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>As a result, a company’s data will tend to reflect the needs of its clients — it won’t capture the economy as whole. If no one needs some data doesn't that im

>As a result, a company’s data will tend to reflect the needs of its clients — it won’t capture the economy as whole. If no one needs some data doesn't that imply capturing it is a waste of time and energy?

nemomarx 1y ago
People who are not the clients could need accurate information about how the total market is doing?
mlinhares 1y ago
Everyone needs trustworthy employment data as this affects every single business in the country. If you don't know what the real employment rate is and you see your business going down you might think the problem is your business and not the whole economy. You can't run a modern country without collecting real world data about the country's economy.
- parineum 1y ago
  how would that change your actions? Would it make you feel better about your business failing?
  - altcognito 1y ago
    If employment is strong, you might add marketing, because maybe you're not doing enough to get the money that is clearly being passed around. If employment is weak, you might cut staff yourself, or maybe cut costs elsewhere. You might change your product mix to serve a different set of customers. You could change pricing. No. It is not about feeling better.
- blitzar 1y ago
  > real world data about the country's economy The data is backward looking, sometimes by as much as 3 months, rarely less than a month old. The only way the "data" knows there is a reccession is if it stared 3/4 of a year ago. If you are a CEO or running a business and you are blaming your business decisions on the stats from 3 months ago that came out today you should get out of the chair and let someone with a brain sit in it.
regularization 1y ago
Karl Marx used the British government Blue Books he found in the Reading Room of the British Museum to write Capital. If the British government wasn't publishing Blue Books in the 19th century, he would have had more difficulty forming his theories.
altcognito 1y ago
The whole paragraph explains it: > Private companies are in the business of making a profit, and to do that they need to attract customers. Some customers are more profitable than others. As a result, a company’s data will tend to reflect the needs of its clients — it won’t capture the economy as whole. Honestly, it is a very, very good paragraph. There is a slavish devotion to the idea that markets are efficient and that is the most desirable outcome in all situations. If you are in the business of being a government and running a country for all of your citizens, you need all the data, not just select aspects of it, and not just those that tell a particular story.
- charcircuit 1y ago
  >you need all the data There is an infinite amount of data. And most of it is useless. Governments do not need to know how many fry cooks read exactly 3 novels from authors who names end with a letter in the first half of the alphabet in the last year.
  - altcognito 1y ago
    Reductio ad absurdum, sure. So that is why it is important to understand that the government needs data for it's purposes (and not more than that). Restricting data to the narrow purposes of whichever company is willing to pay to produce select economic statistics will leave everyone worse off.
    - charcircuit 1y ago
      >Restricting data to the narrow purposes of whichever company This isn't what the article said. It essentially said the data would be based off what people who use the data need. If the government needs some data it would still be able to get it.
      - altcognito 1y ago
        There is so much missing in what you're responding with, and I'm not even sure you're contradicting what's being said. Lets just start with something simple: Are you assuming that the government only needs what people are willing to pay for?
amanaplanacanal 1y ago
The federal reserve certainly needs that data when they are trying to decide on interest rate adjustments.
- actionfromafar 1y ago
  Soon they won't need any data, they can just ask Trump what the rate should be.
- dragonwriter 1y ago
  Does the Fed use BLS data for that or BEA employment data (BEA does use the BLS data as an input, so they aren't completely independent, but they also make adjustments to make them consistent with other BEA measures and I wonder if changes in BLS methodology or reliability will simply produce greater divergence between BLS and BEA employment information). I mean, the Fed uses BEA PCE data and not BLS CPI data for inflation, so it would seem consistent for them to use BEA employment data as well. Of course. if manipulating the source of the popular headline figures doesn't have the desired impact on the Fed, Trump would eventually probably exert the same pressure on BEA.

nemomarx 1y ago

People who are not the clients could need accurate information about how the total market is doing?

mlinhares 1y ago

Everyone needs trustworthy employment data as this affects every single business in the country. If you don't know what the real employment rate is and you see your business going down you might think the problem is your business and not the whole economy. You can't run a modern country without collecting real world data about the country's economy.

parineum 1y ago
how would that change your actions? Would it make you feel better about your business failing?
- altcognito 1y ago
  If employment is strong, you might add marketing, because maybe you're not doing enough to get the money that is clearly being passed around. If employment is weak, you might cut staff yourself, or maybe cut costs elsewhere. You might change your product mix to serve a different set of customers. You could change pricing. No. It is not about feeling better.
blitzar 1y ago
> real world data about the country's economy The data is backward looking, sometimes by as much as 3 months, rarely less than a month old. The only way the "data" knows there is a reccession is if it stared 3/4 of a year ago. If you are a CEO or running a business and you are blaming your business decisions on the stats from 3 months ago that came out today you should get out of the chair and let someone with a brain sit in it.

regularization 1y ago

Karl Marx used the British government Blue Books he found in the Reading Room of the British Museum to write Capital. If the British government wasn't publishing Blue Books in the 19th century, he would have had more difficulty forming his theories.

altcognito 1y ago

The whole paragraph explains it: > Private companies are in the business of making a profit, and to do that they need to attract customers. Some customers are more profitable than others. As a result, a company’s data will tend to reflect the needs of its clients — it won’t capture the economy as whole. Honestly, it is a very, very good paragraph. There is a slavish devotion to the idea that markets are efficient and that is the most desirable outcome in all situations. If you are in the business of being a government and running a country for all of your citizens, you need all the data, not just select aspects of it, and not just those that tell a particular story.

charcircuit 1y ago
>you need all the data There is an infinite amount of data. And most of it is useless. Governments do not need to know how many fry cooks read exactly 3 novels from authors who names end with a letter in the first half of the alphabet in the last year.
- altcognito 1y ago
  Reductio ad absurdum, sure. So that is why it is important to understand that the government needs data for it's purposes (and not more than that). Restricting data to the narrow purposes of whichever company is willing to pay to produce select economic statistics will leave everyone worse off.
  - charcircuit 1y ago
    >Restricting data to the narrow purposes of whichever company This isn't what the article said. It essentially said the data would be based off what people who use the data need. If the government needs some data it would still be able to get it.
    - altcognito 1y ago
      There is so much missing in what you're responding with, and I'm not even sure you're contradicting what's being said. Lets just start with something simple: Are you assuming that the government only needs what people are willing to pay for?

amanaplanacanal 1y ago

The federal reserve certainly needs that data when they are trying to decide on interest rate adjustments.

actionfromafar 1y ago
Soon they won't need any data, they can just ask Trump what the rate should be.
dragonwriter 1y ago
Does the Fed use BLS data for that or BEA employment data (BEA does use the BLS data as an input, so they aren't completely independent, but they also make adjustments to make them consistent with other BEA measures and I wonder if changes in BLS methodology or reliability will simply produce greater divergence between BLS and BEA employment information). I mean, the Fed uses BEA PCE data and not BLS CPI data for inflation, so it would seem consistent for them to use BEA employment data as well. Of course. if manipulating the source of the popular headline figures doesn't have the desired impact on the Fed, Trump would eventually probably exert the same pressure on BEA.