A good take on data

From my friend Marty Fridson at Fridson Investment Advisors.

Sir Josiah Stamp, a founder of economic statistics, observed that “the government are very keen on amassing statistics – they collect them, add them, raise them to the nth power, take the cube root and prepare wonderful diagrams. But what you must never forget is that every one of these figures comes in the first instance from the village watchman, who just puts down what he damn well pleases.”--FT

The quality of data is suspect for many macroeconomic series. We use it but sometimes have to hold our noses; nevertheless, it may in some cases be the only guide we have to tel us the general direction of growth or inflation.