The Measurement of Flows in Social Statistics: An Example from Argentinian Experience

This paper explores the possibilities of using the results of a multipurpose household survey to obtain data about the movements of individuals—or other units—between different states, and also deals with methods for improving this information. There is an increasing need for this kind of information in order to complement information about stock. In this sense certain aspects of the methodology employed in a multipurpose household survey for Greater Buenos Aires are examined (in section 2 of the paper). The design of this survey permits the reinterviewing of a part of the sample, and therefore the measurement of flows is possible. However, certain shortcomings arise from the method used, and these are analysed. Then some ways of improving the information by changing some aspects of the survey are put forward. Section 3 of the paper deals with nonsurvey methods for improving the quality of the information by use of data from other sources. Therefore alternative methods for the adjustment of matrices (which are frequently used for updating input–output tables) are discussed and applied to one of the tables presented in section 2. Finally, in section 4, an evaluation of this method is given in order to gain some insights into the possibilities of this approach.