The review of indicators of data quality in intra-community trade in goods. the choice of an indicator and its effect on the ranking of countries

Abstract

This article deals with the issue of mirror data concerning intra-Community supplies of goods. Theoretically, in two sources—registers of two countries, trading partners—goods of the same value should be recorded. The observed asymmetries in the declared values were of interest to numerous researchers. The first one to pay special attention to these differences was Morgenstern (1963), who, among other things, dealt with the study of differences in data on world exports and imports. As a result of the literature review, the methods of examining the quality of mirror data in foreign trade (measures and indicators) were systematised. We have also put forward our own proposals. Selected indicators of data asymmetry were used in the study (including aggregated data asymmetry index ZW, aggregated weighted asymmetry index AER, symmetric mean absolute discrepancy index SMADI and general data asymmetry index OW). Similarities and differences in the obtained results were pointed out (values of indicators and ranking of countries were determined according to the quality of data). The research was conducted using data from the Eurostat COMEXT database—intra-Community supplies (ICS) and acquisitions (ICA) of goods between the EU member states in 2017 were analysed.