Through our survey and focus groups, we showed that the value of official economic statistics is very high, most likely far exceeding the cost of actually providing the statistics. Participants attached great importance to ONS economic statistics, saying they were invaluable to their work and in informing policy decisions. In terms of placing a monetary value on economic statistics, we tested a ‘stated preference’ approach, in which we asked participants how much they (or their organisation) hypothetically would be willing to pay to have access to ONS economic statistics. Our study identified several challenges
in applying this approach to economic statistics. One was that most regular users of the statistics do so as employees of an organisation, and they have limited knowledge of their organisation’s budget, and of how their work contributes to improving policy decisions or impacts individual and organisational outcomes. Another strong theme was that participants were somewhat nervous about hypothetical questions about willingness to pay. They said that the idea of paying for economic statistics was not that far-fetched, and participants repeatedly emphasised the value of ONS economic statistics as a public good.
In our broader discussions about how to value economic statistics, participants found it useful to assess their value by thinking about the counterfactual; that is, what would happen in the absence of ONS economic statistics? Most participants suspected the data in an open market would be less reliable and accountable than official economic statistics.