Guide on the theoretical VAT - Practical guidelines for enhanced comparability across countries - 2023 edition
‘Theoretical VAT’, defined as the amounts of VAT which would be collected if all units subject to VAT were to pay it as required by law, is a concept of great interest for economic and fiscal analyses. In the domain of national accounts, estimation of theoretical VAT receipts is a crucial first step for estimating exhaustiveness adjustments for non-collected VAT. Theoretical VAT also plays an important role in validating GDP estimates.

Given the variety of approaches to the national accounts-based calculation of theoretical VAT in EU countries, this paper has been drawn up to propose practical guidelines for enhanced comparability in this regard. In the quest for good practices to be considered in this calculation, it explored the advantages offered by the framework used until recently to calculate the so-called ‘Weighted Average Rate’ (WAR) for the purpose of the VAT own resource of the EU budget.

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ks-gq-23-003

Measuring the joint distribution of household income, consumption and wealth at the micro-level – Methodological issues and experimental results – 2023 edition

This paper provides an overview of the work of the Expert Group on the Joint Distribution of Income, Consumption and Wealth at Micro Level (EG ICW) set up by Eurostat and the OECD; it discusses the challenges on producing joint income, consumption and wealth estimates, assesses their quality, and presents selected experimental results. Although the analysis reveals large differences between countries, a number of general patterns emerge. First, income, consumption and wealth are partially correlated, with the association being stronger in the tails of the joint distribution than around its middle. Second, risk of poverty goes beyond income, with asset and consumption risk of poverty being widespread, especially among some population groups. Third, a large share of households spend more than they earn. This is corroborated by negative median saving rates for households in the bottom income quintile. Fourth, inequalities are significantly higher when using a comprehensive measure of material living standards than a distributional analysis of disposable income would suggest. Looking ahead, this paper calls for further efforts to improve the robustness of the results. Key words: income inequality, consumption inequality, wealth inequality, experimental statistics

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ks-tc-22-003

Market prices and the evolution of corporate leverage in the euro area - 2022 edition

Corporate leverage is an important variable for financial stability. The System of National Accounts provides a solid methodology to monitor aggregated trends. In this framework, the valuation of balance sheet items at market prices implies that both changes in volume and changes in prices define the evolution of corporate leverage over time. To demonstrate how revaluations can also explain the dynamics of corporate leverage, we build time series that only consider transactions in financial assets and liabilities. We find that the trends in corporate leverage in the euro area since 1999 would have been different if revaluations had been excluded. Users of national accounts for financial stability purposes should be aware of the impact that market prices can have on corporate leverage. Besides, ongoing methodological work to improve national accounts should continue, in particular in what regards techniques for the estimation of market values of some financial

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/KS-03-22-176-EN-N.pdf

The European economy since the start of the millennium — 2022 interactive edition

The European economy since the start of the millennium — 2022 interactive edition aims to show how main features of the economy of the European Union and its Member States have evolved since 2000 through a large range of statistical data giving both a micro- and a macro-economic perspective.

Throughout the publication, brief descriptions of the main findings are completed with interactive visualisations, where you can compare your country with other countries. This publication is aimed at those who would like to have an overview of the economic trends in the EU since 2000 in an easy and interactive way.

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/digpub/european_economy/

Eurostatistics — Data for short-term economic analysis — 08/2021 

Eurostatistics — Data for short-term economic analysis — shows the evolution of the economic activity in the European Union, euro area and Member States. This monthly review gives a synthetic picture of the macroeconomic situation in the recent past. It is based on Principal European Economic Indicators (PEEIs), complemented by some business cycle indicators. [+]

Eurostatistics — Data for short-term economic analysis — 06/2021

Eurostatistics — Data for short-term economic analysis — shows the evolution of the economic activity in the European Union, euro area and Member States. This monthly review gives a synthetic picture of the macroeconomic situation in the recent past. It is based on Principal European Economic Indicators (PEEIs), complemented by some business cycle indicators. [+]

Eurostatistics — Data for short-term economic analysis — 04/2021 

Eurostatistics — Data for short-term economic analysis — shows the evolution of the economic activity in the European Union, euro area and Member States. This monthly review gives a synthetic picture of the macroeconomic situation in the recent past. It is based on Principal European Economic Indicators (PEEIs), complemented by some business cycle indicators. [+]

Eurostatistics — Data for short-term economic analysis — 03/2021 

Eurostatistics — Data for short-term economic analysis — shows the evolution of the economic activity in the European Union, euro area and Member States. This monthly review gives a synthetic picture of the macroeconomic situation in the recent past. It is based on Principal European Economic Indicators (PEEIs), complemented by some business cycle indicators. [+]

Eurostatistics — Data for short-term economic analysis — 02/2021

Eurostatistics — Data for short-term economic analysis — shows the evolution of the economic activity in the European Union, euro area and Member States. This monthly review gives a synthetic picture of the macroeconomic situation in the recent past. It is based on Principal European Economic Indicators (PEEIs), complemented by some business cycle indicators. [+]

Eurostatistics — Data for short-term economic analysis — 01/2021

Eurostatistics — Data for short-term economic analysis — shows the evolution of the economic activity in the European Union, euro area and Member States. This monthly review gives a synthetic picture of the macroeconomic situation in the recent past. It is based on Principal European Economic Indicators (PEEIs), complemented by some business cycle indicators. [+]