Page 50 - Invited Paper Session (IPS) - Volume 2

IPS178 Stephan Müller
weekends) can be considered. Industrial output will be lower on these days,
so this can be a reason for lower statistical figures. Statisticians recognise this
effect and can clarify the statistical anomaly in this matter through their
communication with economists. Statisticians also review the texts with regard
to the respective formulations, but only in terms of reasonable statistical
interpretation of the data. The assessment of the economic perspective is still
solely based on the considerations of the economists.
In the event of special occurrences, statisticians can also provide their own
individual contributions to articles in the Monthly Report. This provides an
opportunity for a closer look at the statistical background of noteworthy
economic events. These contributions benefit greatly from the communication
relationships already described. An apposite example, where a well-
established communication process was very useful in the preparation of the
Monthly Report, is the section on the German economy in the February 2019
edition. Within this section, the statisticians provided a quantification of the
effects of plant holidays and strikes on German motor vehicle production,
which was processed in a separate box regarding the weakness of German
motor vehicle production in the second half of 2018. It explicitly describes why
the production of motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts fell by 8% on the
quarter in seasonally adjusted terms in the third quarter of 2018 (Deutsche
Bundesbank 2019).
The communication that takes place in support of the described
production process of the Monthly Report has become largely standardised.
This is necessary because the time frame for coordination between economists
and statisticians is rather limited. For the statistical review, a time slot of two
to three days is provided. Sometimes ad hoc coordination is required if
changes need to be integrated into the Monthly Report at short notice. The
communication takes places mostly via email. This includes personal email as
well as coordination via centralised functional email addresses accessible to a
designated group of employees. Mutual exchange via telephone is also
possible, especially in the context of the last-minute changes described above.
It is very important that, in this context, communication takes place almost
exclusively at the operational level, which means that the experts themselves
work closely together. However, communication across hierarchical levels is
also possible, so that experts at the operational level can, if necessary, advise
senior managers. Communication in and of itself depends to a large extent on
employees actively seeking out interdisciplinary exchange and maintaining
contacts independently. This is currently complicated by the fact that DG
Economics and DG Statistics are not located at the same premises. Personal
contact between the respective counterparts is therefore limited and other
forms of communication must be used instead. The communication in the
production process of the Monthly Report is typically based on the initiative

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