This can prove very demanding, particularly since data quality management in micro data is a very cumbersome process. Let me be clear here: micro data per se do not ensure highquality statistics. But it is true that if you have micro data you can check the quality of the data, pinpoint where the problems are and potentially revise them. In the case of aggregate data, you may not have the adequate means at hand to check their quality and correct them. An important issue for ensuring data quality is the proper identification of economic agents. In a complex and globalised world (and in particular in a monetary union where domestic transactions correspond to an area larger than your own country), the identification of counterparts to maintain high-quality statistics is simply essential. Since the European National Central Banks can only properly pursue their functions by previously identifying the financial corporations under their scrutiny and the non-financial counterparts of financial  2  market transactions, they have created their own register: the Register of Institutions and Affiliates Database, (RIAD). A key step forward to ensure there is adequate identification of agents at the European level would be to enhance cooperation in this field between the European Statistical System and the Eurosystem. This could be done, for example, by integrating their reference data directories (such as the ESCB’s RIAD and the ESS’s Euro Group Register).
For many statistical products and for different stages of the statistical process, central banks mainly rely on their own capabilities, running different IT systems and developing autonomous projects in each country. Here, some synergies can probably be harnessed and costs reduced if collaboration between central banks is further strengthened in that statistical process. Concluding remarks Allow me to conclude. Modern technologies offer a wide range of possibilities for obtaining and assessing information at much lower costs than in the past. Here we have a technological challenge, but another we face is to recruit our staff and to provide them with the skills needed to address these new issues. This may be a long process but we need to tackle it now. As I have tried to explain today, the potential benefits for economic policymaking are very significant. At the same time, there are other obstacles in the way of improving our knowledge of the rapidly changing world. These have more to do with institutional factors and even some cultural traits. They are not easy to remove, either; but we cannot deny we have a major role to play in gradually changing our mind-set and overcoming the barriers which today hamper, for example, data-sharing among institutions and open data for scientific purposes. My impression is that we need to be very ambitious if we do not want to miss that train. We also have more possibilities of succeeding if we join forces with other institutions, both at the national and the international level. 8