Costa Rica´s business registry:Directory of institutional units and

establishments

Contacts:Odilia Bravo: odilia.bravo@inec.go.cr

David Bullón: david.bullon@comex.go.cr

Overview

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Origins and purposeOrigins and purpose

• Origins– By law INEC is in charge of collecting and managing census data.– For many years lack of an authoritative source of firm level data.– In 2008 the Central Bank funded INEC to create the business registry. – Since 2010, the Ministry of Finance has funded INEC directly to update

the registry annually.

• Purpose– Organized register of enterprises and establishments that reside in the

country with variables that characterize them in terms of:ID number, location, size, and type of economic activity.

– Required for Central Bank’s project to update the base year.– Sampling frame for various surveys.

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Basic structure of business registerBasic structure of business register

• Hierarchical structure of registry:

• Unique ID based on national ID numbers– Non-incorporated: 9 digit personal ID number (for all legal documents)– Incorporated: 10 digit firm ID number – (for all legal documents)

But firms often use several firm ID numbers

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Variables with full coverageVariables with full coverage

Firm Establishment

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Data sourcesData sourcesContributors Data provided

List of all firms and employment data to add missing firms and update registry

List of major tax contributing firms to add missing firms and update registry

List of incorporated firms for verification

List of citizens to verify non-incorporated firms

List of firms from exporters census to add missing firms and update registry

Data collected through consumer and construction price index surveys

Other data provided by users through special projects

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Census for districts selected each year

Phone calls to update registers

Survey based data

Admin. data

Coverage and updatingCoverage and updating• Business registry created in 2008

– 45,888 firms, 6,779 establishments 2008.– Census of 52% of firms using field survey in the 39 districts.– Administrative records covered the remaining 434 districts.

• Annual updating (efficient and cost effective) – 48,981 firms, 10,099 establishments and 796 groups in 2012.– Identify new firms with updated administrative records.– Phone interviews to 40% of registry + new firms identified with

administrative data.– Census of 1-2 districts with significant variation in number of firms

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Quality control: new firms from Quality control: new firms from administrative dataadministrative data

All records go through the following data cleaning process:1. Correct / exclude out-of-range data2. Convert activity code from ISIC Rev. 3 to Rev. 43. Exclusion of records with missing identifying info.4. Validation of length of ID numbers5. Verification of the existence of business using

unique ID number6. Exclude units that do not meet the criteria (e.g.,

central and local government, autonomous institutions, education boards, etc.)

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Quality control: survey data Quality control: survey data

Census data collected with PDAs and survey data collected by phone is submitted to the following controls:•Real-time: Automatic filters to catch mistakes. •Biweekly: Calls to verify surveyors’ work.•Monthly: Verify ISIC code and quality of descriptions for 30% of registers covered.•Yearly: Correct all error messages generated.

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Uses: Dissemination through Uses: Dissemination through annual bulletinannual bulletin

• Number of enterprises by economic activity, size or geographic area

• Changes in the most important variables

• Dynamic analysis: mergers, closings, births and temporary cessation

• Employment generated by new companies

• Available online

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Uses: Projects to characterize Uses: Projects to characterize firms firms

• INEC supports organizations by creating samples and performing surveys• National Bank of Costa Rica: Survey of SMEs• Trade Promotion Agency: Census of exporters• Ministry of Economy: Businesses near coasts and ports

• Nature of support• Selection of sample frame• Feedback on quality of data• Access to business registry and economic activity finder• Technical assistance for the analysis of database and

classification of economic activities

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Uses: Micro-linking projectUses: Micro-linking project

• Research with COMEX and IDE-JETRO• Linking business registry to other sources

• Export data• Free Trade Agreement utilization for exports• Productivity data for multinationals

• Policy-oriented research• Impact of trade and investment policy on the

development of clusters• Firm-level econometric analysis

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Costa Rica´s Business Registry:Directory of Institutional Units and

Establishments

Contacts:Odilia Bravo: odilia.bravo@inec.go.cr

David Bullón: david.bullon@comex.go.cr