Definition: Balance

Category: OECD - Business tendency surveys

Balances (also called net balances) are used to summarise answers to multiple-choice questions in business tendency and consumer opinion surveys. "No-change" answers (such as "normal" or "same") are ignored and the balance is obtained by taking the difference between the weighted percentages of respondents giving favourable and unfavourable answers. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ramon/statmanuals/files/OECD_Business_Tendency_Surveys_Handbook_EN.pdf