torsdag 3 december 2015

Statisticians’ Plea: Please Pick Up the Phone


A worker pulls a pallet at a distribution center in
Burton-upon-Trent, England, on Saturday.
The U.K. warns fewer people are responding to
the surveys that power its employment statistics,
a challenge  that’s increasing internationally. 
PAUL ELLIS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
From The Wall Street Journal 
In the era of big data, when demand for statistics is higher than ever, a shadow of danger looms over the numbers revolution: People are increasingly refusing to provide them.

A U.K. government review published Wednesday warned that official surveys are in danger of becoming less accurate if the number of people answering them keeps declining as it has done in recent years. The review was conducted by Charlie Bean, former chief economist of the Bank of England and now an economics professor at the London School of Economics.

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