"This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions"--T.p. verso.

This volume provides a comprehensive review of the statistical theory and methods underlying the estimation of purchasing power parities (PPPs) and real expenditures, the choices made for the 2005 International Comparison Program (ICP) round, and the lessons learned that led to improvements in the 2011 ICP.

The 2011 International Comparison Programme (ICP) is a worldwide statistical initiative that aims to estimate Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) to be used as currency converters to compare the size and price levels of economies around the world -- crucial information for research in comparative analysis and policy making.

The International Comparison Program (ICP) is a worldwide statistical initiative--the largest in geographical scope, in implementation time frame, and in institutional partnership. It estimates purchasing power parities (PPPs) for use as currency converters to compare the size and price levels of economies around the world. Numerous methodological improvements and operational guidelines were introduced in the 2011 round of the ICP for the advancement of the program. The Operational Guidelines and Procedures for Measuring the Real Size of the World Economy is a compilation of ICP operational guidelines and material prepared by the ICP 2011 Global Office team, consultants, and international experts. It describes the approach to and data requirements for the main price survey and special surveys, including the various guidelines produced and survey forms. It also covers the framework and requirements for national accounts activities for the ICP. In addition, this guide describes the procedures followed for data validation, computation of national annual averages, calculation of PPPs, aggregation, and linking. Disclosure of the procedures underlying the ICP 2011 process heightens the transparency of the program and allows interested stakeholders and users of the results to delve into the ICP methods and operational aspects in order to better understand and interpret the results.

Maps capture data expressing the economic complexity of countries from Albania to Zimbabwe, offering current economic measures and as well as a guide to achieving prosperity Why do some countries grow and others do not? The authors of The Atlas of Economic Complexity offer readers an explanation based on "Economic Complexity," a measure of a society's productive knowledge. Prosperous societies are those that have the knowledge to make a larger variety of more complex products. The Atlas of Economic Complexity attempts to measure the amount of productive knowledge countries hold and how they can move to accumulate more of it by making more complex products. Through the graphical representation of the "Product Space," the authors are able to identify each country's "adjacent possible," or potential new products, making it easier to find paths to economic diversification and growth. In addition, they argue that a country's economic complexity and its position in the product space are better predictors of economic growth than many other well-known development indicators, including measures of competitiveness, governance, finance, and schooling. Using innovative visualizations, the book locates each country in the product space, provides complexity and growth potential rankings for 128 countries, and offers individual country pages with detailed information about a country's current capabilities and its diversification options. The maps and visualizations included in the Atlas can be used to find more viable paths to greater productive knowledge and prosperity.