ABSTRACT
A National Economic Information System (NEIS) is defined as having five elements: computer systems; a communications network; software; databanks; and econometric models. This chapter describes the role of information in economic analysis, the needs of different organizations, the logical components of a national economic information system, and the various methods by which such systems can best be organized for the different types of institutions. The traditional function of economic analysis is to analyse the historical record in search of systematic regularities. Economic analysis is also used to assess public policy alternatives. The computer technology has made possible the development of NEIS. The chapter discusses the relation of national economic information systems to the needs of universities and research centres. For economic databanks, which are principally time series or cross section data, it is possible to develop programs that greatly increase the efficiency of data entry, and which build in automatic internal checks to help assure accuracy.
