Yves Smith says that Chinese tax receipts are falling precipitiously, and by more than official data is letting on.Kevin Gallagher presents a survey of global stimulus plans.
France's proposed data tax is unlikely to become law any time soon but the fact that it has been mooted is indicative of a gradual drive towards a more official quantification of data.
The government, however, will want to see more surveys and official data on how spending has held up since the referendum before it decides to take a hit to its already squeezed public coffers.
Other lessons drawn concern the need to find ways to streamline the Troika process in the future and for Fund staff to be more skeptical about official data during regular surveillance.
Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit Williamson said Markit's monthly household finances index showed some pick up in people's total pay but he questioned whether hourly pay was actually rising: I think pay is up more than the official data is showing at the moment and we will even start to see those numbers start to improve in 2014.
The gorgeously designed Geni didn't take off as fast as investors hoped, while the far less social Ancestry.com– which relies more heavily on official data and still doesn't have an API– has lacked some of MyHeritage's viral qualities.
Some officials are saying that there is more consumption than the official data suggest.
Those debts need to be repaid more quickly than before, official data from the Chartered Institute for Public Finance and Accountancy has shown.
The moderator turned to one of them, Albert Keidel, who previously headed the China desk at the Treasury Department: "Are you comfortable, Bert, with the quality of data coming out of China?" Keidel, who was considerably more credulous about the official data than the others and was slouching in his chair, offered a prickly response: "What question are you asking?
The Confederation of British Industry survey is also more upbeat than the official data, though less so than the PMI.In this section Manufacturing mystery Local difficulties A recipe for failure Lessons learnt Full house New for old Broken heads, dashed hopes Fair's fair How high?
