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Reviews of Poor Numbers

It takes a little while, about a year, between publication and when academic reviews start appearing. Andrew Jack at the Financial Times was early with a review of the book before it was published,...

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Interview with Jeune Afrique

I talk about why I think the emphasis  (taken by some journalists) on ‘lies, damned lies and statistics’ can distract us from simple but real knowledge problem. Read it here.

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Economic data ‘came out of thin air’

No, this is not another reflection from my research on economic data on African economies, but the allegations by Chris Giles in the Financial Times against the inequality data used in Thomas...

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Is the FT Nit-Piketty?

The saga on the data problems in Piketty’s book continues. Giles responds to the debate that has been unfolding, and notes that the academic community has as a whole been rather forgiving of Piketty,...

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Are Development Statistics Manipulable ?

That is the question we explore in a new paper I have written with Andrew Kerner and Alison Beatty. Both political scientist at University of Michigan.  Most of you would know that there is a GDP per...

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Five reasons why African growth is slower than the data tell you

One of the things my  book Poor Numbers suggested, was that the rise of Africa might not be as impressive as the data tells you. The African Development Bank responded by saying there was nothing to...

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Whose numbers?

That’s the title of an article written by Adewale Maja-Pearce. He takes stock of the debate on Poor Numbers (between me and some representatives from some statistical offices) – and relates it to the...

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What if everything we know about poor countries’ economies is totally wrong?

The results of a phone interview with Dylan Matthews at VOX. Read the full interview here.

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Without a statistical revolution, Africa’s renaissance is built on shaky ground

That is the title of a summary of the debates on the current African growth data written up by Ian Fraser. He is a financial journalist and the author of Shredded: Inside RBS: The Bank that Broke...

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Overcoming Obstacles to Doing Business in Sub-Saharan Africa

I am invited to offer my comments by Aubrey Hubry who argues: that inadequate infrastructure, lack of market data, and poor policy implementation impede investment in Africa, despite growing...

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Podcast: How poor numbers undermine the fight against poverty

It is two years since Poor Numbers was published, and I had a nice conversation with Tom Paulson and Gabe Spitzer at Humanosphere. You can listen to the podcast here. We talked about the importance of...

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Public talk in Bordeaux 19 FEB 6 PM: Derrière “l’émergence de l’Afrique”. La...

I am a visiting scholar at “Les Afriques dans le monde” at  Sciences Po Bordeaux in the spring term 2015. This event is public and free, it is organized by Vincent Bonnecasse – who contributed a...

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Statistical Tragedy in Africa? Evaluating the Data Base for African Economic...

On Monday, April 6, 2015 – 10:00am to 11:30am the special issue in the Journal of Development Studies: Statistical Tragedy in Africa? Evaluating the Data Base for African Economic Development which I...

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Development by Indicators: Knowledge and Governance

In this workshop organized at Nantes by Boris Samuel and me on May 5 and 6, 2015 we will investigate the role of indicators in economic development. We will explore how numbers structure knowledge...

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Why so grumpy? The datarevolution and its discontents

In “Big Questions for Big Data and what it can do for African Economic Development” I wrote about some of the basic knowledge problems that remain in development statistics, and concluded that, as of...

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A reading list for the data revolution

If you have sat through more than two conferences and workshops on the post-2015 development agenda or the Sustainable Development Goals (or tracked #SDGs or #data2015 on Twitter) you will be aware...

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Why did economists spend two decades explaining something that never happened ?

For the past two decades, mainstream economists who study African economic growth have been trying to explain something that never happened. Economists have focused almost exclusively on one question:...

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Book Talk: Africa – Why Economists Get it Wrong @SAISAfrica OCT 7, 5PM

 

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Power of indicators: an emerging literature

There is a rise of indicators. The so called data revolution is finding its feet, so I  do not expect it to let up anytime soon.  The Economist provided one overview in their report on ‘How to lie with...

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Podcast: how economists have misunderstood economic growth in African countries

On Sunday 13 December I was speaking about my book at the CBC Sunday Edition. Listen to the recording here. A few weeks back I was on the Economic Rockstar Podcast – listen to the episode here.    

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