Friday, Feb 26, 2010
Keeping it real
Telegraph: Don't be fooled: GDP was actually revised down
I’m going to say something which might come as a surprise, given all the positive coverage this morning of the GDP figures. The Office for National Statistics has actually revised GDP down today – not up.
The size of the British economy – in other words the total amount of cash generated by its companies and spent by its people – was actually £133m smaller in the fourth quarter than the ONS previously thought. Before today’s revisions, it thought the economy pumped out £315,845m worth of output in those three months. Now, it thinks the actual figure was more like £315,712m.
Posted by dill @ 06:36 PM (646 views) Add Comment
5 Comments
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1. rumble said...
My earlier comment is better placeed here: A weak recovery from flu is better than a fantastic recovery from leprosy.
2. Sgsmith9876 said...
I wondered how they did it!
3. freemanphil said...
But GDP is nonsense anyway, because it includes government spending. Like, if government spending really benefited the economy, you wouldn't have to report it anyway, because it would show up via increased private sector activity, but most people should know that government activity is always at the expense of the private sector and serves to reduce production. But they keep it a comin, and Marx and Keynes continue to destroy our economy.
4. fallingbuzzard said...
The whole release is nonsense. You never know what the base comparison point for any QoQ or YOY figure is until you check the latest release adjustment against the previous release. I wish I could do the same with tax returns.
5. cat and canary said...
or as Edmund Conway put it (bottom or article)....
"It’s been pointed out to me that the ONS’s press release accompanying the figures (pdf link) is entitled: “Services growth in December pushes up GDP estimate”. That is plain wrong. Rather worrying that the statistics office itself has made such a misleading mistake."
what? ...is the Telegraph suggesting that the ONS press releases are biased?!!!! Dirty dealings before the election!