Why you should take economic statistics with a bucket of salt | City A.M.
Our statistical masters have decreed that the economy was actually 14 per cent smaller than previously thought in 1948 – astonishingly, figures first out more than six decades ago are still being revised, which suggests that today’s data will probably look very different by 2075.
The fact that statisticians can simply rewrite the past is deeply depressing; what seems like objective reality is in fact little more than a social construct.
----------------------------------------------
Is this a fair comment? Or should re-basing of data make trends easier to understand.
Our statistical masters have decreed that the economy was actually 14 per cent smaller than previously thought in 1948 – astonishingly, figures first out more than six decades ago are still being revised, which suggests that today’s data will probably look very different by 2075.
The fact that statisticians can simply rewrite the past is deeply depressing; what seems like objective reality is in fact little more than a social construct.
----------------------------------------------
Is this a fair comment? Or should re-basing of data make trends easier to understand.
Comment