Facts and fiction of Africa's statistics narrative
The book ‘Poor numbers: How we are mislead by African Development Statistics and what to do about it’ came under heavy criticism at a seminar last night organised by the 9th Symposium on Statistical Development in Africa (ASSD), in Gaborone, Botswana. Jerven gave a short presentation of his book to a room packed with the African statistical community and other delegates of the symposium. In his book, Jerven argues and questions the authenticity and credibility behind numbers produced by African statistical offices. He argues that although abuse of statistics, was a global problem, the situation was worse and bigger in sub-Sahara Africa citing conjectural and structural factors. His presentation called it a knowledge problem citing among others, weak statistical institutions and the use of outdated base years, in some cases 20 years old to measure GDP. The discussion went on for more than three hours as discussants and audience members tore Jerven and his book apart, questioning motives and faulting his research methodology. Others suggested that he he-writes another book. In his response, Jerven took exception with some of the comments, defended his work and agreed to disagree.
| Format: | Press release biblioteca |
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| Language: | eng |
| Published: |
2014-02
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10855/31698 |
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| Summary: | The book ‘Poor numbers: How we are mislead by African Development Statistics and what to do about it’ came under heavy criticism at a seminar last night organised by the 9th Symposium on Statistical Development in Africa (ASSD), in Gaborone, Botswana. Jerven gave a short presentation of his book to a room packed with the African statistical community and other delegates of the symposium. In his book, Jerven argues and questions the authenticity and credibility behind numbers produced by African statistical offices. He argues that although abuse of statistics, was a global problem, the situation was worse and bigger in sub-Sahara Africa citing conjectural and structural factors. His presentation called it a knowledge problem citing among others, weak statistical institutions and the use of outdated base years, in some cases 20 years old to measure GDP. The discussion went on for more than three hours as discussants and audience members tore Jerven and his book apart, questioning motives and faulting his research methodology. Others suggested that he he-writes another book. In his response, Jerven took exception with some of the comments, defended his work and agreed to disagree. |
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