Data Collection and Analysis

External Data Sources

  • Firms vs. Households in Economic Models

    • Firms: produce, trade, store, transport, manage finance, etc.

    • Households: consume

    • Interaction: product markets (firms to households) and resource markets (households to firms)

Government Data

  • Role: collect taxes, provide public goods, gather data.

  • Infrequent Sources:

    • Census: comprehensive (every household/firm), done every 10 years.

      • Economic Census covers all firms.

  • Frequent Sources:

    • National Sample Survey: sample-based, more frequent than census.

    • Household Consumer Expenditure Survey

    • Annual Survey of Industries: covers firms annually.

Economic Census

  • Comprehensive data collection on households and firms, including home-based establishments.

  • Collects data on:

    • Establishment details (name, ownership).

    • Activity type (two-digit code, NIC).

    • Employment (male, female, hired).

  • Findings:

    • Most rural establishments (72.7%) are self-financed.

    • Urban establishments are even more self-financed (83.7%).

    • A large number of establishments with 10 or more workers are in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Maharashtra, and other states.

Annual Survey of Industries

  • Collects extensive information from industries annually.

  • Findings:

    • Food products and textiles are major employers in the factory sector.

    • Tamil Nadu has a large number of people employed in factories.

    • Chemicals and chemical products contribute a significant portion of gross value added (GVA).

    • GVAGVA: Gross Value Added - the value addition due to a process.

National Sample Survey (NSS)

  • Divides country into census blocks/regions for sampling.

  • 72nd round focused on household spending on services and durable goods.

  • Presents data by quintiles based on monthly per capita expenditure.

  • Findings:

    • Top quintile spends most on buses in both rural and urban areas.

    • Urban top quintile spends more on buses than rural top quintile.

Other Government Data Sources

  • Tax data (GST): product sales by region.

  • Reserve Bank of India & Stock Exchange: capital raising and lending data.

  • Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS): employment, wages.

  • Licenses issued (road transport, driving).

  • Wholesale Price Index & Consumer Price Index: inflation.

  • Right to Information (RTI) for additional data.

  • Data.gov.in: government portal for public data access.

Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) Example

  • Employment categorized by rural/urban areas.

  • Findings:

    • Rural: 54% self-employed, 13.8% regular wage/salary, 25.2% casual labor.

    • Urban: 33% self-employed, 43% regular wage-earning, 11% casual labor.

Non-Government Data Sources

  • Purchasing Manager's Index: sentiment analysis of firms' buying decisions.

  • Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE): data provider for strategic decisions.

    • CAPEX: firms' investments.
      Consumer Pyramids Household Survey: household consumption.

CMIE's Consumer Pyramids Household Survey

  • Longitudinal: same households surveyed repeatedly.

  • Fast frequency: three times a year.

  • Data collected:

    • People of India database: attributes of Indian people.

    • Consumption pyramid: what was consumed in the last month.

    • Aspirational data: what do they want to consume?

    • Income pyramid: income details and volatility.

Survey Methodology

  • Identify primary sampling units based on census data.

  • Create homogeneous regions: neighboring districts with similar conditions.

  • Choose samples to represent all homogeneous regions.

  • Removes Bias via homogeneous regions.