the applications of this survey by the Office of the High Commissioner against Child Povertyin Spain. This Office used the Spanish version of the survey on fields such as the design of a mínimum income scheme, the evaluation of energy poverty from a child perspective, the changing dynamics ofpoverty according to country of origin, or the impact of housing costs on poverty. On the other hand, the article also proposes some recommendations for possible improvements of the survey, such as the introduction of labour market trajectories or information on daily living expenses, for instance schooling costs.

The forthcoming reform of the Spanish Life Conditions Survey: Some extension proposals from an applied perspective

Jorge Onrubia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37830/SJS.2019.1.07   Nº SJS/001

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  The Spanish Living Conditions Survey (ECV) is the statistical production for Spain of the European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), encouraged and coordinated by Eurostat. This article presents some possibilities of improving the Living Conditions Survey prepared by INE, in view of its upcoming reform, foreseen within the updating process of the EU-SILC project promoted by Eurostat. In particular, this paper reviews the incorporation of information from administrative registers, especially those from tax sources, as well as others from social security records. This work includes a series of proposals to improve the information currently gathered in the ECV for Spanish personal income tax (IRPF), social contributions and social benefits. In addition, some extensions are proposed in relation to information on access to the main dwelling and its financing.