If you have sat through more than two conferences and workshops on the post-2015 development agenda or the Sustainable Development Goals (or tracked #SDGs or #data2015 on Twitter) you will be aware that there is a certain repetition of ideas. The same soundbites are...
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Category: National Accounts
Recalculating Kenya’s GDP
Nic Cheeseman writes about the new GDP numbers in Kenya. They are not ready yet, viagra and the jump in GDP will not be as big as they were in Nigeria or Ghana. As in Nigeria and Ghana the new numbers will not make...
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Interview with Jeune Afrique
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.
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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Nigeria publishes new GDP numbers = Nigeria biggest economy in Africa
So it is official. The new GDP number for Nigeria was released today. It is 80.3 trillion naira for 2013. That is according to NBS this afternoon. The old GDP number was 42.4 trillion naira. The increase is bigger than per-announced and Nigeria overtakes...
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Poor Numbers in Addis Ababa, Edinburgh, Oxford, London and Helsinki
My first stop on a trip where I stop to give a talk in Edinburgh, look sit on a panel in Oxford, ask give a presentation at the DFID economist conference in London, and finally present a new paper at a conference in Helsinki,...
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GDP in Ghana – Two lines
As I have discussed elsewhere (here, here and here), in 2010, Ghana changed its base year for GDP calculation from 1993 to 2006, and the cumulative effect of change in methods, base year and adding new data on economic activities meant that total GDP...
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Foreign Affairs reviews Poor Numbers
According to Nicolas van de Walle in Foreign Affairs Jerven demonstrates with devastating clarity that African governments produce imprecise economic statistics that should not be trusted. Read the full review here.