EUROSTAT-OECD Methodological manual on purchasing power parities (PPPs)

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For the last twenty-five years, Eurostat and the OECD have worked together comparing the price and volume levels of the GDPs of EU Member States and OECD Member Countries. The comparisons are made with purchasing power parities or PPPs and the common programme is called the “Eurostat-OECD PPP Programme”. The methodology that Eurostat and the OECD employ in their comparisons has been described in various reports and papers but there has been no single document covering the Programme in detail from start to finish. To rectify this omission, Eurostat and the OECD have prepared this manual.

The manual has three aims: first, to explain to those engaged directly in the Programme - that is, to practitioners in Eurostat, the OECD and the national statistical institutes of participating countries - the why and the how and the when of the international price and volume comparisons of GDP organised by Eurostat and the OECD; second, to enable these practitioners to brief their senior management and significant users - such as politicians, journalists, academics and the like - on the why and how of the Programme and, more importantly, to advise them on the use and interpretation of comparison results; and third, to provide a point of reference accessible to teachers, students and other members of the general public interested in PPPs and related statistics.

The whole version of the manual is available in PDF format, but each chapter is also available as a PDF file:

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Executive Summary

Chapter 1: International comparisons of GDP

Chapter 2: Data requirements and organisation

Chapter 3: Final expenditure on GDP and its classification

Chapter 4: Consumer goods and service

Chapter 5: Government services

Chapter 6: Capital goods and services

Chapter 7: Calculation and aggregation of PPPs

Chapter 8: Presentation, dissemination and updating of results