answers to questions like : what is the role of the digital economy in the decline of productivity estimates? how are we capturing the contribution of digital platforms in the labor market? and how would current statistics and macroeconomic measurements be affected? among others. i hope this conference will help us benefit from the exchange of experiences, strengthening working networks and acquiring the necessary know - how to adapt to this new economy, in the quest to ensure confidence in statistical institutions. let me finish by thanking erika arrano, felipe aviles and simon guerrero for being the organizers of this conference. i also thank paloma navarro, maria jose reyes, and alejandra rosas for all their help managing the logistics challenges. have a pleasant stay in santiago and a fruitful discussion over the next day and half. thank you * * * page 4 of 4

central bank of chile october 2019 third statistics conference : “ measuring the economy in the digital age ” opening remarks by mario marcel, governor of the central bank of chile october 1 - 2, 2019 – santiago, chile good morning, it is a great pleasure to welcome you to the third statistics conference organized by the central bank of chile ( cbc ), on “ measuring the economy in the digital age ” that brings together distinguished experts on macro statistics from many agencies and countries around the globe. this conference follows the one on “ statistics for financial and monetary analysis ” in 2015 and on “ measuring the economy in a globalized world ” in 2017 and it is becoming a landmark event for the cbc, and i hope for all participants as well. the conference we are opening today will address the opportunities and challenges that digitalization imposes on us in interpreting and analyzing increasingly dynamic economic and financial phenomena. the digital economy digitization is progressively changing the way we understand our world, by creating new business models and processes, generating new smart products and services, with lower costs and more timely delivery, all of which is reshaping consumer behavior. major questions are emerging about the ability of our conventional toolkit to measure economic activity in the face of such changes. digital products, services and means of economic interaction are making the task of identifying economic phenomena more challenging, especially for economic and financial statistics. traditionally, economic transactions were governed by the interaction between producers and households. in the digital age, households have become firms, and, in turn, producers hire the households ’ services directly. seemingly, free products and services have also emerged. all this calls for a revision of a number of assumptions behind gdp as a measure of the population ’ s well - being. what exactly is the digital economy is an issue still under discussion. according to the organization for the economic co - operation and development ( oecd ), the focus is on digital transactions, that is, those that order or deliver products using digital means. according to this definition, one important feature of digitization is the massiveness of peer - to - peer services intermediated by platforms such as airbnb, uber, or ebay, which facilitate transactions of goods and services. the international monetary fund ( imf ), in turn, defines the digital economy as the use of digital information. working groups of international experts are being convened to elaborate on these definitions and to propose a general framework for measuring the digital economy. the structural changes associated with digitization result in