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The Drivers Behind Corruption in Official Statistics
Andreas V Georgiou, World Economics, March 2022
The manipulation of official statistics is grand corruption and political corruption. There is a mechanism that gives rise to phenomena of corruption in official statistics and has component parts: the drivers, the enabling conditions, the modalities and methods used to arrive at the phenomena, and the vectors or agents that execute or propagate the phenomena. The main focus of this article is the drivers... More


Shedding Light on the Shadow Economy: A Global Database and the Interaction with the Official One
Leandro Medina & Friedrich Schneider, World Economics, June 2020
The shadow or informal economy covers all economic activities which are hidden from official authorities for monetary, regulatory and institutional reasons. Although widely used, multiple indicator-multiple cause (MIMIC) models have been criticised, and we develop a modified model and database covering 157 countries over the years 1991 to 2017. ... More


Statistical Data Collection Challenges amid COVID-19 Pandemic
Theodore Pelagidis & Eleftheria Kostika, World Economics, December 2020
The importance of reliable statistical data is even more urgent in the context of the coronavirus crisis, in terms of managing the risks for public health, restarting the world economy and addressing the long-term economic and social impact of the pandemic. Government lockdowns, social distancing and work from home restrictions, imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19, pose important ... More


On Measuring Hyperinflation: Venezuela’s Episode
Steve H. Hanke & Charles Bushnell, World Economics, September 2017
Venezuela now exhibits the 57th historic episode of hyperinflation as measured in the Hanke–Krus World Hyperinflation Table. Entry to the hyperinflation dataset depends on three qualifying criteria: inflation rates greater than 50% per month; the persistence of this rate for at least 30 consecutive days; and full documentation so that inflation estimates are replicable... More


On Measuring Hyperinflation: Venezuela’s Episode
Colin C Williams & Ioana Horodnic, World Economics, December 2020
Are participants in the undeclared economy rational economic actors who can be swayed by increasing the expected penalties and likelihood of detection? Or are they social actors who participate in reaction to a lack of vertical trust (in government) and horizontal trust (in others)? Evaluating a 2019 Eurobarometer survey, participation in undeclared work is ... More


Cryptocurrency Challenges Sovereign Currency
George C. Georgiou, World Economics, March 2020
All national and international monetary structures have evolved to assist in the creation and management of sovereign fiat currencies. This sovereign currency status quo was suddenly upended with the arrival of the first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, in 2008 which introduced a peer-to-peer digital fiat currency without the need of a central banking system, through a trustless, fungible and ... More


Was the Impact of COVID on UK GDP Real or Statistical?
Colin Ellis, World Economics, December 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic, and measures to fight it such as lockdowns, took a significant toll on economic activity around the world. In many instances, declines in GDP were the steepest on record, with the UK standing out among advanced economies. However, the extent of the downturn reflected not just the impact of the pandemic, but also the way that economic activity is measured ... More


Nigerian Statistical Data and their Trustworthiness
Keziah, Y. Ayuba & Panshak Yohanna, World Economics, March 2022
As at 2020, the population of Nigeria was said to be about 200 million (World Bank, 2020). However, the actual population of Nigeria remains a subject for national debates, since there are no databases for birth or death rates. To ascertain the trustworthiness of the statistical data in Nigeria, this study used various secondary data. Critical discourse analysis was ... More


Governments Manipulate Data
Bruno S. Frey, World Economics, December 2021
Governments widely manipulate official economic and social data—but the public tends to disregard this fact. There is extensive empirical evidence that governments extensively manipulate official data. National statistical offices should be independent of their government to fight such manipulation, and alternative data producers should be supported ... More