How we are misled by african development statistics and what to. They arent reliable, says canadian economist morten jerven. Morten jervens research shows how the statistical capacities of subsaharan african economies have fallen into disarray. Development economist branko milanovic writing for the world bank, development economist morten jerven, and billionaire philanthropist bill gates have identified the maddison project, the penn world tables, and world bankimf data the world development indicators, as the three main sources of worldwide economic statistics such as gdp data, with the focus of the maddison project. Why economists get it wrong, morten jerven provides a critical analysis of the economic development literature on africa. Morten jerven is an economic historian and an associate professor at simon fraser university. How we are misled by african development statistics and what to do about it, cornell university press, 20. Morten jerven lifts the lid on where the numbers come from, and it is generally shocking how weak the data quality can be. How we are misled by african development statistics and what to do about it cornell studies in political economy 1 by jerven, morten isbn. Over the last couple of years, morten jerven has fundamentally changed the way african economic history has come to be assessed. He details his findings in a new book, poor numbers. The journal of african history, 593, 449461 i have posted by ungated preproof version of the article here. Reliable statistics, including estimates of economic growth rates and percapita income, are basic to the operation of governments in developing countries and vital to.
How we are misled by african development statistics and what to do about it. In practice this has meant sorting countries into developmental cohorts on the basis of macroeconomic data, with countries in poorer cohorts gaining access to more and more concessional aid programs. Convert numbers to pdf online and free this page also contains information on the numbers and pdf file extensions. Online library poor numbers how we are misled by african development statistics morten jerven poor numbers how we are poor numbers. What do we really know about economic growth, wealth, the population or the structure of the economy in africa. The pdf to numbers conversion are often performed to help improving the efficiency and creativity on our work, there are 4 incredibly simple ways to convert pdf to numbers, no matter you want to export native pdf, scanned pdf, even images into iwork numbers. Coordinating aid distribution to the poorest countries requires identifying which countries are poor. In poor numbers, morten jerven, a young historian of statistics, draws up a fiftyyear. How we are misled by african development statistics by.
What do we know about income and growth in subsaharan africa. On 7 may 20 economic historian morten jerven presented his influential recent book poor numbers. His 20 book, poor numbers, has hit the edifice of african data like a 10. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Poor numbers how we are misled by african development. There is much literature on the topic of statistical comparability of african countries. How we are misled by african development statistics and what to do about it by morten jervenithaca. Welcome,you are looking at books for reading, the misled, you will able to read or download in pdf or epub books and notice some of author may have lock the live reading for some of country. Jerven has also published various articles that develop his phd. How we are misled by african development statistics and what to do. Additionally, by comparing the base years and versions of the system of national accounts of asian.
Morten jerven has a new book on this topic, poor numbers. The four phases of the african state in the 20th century about. Throughout his book, the author shows that poor numbers are a combination of. Amongst many others, we do support pdf, xlsx, xls, csv, ods. Many of the observations in the datasets are not even data in the strictest sense of the word because so much of the data are guesstimates or adjustments that filled in gaps in data. How we are misled by african development statistics and what to do about it, and has published widely on african economic development, especially on patterns of economic growth and economic development statistics.
Reliable statistics, including estimates of economic growth rates and percapita. Routledge, 2015, which i will discuss only briefly in this article. Now, thanks to the internet, kids have access to far more information for free. Why economists get it wrong morten jerven cambridge society for economic pluralism. Chapter 7 numbers policy paradox the art of political. If it available for your country it will shown as book reader and user fully subscribe will benefit by having full access to all books. How we are misled by african development statistics and what to do about it, by morten jerven find, read and cite. Africa by assistant professor morten jerven overdrive.
Meanwhile, the issue really is, that poor numbers mislead africa, as jerven is eager to show. Morten jerven is associate professor at simon fraser university. May 2016 master higher education university of pretoria. Thanks to our advanced conversion technology the quality of the output will be exactly the same as if the file was saved through the latest microsoft office 2019 suite.
Morten jervens evaluation reveals how the statistical capacities of subsaharan african economies have fallen into disarray. Who knew a book about statistics could be so interesting. Pdf, epubs, mobi, emagazines, epaper, ejournal and more. How we are misled by african development statistics and what to do about it at the africa talks. How we are misled by african development statistics and what to do about it, by morten jerven find, read and cite all the research. He has challenged the common wisdom on economic growth in subsaharan africa.
He is an economic historian, publishing widely on patterns of african economic development including a recent book, poor numbers. Admittedly, poor numbers is not a typical book about statistics. Therefore it need a free signup process to obtain the book. I just published a new article in the journal of african history the history of african poverty by numbers. This was due to opposition to his ideas from, notably, the south african statistician general, pali lehohla. Link to the jerven article is thanks to tyler cowen. And the culprits are not by definition african but include big names in socalled development economics. Morten jerven, an assistant professor at simon fraser university, spent four years examining how african countries obtain their data and the challenges. Jerven demystifies the pro gulf between man and beast. Studying africas large numbers cairn international. These numbers are then used as the basis for all kinds of policy analysis and international comparisons which have a misleading air of accuracy, but jerven argues they are so flimsy as to not be able to bear the load put. Free worksheets, handouts, esl printable exercises pdf and resources. Poor numbers statistical chains and the political economy of numbers. Poor numbers how we are misled by african development statistics morten jerven pdf poor numbers.
When it comes to african statistics handle with care. Last week african arguments published a story that prof morten jerven, author of. Morten jervens conclusion to the question how good are africas national account estimates. How we are misled by african development statistics and what to do about it cornell studies in political economy book by morten jerven. How we are misled by african development statistics and what to do about it cornell studies in political economy morten jerven isbn. Cloudconvert is a online document and spreadsheet converter.
Renewal august 2015, p 28, jerven suggests that africa misleads the world with poor numbers. To the extent that governments can influence their macroeconomic data, some. How we are misled by african development statistics and what to do about it, had been blocked from presenting his research on african statistical capacity at the uneca. How we are misled by african development statistics and what to do about it cornell studies in political economy pdf. Pdf reliability and validity of gdp time series in asia. It cornell studies in political economy jerven, morten on. Jerven, who will be joining noragric at the norwegian university of life sciences this fall, argues that economists have misread the economic history of africa, ignoring successful episodes of economic growth while trying. On 5 november 2010, ghana statistical services announced that it. Poor numbers by morten jerven pdf, ebook read online perlego. The history, sociology, and political economy of numbers sketched by jerven merit closer. This paper aims to fill some of that gap by comparing gdp data on asian countries from some of the most frequently used datasets. Morten jerven of simon frasier university talks with econtalk host russ roberts about his new book, africa. How we are misled by african development statistics and what to do about it cornell studies in political economy. One of the most urgent challenges in african economic development is to devise a strategy for improving statistical capacity.
The author goes on to emphasize the challenges and considerable shortcomings posed by low quality data. This awesome book ready for download, you can get this book now for free. Morten jerven teaches at the school for international studies at simon fraser university in vancouver, canada. Thinking about growth and development in africa morten jerven, poor numbers. Poor numbers is the first analysis of the production and use of african economic development statistics. Morten jerven, economic growth and measurement reconsidered in botswana, kenya, tanzania, and zambia. Morten jervens poor numbers sheds light on the acute fragility of african. Numbers to pdf convert your numbers to pdf for free online. The numbers substantially misstate the actual state of affairs. However, the focus on africa has left an information gap for other regions.
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