Ethiopia: Flaws of GDP-Based Economic Debate

analysis

Governments can manipulate gross domestic product (GDP) data directly or through the calculation of price indices, such as the GDP deflator. For example, governments in countries undergoing severe inflation have a long history of hiding the true extent of their inflationary problems which are often reflected not in official data, but in their inability to maintain a stable domestic currency.

In many cases, governments fabricate inflation statistics to hide their economic problems. In the extreme, countries simply stop reporting inflation data.

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