Recently GDP has come under some close scrutiny for failing to capture unpaid work and the impact of economic growth on the environment. Jonathan Athow looks at GDP’s strengths as well as some other measures and statistics that can be used to understand wider measures of well-being.
Read more on GDP: a worthwhile, but incomplete, measure
Media reports have suggested that half a trillion pounds of UK-held foreign assets have gone ‘missing’, leaving the country ‘poorer’ as a result. But how fair is this interpretation of the latest data? Jonathan Athow explains the true position.
Read more on Has £500 billion really gone missing?
“If we have selected you at random, we need you to fill in the survey to help the randomness do its work.” Jonathan Athow explains a principle that lies at the heart of good statistics.
Read more on The beauty of randomness
Jonathan Athow explains how ONS measures earnings and how there is no easy solution to calculating self-employed income just yet. …
Read more on Why is measuring self-employed income so hard?
With complex international trade negotiations in prospect for the UK, Jonathan Athow explains how ONS is addressing the asymmetries in global trade statistics.
Read more on Measuring trade – why does the world seem to import more than it exports?