In poor countries, statistics are both undersupplied and underused
Governments often lack incentives to collect, share and use data
IN THE RICH world, people worry that prying governments know too much about them. Popular culture valorises characters who go off the grid, like Jack Reacher (the hero of 25 novels by Lee Child and two films starring Tom Cruise). He drifts around America on Greyhound buses, eschewing a driving licence, credit cards and email. Why does he make himself so hard to find? “It started out as an exercise and became an addiction,” he says.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Our world, not in data”
Finance & economics April 10th 2021
- House prices in the rich world are booming
- The IMF marks up the global recovery
- Janet Yellen calls for a global minimum tax on companies. Could it happen?
- Coinbase goes public with a pop
- Totting up bitcoin’s environmental costs
- As China’s stockmarket corrects, regulators try doing less
- Robert Mundell, an influential international economist, has died
- In poor countries, statistics are both undersupplied and underused
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