Jose Pablo Valdes Martinez
Jose Pablo Valdes Martinez is a Senior Economist in the Development Economics Data Group at the World Bank, with more than 12 years of experience in national accounts. In his current position in the Bank, he provides advice to client countries to improve the compilation and implementation of economic statistics and national accounts; leads and participates in missions to assess client countries’ national accounts and economic statistics; and provides training and technical assistance in national accounts. He also supports the Bank’s responsibilities in international standard setting bodies and working groups when required. Before joining the WB in 2016, he worked in the Spanish National Statistics Institute as Senior Statistician compiling annual and quarterly national accounts, and in the International Monetary Fund as Real Sector Statistics Advisor, managing and overseeing the Fund’s technical assistance in national accounts and price statistics in Central America. He has a degree in Mathematics from Universidad Complutense of Madrid, Spain, and a Masters Degree in Applied Statistics and Statistics for the Public Sector from Universidad de Alcalá, Spain.
Papers Published in World Economics:
Measuring GDP in Fragile States
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is central to measuring economic performance and productivity, and monitoring fiscal and monetary policies, as well as changes in poverty and shared prosperity. Compiling GDP in accordance with internationally agreed definitions and rules is a complex and data-intensive task, but it is especially challenging in fragile countries. Data are often lacking, of poor quality, or out of date. Much economic activity takes place outside the formal economy, and measuring real growth is more difficult for countries facing armed conflict or natural disasters. But fragile states need accurate measures of GDP, because their economic losses are commonly evaluated in terms of GDP prior to the design and implementation of any mitigation policies.
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