Rezension: Statistisches Handbuch für die Republik Österreich, VI. Jahrgang

Helene Lieser: Review of Statistisches Handbuch für die Republik Österreich, VI. Jahrgang (1926)

Lieser’s short review assesses the continuity, coverage, and practical usefulness of Austria’s official statistical handbook. The sixth annual volume supplements earlier material for 1923, supplies most data for 1924, and includes selected figures for 1925. She praises its established arrangement while noting the addition of meteorology and the restoration of administrative statistics. The latter remain limited to provincial employees.

Her central reservation concerns methodological transparency:

Neu hinzugekommen ist auch eine instruktive Übersicht über die Geschäftsergebnisse von 583 Industriegesellschaften.

English translation: An instructive overview of the business results of 583 industrial companies has also been added.

The overview’s usefulness depends on more than the number of firms covered:

Ihr Wert würde für die Praxis noch wesentlich erhöht werden, wenn angegeben würde, nach welchen Gesichtspunkten diese Aktiengesellschaften ausgewählt wurden.

English translation: Its value for practical use would be substantially increased further if the criteria according to which these joint-stock companies were selected were specified.

Lieser closes by welcoming restored import and export figures and federal budget estimates. Her appraisal makes both coverage and disclosed selection criteria measures of statistical utility: expanded official information is valuable, but users must be able to judge its basis.