- International comparability for government appropriations or outlays for R&D is more limited
than that for the R&D effort of the Business Enterprise sector due to different institutional
arrangements; - International comparability for R&D expenditure performed and financed by the Higher
education sector is limited. This sector includes both public and private universities and the R&D
effort of each component is not identified. Without further specifications the different
composition between public and private higher education institutions limits comparisons across
countries; - The classification by objectives reflects needs specific to the R&D sector of activities, and it
does not reflect directly the functional breakdown of the general government expenditures as in
the COFOG classification; - Data are released with approximately two years of delay with respect to the current year and are
accounted on a cash basis; - Tax expenditures to favour R&D investments are not quantified; in the questionnaire sent to the
business and government sectors it is asked to specify only on qualitative terms whether part of
the financing has benefited of tax incentives.
4. What could be implemented?
This paragraph is directly linked to paragraphs 2, 3.1 – 3.2 and it aims at discussing the possible
implementation of the envisaged extension of the core of the dataset and of the additional modules (the
satellites of the system). In the following discussion, we make reference to the outcome of a specific
survey conducted among countries through the members of the WGQPF. The results of the survey are
presented in a comprehensive and analytical way in the Michael Thöne paper “A survey on the feasibility
of an enlarged dataset on the quality of public finances – First results”, which was discussed at the third
meeting of the WGQPF, held in Berlin on 15 October 2004. The various steps that might be taken in the
future are illustrated below in succession.
As a starting point, we believe that before starting the process of the progressive enlargement of the
information system there is a preliminary condition to comply with: guaranteeing the availability of data
for all countries in the format already established as compulsory by the ESA95 transmission programme
in force, i.e. ESA95 table 11 (COFOG). Therefore, the first step should consist in assuring a common
standard for existing data: in other words it is necessary to reach a high level of homogeneity among
countries as far as both the length of time series and the timeliness of delivery are concerned.
Step 1
Step one is represented by the implementation of the proposal described in paragraph 2, where we
underlined the need to dispose (at least) of the second level of the COFOG classification and of a limited
number of additional breakdowns by economic category.
In principle, at least part of this kind of information might be already deliverable with limited efforts by
national accountants of each Member State. This is because the calculation of the GG non-financial
accounts and of the COFOG public expenditure statistics (according to ESA95 format) are generally
estimated using a very detailed database. Hence, the additional information implied by the enlargement
of the initial core (moving from table 1 of par. 2.1 towards table 3) could already be included in the
national accountants’ archives as a “work in progress”. This is confirmed by the results of the survey
carried out by the WGQPF. On average, this first enlargement is judged as feasible by the majority of
countries, in some case provided that a common commitment/financing is decided.