3 ms·

Statistics is a useful metric, but how they are used and what they are trying to say while using them can often be very subjective. Example USA-someone is coll

Statistics is a useful metric, but how they are used and what they are trying to say while using them can often be very subjective. Example USA-someone is collecting unemployment, in December their unemployment money is up. They have no job, they want one and are looking. By government standards in January they are no longer unemployed, they are "not part of the work force" and ding! guess what unemployment rates just dropped because that person is no longer unemployed, awesome! Anyone interested in the reality of who is unemployed knows that statistic is full of bs. In December that person is looking and wants a job and is unemployed. In January that person is looking and wants a job and is unemployed. Stats changed but reality didnt.

zigzigzag 10y ago
Inflation statistics have the same problem. They typically don't include house, stock or bond prices. At best, they include some convoluted and highly questionable derivative of house prices like estimated rents. At worst houses don't affect the indexes at all. This leads to a situation where central bankers are publicly saying "hmmm, we've done massive QE but there's no inflation, what a mystery" whilst the average punter is seeing housing and stock market bubbles inflate right in front of his eyes. It causes people to tune out: headlines like "inflation statistics hit new low" are placed right next to "house prices reach record highs".