Morgan Reynolds writes:
Economists are familiar with the cliché “lies, damned lies and statistics,” which puts statistics at the top of the pyramid of lies. ESPN sports radio personality Colin Cowherd, on the other hand, insists, “People lie, the numbers don’t.”
Since people create the numbers the line between liars and bad numbers may be less than bright and clear, but Gene Epstein — economics columnist for Barron’s magazine and author of Econospinning — essentially sides with Cowherd. Epstein finds little fault with government’s economic numbers and plenty of fault with the reporters and pundits who use those numbers.
Perhaps surprisingly for a pro-market, anti-statist economist, I agree with Epstein’s assessment. Most of the numbers, especially the labor data produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics upon which Epstein concentrates, are tolerably reliable and accurate, provided the user takes the time to learn their limitations. In 2001-2 I was chief economist at the labor department, a Bush-Cheney political appointee of all things, and was quickly impressed with the thoroughness and professionalism of BLS personnel and their numerical output. FULL ARTICLE
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It’s all well and good to study the labor market, but if it wasn’t for government interference would anyone need to study it at all?
In my industry the companies commission and participate in “salary surveys” in order to keep their compensation in line with their competitors, and that’s about it. Their only interactions with the government consist of receiving ridiculous orders about how many statutory holidays they must offer, how many discriminated minorities and gender-challenged persons they must hire, etc.
A Bureau of Labor Statistics is like a Department of Cluster Bomb Victims – if you didn’t bomb them (with welfare programs, taxation, regulation and other job-killing activities) you wouldn’t have anything to study.
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