How Good Is Economic Data?

Good discussion today by economist Mark Thoma on the issue of the usefulness of data. For the most part, any data released by government agencies, especially those like the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau and others who are in the business of collecting and publishing data, can be trusted as being the best there is. All sorts of private users, businesses, etc. rely on this data. No private entity has the resources to collect and publish such information.

But users must understand how the data is collected and aggregated to understand what it means. There is an old saying that "figures don't lie, but liars figure." It is probably more accurate in the case of government data to say that "figures don't lie, but liars can manipulate the meaning of the figures, so be sure what they mean." That isn't nearly as entertaining as the first version.