Coverage and representativeness of Orbis data
This paper describes the coverage and representativeness of Orbis, a commercial database
of firm-level records across many countries. Such databases can provide key insights
into global economic trends and shed light on how policies affect firms within and
across countries. As a benchmark, the paper uses industry-level data from the OECD
STAN dataset as well as micro-aggregated data from the OECD MultiProd and DynEmp projects,
which draw on official microdata representative of the entire firm population. Results
indicate that Orbis is more suitable for studies that: i) take a global perspective
rather than make comparisons across countries; ii) analyse top performers and multinationals
rather than underperforming firms; and iii) focus on mean performance or changes within
firms rather than the entire firm distribution or entry and exit.
Published on May 28, 2020
In series:OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papersview more titles