Official economic data are often wrong, but subtly so

    Pers / media: OnderzoekPopular

    Periode2-jul.-2020

    Media-aandacht

    1

    Media-aandacht

    • TitelOfficial economic data are often wrong, but subtly so
      Mate van erkenningInternational
      Media naam/outletThe Market NZZ
      MediatypeWeb
      Land/RegioSwitzerland
      Release datum02/07/2020
      BeschrijvingGDP, inflation, unemployment... quarter by quarter, the market moves to the ups and downs of these figures, taken as gospel. Official figures are seldom questioned by economists and the media. Yet experts have shown that they can be manipulated, or in a majority of cases, they can express only half-truths. A half-truth is to say, on January 2015, that the Swiss franc’s 20% appreciation was harmful to exporters, and not to mention that all of Swiss imports were getting a 20% discount.

      But more importantly, «macroeconomic indicators are much more ambiguous than is commonly realized», write Roberto Aragão and Lukas Linsi, two researchers from the universities of Amsterdam and Groningen. «Therefore, the line between accurate and manipulated data is more blurry than typical narratives about manipulation acknowledge». Their academic article, published in the «Review of International Political Economy», focuses on the specific ways in which official statistics get manipulated, using the cases of Greece’s public deficit figures, Argentina’s inflation statistics, and the Brazilian «fiscal pedaling» scandal.
      Producent / auteurMyret Zaki
      URLhttps://themarket.ch/meinung/official-economic-data-are-often-wrong-but-subtly-so-ld.2242
      PersonenLukas Linsi