Morten Jerven Morten Jerven

Whose numbers?

That's the title of an article written by Adewale Maja-Pearce. He takes stock of the debate on Poor Numbers (between me and some representatives from some statistical offices) - and relates it to the problems of counting people in Nigeria - well worth a...
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Are Development Statistics Manipulable ?

That is the question we explore in a new paper I have written with Andrew Kerner and Alison Beatty. Both political scientist at University of Michigan.  Most of you would know that there is a GDP per capita threshold that determines whether you are...
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Is the FT Nit-Piketty?

The saga on the data problems in Piketty's book continues. Giles responds to the debate that has been unfolding, and notes that the academic community has as a whole been rather forgiving of Piketty, but that in Giles' view: Academic economists have got themselves...
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Economic data ‘came out of thin air’

No, this is not another reflection from my research on economic data on African economies, but the allegations by Chris Giles in the Financial Times against the inequality data used in Thomas Piketty's bestselling book. Giles shows that Piketty has indeed made some questionable...
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