Page 244 - Invited Paper Session (IPS) - Volume 2

IPS224 Jorge T. et al.
resulted in an institutional deterioration process which included the
replacement of several directors and the arbitrary displacement of many
specialised statistical agents, who either resigned, were dismissed, or, in many
cases, continued their work in a hostile environment if they opposed the
regime.
The discretionary changes in statistical methodology and procedures and,
especially, the spurious statistical indicators published resulted in a wide-
spread mistrust of the Institute’s production. An evident scepticism grew
within the Institute’s users, who began to use alternative indicators to
approach the social and economic reality. Additionally, INDEC lost its statistical
leadership within the Argentine State and its status in the NSS at all levels.
In December 2015, at the beginning of the country’s current Public
Administration, the scenario at INDEC was of great distress due mainly to three
aspects: low credibility, institutional status and lack of leadership over the NSS.
In order to reverse this situation, INDEC management team focused on the
following political and administrative tools:
 Decree 55/2016. Declaration of emergency in the National Statistical
System.
 Request to adhere to the Recommendation of the OECD Council on
Good Statistical Practice.
 Management team renewal.
 Granting a higher hierarchical status to the Director-General of the
Institute (from Undersecretary of State to Secretary of State).
A higher hierarchical status enabled, on one hand, direct access to the
highest National public administration levels. On the other hand, it gave the
Institute the capacity to issue certain administrative rules and documents
without approval of a superior authority. Thus, as a Secretary of State, INDEC’s
4
Director-General can issue resolutions without an intermediate entity . Before
the hierarchical change, the Institute’s Director-General could only directly
issue provisions . Both resolutions and provisions are ranked below executive
5
orders (official orders that are the result of a decision of the National Executive
Power and can only be signed by the President).
As mentioned in the brief historical account, after its creation in 1968
under the scope of the Secretariat for the CONADE, the Institute was
transferred to the National Planning Secretariat, and, later, to the Ministry of

4 Administrative decisions issued by ministers, ministers’ or presidents’ secretaries, or other
officials authorised to do so and which, depending on the specific topic, could be effective
both within and outside the respective organisation.
5 Decisions from lower-level administrative authorities (such as an undersecretary, the head
of a decentralised organisation or a director-general) on issues related to their respective
organisational sphere.
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