"A slightly less superficial article might note how such lies "naturally" arise in autocratic systems - where local officials are both under pressure to report

"A slightly less superficial article might note how such lies "naturally" arise in autocratic systems - where local officials are both under pressure to report good economic results, and have enough power to lie." From the article: "The explanation is probably simple: opportunity and motive. Part of what makes dictatorships dictatorships is that questioning the official line is dangerous. At the same time, autocratic regimes have a strong incentive to report healthy growth: its absence may be taken as a sign of incompetence or weakness, which dictators can ill afford. Autocrats’ subordinates face similar incentives. In a related study Jeremy Wallace, a researcher, found misreporting by Chinese provinces, too. As he notes, a leaked American diplomatic cable from 2007 revealed the view of Li Keqiang, the prime minister, then a provincial party secretary. He had said, with a smile, that gdp figures were “for reference only”: he relied instead on proxies, such as electricity use."