A database user manual for Statistics on Public Expenditures for Economic Development (SPEED) [2015]

Abstract

This document provides a comprehensive overview of the coverage of the new release of the 2015 Statistics on Public Expenditures for Economic Development (SPEED) database, the data sources and methods used in compiling the data, and issues encountered during the compilation and processing of the data. Key issues related to currency redenomination and changes in definition of sector expenditure and how they are addressed to ensure cross-country and intertemporal comparability are presented. The data covers 147 countries from 1980 to 2012 for ten sectors: agriculture, communication, education, defense, health, mining, social protection, fuel and energy, transport, and transport and communication combined as one sector. Indicators reported include percentage of sector expenditure in total expenditure, percentage of total expenditure to total gross domestic product, and per capita sector and total expenditure in constant prices. Significant effort has been put into recording the sources, methods, and issues related to each individual data point so as to allow for easy replication or verification of any data value.
Access to the SPEED database, along with further detailed information, can be found on the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) website at http://www.ifpri.org/publication/public-expenditure-database.