I talk about why I think the emphasis (taken by some journalists) on 'lies, damned lies and statistics' can distract us from simple but real knowledge problem. Read it here.
Category: Poor Numbers
Reviews of Poor Numbers
It takes a little while, about a year, between publication and when academic reviews start appearing. Andrew Jack at the Financial Times was early with a review of the book before it was published, and Bill Gates similarly asked for a pre-publication copy of...
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Measuring African Development: Past and Present – Special Issue
In 2013 the chief economist for the World Bank's Africa region, Shanta Devarajan, delivered a devastating assessment of the capacity of African states to measure development and declared “Africa's Statistical Tragedy”. Is there a “statistical tragedy” unfolding in Africa now?If so then examining the...
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A history of economic growth in Africa: why measurement matters
The GDP re-basing in Nigeria again brought measurement to the center of debates on African economic development, just like it happened when Ghana re-based their GDP in 2010. There has been more commentary in mainstream media this time around - and also a fair...
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What does Nigeria’s new GDP number actually mean?
Read my write up for African Arguments here.
Two nice tweets on Nigerian GDP rebasing
Nigeria Rebases GDP
The announcement is expected to be made on Sunday. It has been expected any day now for almost three years, pilule so it is about time. As I documented in Poor Numbers: How We Are Misled by African Development Statistics and What to Do...
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Poor Numbers @ Ottawa University
I am invited to give a talk based on Poor Numbers: How We Are Misled by African Development Statistics and What to Do about It (Cornell Studies in Political Economy) at Ottawa at the Center for International Policy Studies. I might also draw upon...
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The African Statistics Debate
As I posted a few weeks ago, I did attend the meetings at the Symposium for Statistical Development in Africa in Botswana last week. Magnus Taylor at African Arguments sums it up nicely. There were some productive exchanges, and then there some that were not...
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Poor Numbers in the Lancet.
The Lancet has a regular column, ampoule called the Art of Medicine. I was asked to write something for them on the basis of Poor Numbers. Here it is.