Do you want to know how the IMF collects statistics from Low Income Countries? Do you wonder what kind of quality checks there are, and what rules determine what data gets published and what does not? Well, so did the IMF Board. They requested...
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Category: IMF
Statistical Tragedy in Africa? Evaluating the Data Base for African Economic Development
On Monday, salve April 6, thumb 2015 - 10:00am to 11:30am the special issue in the Journal of Development Studies: Statistical Tragedy in Africa? Evaluating the Data Base for African Economic Development which I edited with Deborah Johnston is being launched at the Center...
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Just Published: Measuring African Development: Past and Present
Very happy to the see Measuring African Development: Past and Present in print. You can read an open access of the introduction to the book here. The volume takes you through the very first household budget surveys and national account estimates during colonial rule...
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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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Towards Better Economic Policy Making: Strengthening Africa’s Data
That's the title of the IMF seminar I am speaking at during the Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank this weekend. It takes place on Friday, October 11th, 11:30 am – 1:00pm in the Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University. As far...
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Situational Analysis of the Reliability of Economic Statistics in Africa: Special Focus on GDP Measurement
That is the title of a recently released report from the African Development Bank. As you might guess the report has been motivated by the data quality concerns expressed in Poor Numbers but the preface oddly spends time not discussing data quality or the...
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IMF Regional Outlook Report for Sub-Saharan Africa May 2013
The IMF REO for Sub-Saharan Africa was released in May, no rx and it is good to see that the authors of the report considers the importance of base years in Box 1.1 on page 4: One factor raising concerns about the quality of...
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Politics, Damned lies and statistics
In the latest issue of the Africa Report the editor asks: Are the reams of statistics emanating from the United Nations (UN), shop World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) mere works of fiction? Read the editorial here.