2018-01-05

How to Lie With Statistics

This isn't exactly a statistical trick, but a trick with statistics to make people think your numbers are accurate: make a very small correction that is meaningless against the total figure.

ZH: China Admits 2016 GDP Was "Miscalculated" After "Routine Vertification"
According to SCMP, China’s economic figures for 2016 were revised lower by 54.2 billion yuan (US$8.34 billion) to 74.36 trillion yuan following a "miscalculation" revealed after a routine verification of the numbers, the National Statistics Bureau said on Friday.

In the financial sector, for instance, output had been overestimated by 101.1 billion yuan, while in the telecoms and software industry, the figures were 92.9 billion yuan higher then they should have been, the statement said.

At the same time, performance was underestimated in other sectors, including construction, retail and entertainment, with the combined total for “other services” adding 139.4 billion yuan to the bottom line.

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