How Governments Manipulate Statistics Without Lying | Professor Is In

Can you still trust the jobs numbers after Commerce dropped its ban on political interference?

In August the Commerce Department quietly crossed out the rules that shielded official statistics from political meddling — meaning reports can now be delayed, buried, reworded, or stripped of their uncertainty. So can you still trust the numbers that shape your paycheck, your mortgage rate, and the price of your groceries? 

In this episode of The Professor Is In, Justin Wolfers answers the question a whole audience asked: in light of this, why should we believe the latest jobs numbers?

Most useful of all, Justin hands you a rule of thumb for telling independent statistics from political claims — trust the official statistical agencies, be wary of anything from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and remember that someone who lied to you once will lie to you again.

Chapters:

0:00 An expensive way to make propaganda

0:56 Can we still trust the jobs numbers?

1:56 Which agencies are actually at risk

2:50 Why the jobs data is still protected

3:50 How statistics really get manipulated

6:22 The one report that was a lie

9:11 The tin-pot dictator club

10:02 Why propaganda destroys data's value

13:12 A rule of thumb for reading statistics

15:39 Official agencies vs. 1600 Pennsylvania Ave

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