MARTIN BERTRAND/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
MARTIN BERTRAND/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
After President Trump fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, economists and statisticians across the board were horrified. Because the firing raises the spectre of potential manipulation – and it raises the worry that, in the future, the numbers won’t be as trustworthy.
So: we looked at two countries that have some experience with data manipulation. To ask what happens when governments get tempted to cook the books. And…once they cook the books… how hard is it to UN-cook them?
It’s two statistical historical cautionary tales. First, we learn how Argentina tried to mask its true inflation rate, and how that effort backfired. Then, we hear about the difficult process of cleaning up the post-cooked-book mess, in Greece.
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Today’s episode was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Jess Jiang. It was engineered by Jimmy Keeley with help from Kwesi Lee. It was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money‘s executive producer.
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Music: Universal Production Music – “Universal Feel,” “Faces By,” and “Flower Child”