Fake Data?

f 2017 was the year of fake news, 2018 is shaping up to be one of fake data. And just as fake news comes in many varieties — real news dubbed by the US president as fake, as well as nonsense gaining huge audiences on social media — so does fake data. Today, the Financial Times reveals the fake gross domestic product data routinely released from many northern Chinese regions. There, solid alternative evidence suggests the authorities have “smoothed” the economic growth figures. They artificially boosted growth figures between 2012 and 2016, masking a real downturn, and last year covered up a genuine recovery.