Martin Bertrand/Hans Lucas/AFP through Getty Images
Martin Bertrand/Hans Lucas/AFP through Getty Images
After President Trump dismissed the head of the Office of Labor Statistics, economists and statistics in all areas were horrified. Because the shot raises the spectrum of a possible manipulation, and increases the concern that, in the future, the numbers won are so reliable.
Then: we observe two countries that have some experience with data manipulation. Ask what happens when governments are tempted to cook the books. And … once the books cook … how difficult is it to cook them?
They are two statistical stories of historical warning. First, we learn how Argentina tried to mask its true inflation rate and how that effort failed. Then, we listen to the difficult process of cleaning the disorder of the book after cooking, in Greece.
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Today’s episode was produced by Sam YellowHoSe Kesler. He was edited by Jess Jiang. It was designed by Jimmy Keeley with the help of Kwesi Lee. It was verified by Sierra Juárez. Alex Goldmark is Planet moneyExecutive producer
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