The OECD collects an extensive range of statistics from both the 29 member, and 10 non-member countries within the programme of activities of the Centre for Co-operation with Non-Members (CCNM).The primary purpose for collecting such information is to provide a statistical base for use by various directorates within the organization, in country surveys, economic analyses and the formulation of policy recommendations to member governments in current areas of OECD activity.

Information provided
The Main Economic Indicators (MEI) provides an overall view of short-term economic developments through presentation of the following indicators: National accounts; Production; Business and consumer opinion surveys; Composite leading indicators; Manufacturing; Construction; Domestic trade; Labour market indicators; Producer prices; Consumer prices; Interest rates; Share prices; Exchange rates; Foreign trade; Balance of payments.

Most of these indicators are important instruments for formulation of economic policy by the countries included in this publication. They are well known and widely collected and used by those countries and by international organizations. In addition, the methods for their collection and compilation are well established and generally adequately documented within each country. Even so, the methodologies used are not always transparent for a large number of users. This may in some instances lead to misinterpretation of statistical data and a misunderstanding of economic phenomena, especially when making international comparisons. Undertaking such comparison requires thorough acquaintance with the definitions, sources and methods of compilation of the indicators in question.

Importance of methodological information
In recent years more emphasis has been given to the importance of ensuring that statistics published by international organizations, national statistical institutes and other agencies is accompanied by adequate methodological information. Such information is deemed essential to provide analysts with sufficient information on methodologies underlying the compilation of statistics to give an accurate assessment of the dimensions of data quality mentioned previously. Many of the issues related to the importance of methodological information are outlined in an OECD paper published on the Internet http://www.oecd.org/std/METIS.pdf.

This paper outlines the OECD system of statistical methodological information, and how collection and carefully thought out presentation of methodological information can be used to promote comparability and adherence to international statistical standards. The paper proposes that such information can be an effective tool in the implementation of international statistical standards, the development of statistics with increased international comparability and the adoption of best practice in the compilation of statistics. OECD methodological information is available free of charge on the Internet http://www.oecd.org/std/meta.htm. This address also contains a comprehensive list of OECD methodological publications, in particular, those relating to short-term economic indicators.

The summary methodological information for individual countries in is provided within a standard list of methodological items. In the main these are: definition; coverage; collection; calculation; and source. More detailed methodological descriptions for some of the short-term indicators published in MEI have been collected and disseminated by other international agencies, in particular, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in their Special Data Dissemination Service (SDDS), to which almost all OECD member countries have subscribed. This is available on the Internet at http://dsbb.imf.org.