## Data and Inequality

_IMF Blog, February 2, 2017_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Data and Inequality](https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2017/02/02/data-and-inequality)

## Other formats

- [Markdown version](/en/blogs/articles/2017/02/02/data-and-inequality/index.md)
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## Bibliographic details
- Authors: iMFdirect
- Published: February 2, 2017

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### Key messages
- Policymakers need good data to help them make good decisions.
- Producing statistics on inequality is never just a technical act; it has political consequences.
- Data doesn’t always reflect reality when it comes to poverty and inequality: “The statistical office in a country may come out and say poverty has gone down, but the people on the ground say they feel it hasn’t.”

### Measurement challenges and findings
- Conventional methods used to collect household data can lead to an underreporting of inequality and poverty of up to 30%.
- Recent IMF research has been a leading voice on the detrimental effect of inequality on growth in the last five years.

### Historical perspective
- The blog includes a historical look at British data collection and use during colonial times in India.
- The India office prepared an annual report to the British parliament on economic and moral progress in India.
- John Maynard Keynes’ first job out of university was in the statistical office that produced the report; he managed the report’s production in 1906-1907 and never went to India.

### Multimedia
- Podcast (embedded): https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/297115439

*Source: iMFdirect blog post “Data and Inequality,” February 2, 2017.*

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## References

- [Fourth IMF Statistical Forum on Statistics for Inclusive Growth](http://www.imf.org/external/np/seminars/eng/2016/statsforum/)

_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2017/02/02/data-and-inequality_