The knowledge base serves as a single web-based access point for a dynamic and centralized repository of information on all aspects of methodology and best country practices for the collection, analysis and dissemination of economic statistics and macroeconomic standards. As such, it facilitates the international sharing and exchange of knowledge on economic statistics programmes as well as the provision of guidance to countries.

The Tourism Satellite Account: Recommended Methodological Framework 2008, provides an updated framework for constructing a Tourism Satellite Account. The purpose of a Tourism Satellite Account is to analyze in detail all the aspects of demand for goods and services associated with the activity of visitors; to observe the operational interface with the supply of such goods and services within the economy; and to describe how this supply interacts with other economic activities. It permits greater internal consistency of tourism statistics with the rest of the statistical system of a country, as well as increased international comparability of these data. The updating process was undertaken by UNWTO under the scrutiny of the Inter-agency Coordination Group on Tourism Statistics.

The International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics 2008 Compilation Guide is a companion document to the International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics (IRTS 2008). The primary purpose of this Compilation Guide is to provide further clarifications and practical guidance for using sources and methods to compile statistics on tourism. It is designed to support the production of a high quality set of basic data and indicators in each country, and to strengthen the international comparability of tourism statistics. The Compilation Guide was prepared by national compilers of tourism statistics, experts from international and regional organisations, and by staff of UNWTO. This Compilation Guide is directed at all those involved in the compilation of tourism statistics, whether they work for National Statistical Offices, National Tourism Administrations or any other entity that produces, or can potentially produce information relevant for the compilation of tourism statistics. In addition, the Guide contains information that may be of interest to users who would like to understand better the nature of tourism data.

The International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics 2008 Compilation Guide is a companion document to the International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics (IRTS 2008). The primary purpose of this Compilation Guide is to provide further clarifications and practical guidance for using sources and methods to compile statistics on tourism. It is designed to support the production of a high quality set of basic data and indicators in each country, and to strengthen the international comparability of tourism statistics. The Compilation Guide was prepared by national compilers of tourism statistics, experts from international and regional organisations, and by staff of UNWTO. This Compilation Guide is directed at all those involved in the compilation of tourism statistics, whether they work for National Statistical Offices, National Tourism Administrations or any other entity that produces, or can potentially produce information relevant for the compilation of tourism statistics. In addition, the Guide contains information that may be of interest to users who would like to understand better the nature of tourism data.

The International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics 2008 provides a comprehensive methodological framework for the collection and compilation of tourism statistics in all countries irrespective of the level of development of their statistical systems. Its primary audience is the staff of national statistical offices and national tourism administrations involved in the compilation of tourism statistics. The recommendations were drafted by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in close cooperation with the United Nations Statistics Division, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and other members of the Inter-Agency Coordination Group on Tourism Statistics. A draft version of the recommendations was reviewed and endorsed by the United Nations Expert Group on Tourism Statistics in June 2007 and was adopted by the Statistical Commission at its thirty-ninth session (E/CN.3/2008/34)

Capital - in particular of the physical sort - plays several roles in economic life: it constitutes wealth and it it provides services in production processes. Capital is invested, disinvested and it depreciates and becomes obsolescent and there is a question how to measure all these dimensions of capital in industry and national accounts. This revised Capital Manual is a comprehensive guide to the approaches toward capital measurement. It gives statisticians, researchers and analysts practical advice while providing theoretical background and an overview of the relevant literature. The manual comes in three parts - a first part with a non-technical description with the main concepts and steps involved in measuring capital; a second part directed at implementation and a third part outlining theory and a more complete mathematical formulation of the measurement process.

The latest System of National Accounts (the 2008 SNA) explicitly recognises, for the first time, that expenditures on research and experimental development (R&D) should be recorded as capital formation. This is a natural extension to the 1993 SNA, which recommends recording many acquisitions of software and databases, mineral exploration, and entertainment, artistic and literary originals as capital formation, too. These products have a common characteristic, namely that their value reflects the underlying intellectual property they embody, which is why they are referred to collectively in this publication as intellectual property products (IPPs). But they also share another important characteristic: their measurement is not straightforward, and in the absence of clear guidance it is highly likely that estimates will not be comparable between countries. This Handbook is designed to provide that guidance by considering IPPs collectively, based on their common characteristics, by type, based on any specificities, such as data availability, and by detailed transaction - for example the valuation of IPPs that have been produced for internal use by their developers, the valuation of unsuccessful IPPs, and the production of IPPs produced and made freely available by government.

Within the framework of statistical cooperation, Eurostat is conducting a series of projects that aim at a successful implementation of the 2008 System of National Accounts (SNA) in the Least Developed Countries, micro-states and other countries that have not yet implemented the SNA. The handbook "Essential SNA Building the Basics" intends to support a successful implementation of the SNA, giving instruments to make an analysis of basic data when preparing national accounts statistics for the first time or improving the existing situation. The version 2012 contains improved and more complete descriptions of specific methodological aspects, as for example information about volume measure, useful for the implementation and development of the SNA.

From time to time the idea of devising a simplified SNA has been floated for developing countries. With this background the World Bank has undertaken the preparation of two handbooks to help extend the implementation of the SNA in countries such as these. This is one of the new handbooks. It is not only strictly consistent with the full text of the 2008 SNA, but uses that text. However, by setting aside some aspects of limited (or possibly no) relevance to many small developing countries, such as a description of sophisticated financial instruments and some possible elaboration of links to other systems, the 600 pages of the full text of the 2008 SNA is reduced to one third of this. The document carefully enumerates what has been omitted so that the reader is aware of these and able to turn to the more extended volume if required.

From time to time the idea of devising a simplified SNA has been floated for developing countries. With this background the World Bank has undertaken the preparation of two handbooks to help extend the implementation of the SNA in countries such as these. This is one of the new handbooks. It suggests that the way to extend the range of implementation of the whole system, however, is not a simplification of the basic theory of the SNA but a simplification of compilation practices. Ideally this should be a first step towards a more extensive coverage of the accounts but even the simplified accounts should serve to make users aware of the potential of the whole system and give the compilers courage to build on these first steps.