{
  "title": "Better Economic Measurement Is About Wiser Use, Not Just More Data",
  "publication": "IMF Blog, December 3, 2025",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2025/12/02/better-economic-measurement-is-about-wiser-use-not-just-more-data",
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  "summary": "New technology can foster innovation and financial inclusion, or cause fragmentation and turbulence in many countries",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "Overview",
      "content": "- Author: Gita Bhatt\n- Date: December 3, 2025\n- Core message: Statistics are a means, not an end, and improving economic measurement requires wiser use of new data sources—not merely more data.\n- Context: The piece introduces a Finance & Development issue focused on how new data sources and techniques (satellites, smartwatches, social media, transactions, AI) are changing economic measurement and policymaking."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Challenges and trade-offs of new/alternative data",
      "content": "- New data sources can offer faster, granular, and sharper insights that better reflect “ground truth.”\n- Risks and limitations identified:\n  - New/alternative data often originate as by-products of private business activity and carry private-sector biases.\n  - Such data may lack long continuity and robust methods underpinning official indicators.\n  - Greater data does not automatically yield better insights; it can increase noise and false signals.\n  - Reliance on data sources not publicly available erodes transparency and central bank accountability.\n- Notable numeric/contextual point:\n  - The IMF is an organization of 191 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation and financial stability."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Role and defense of official statistics",
      "content": "- Official statistics remain essential because they provide continuity, methodological rigor, and public accountability.\n- Recommendations and cautions:\n  - Central banks are using new data to fill gaps (e.g., falling response rates to national surveys) but do so in tandem with trusted official sources.\n  - Strong, independent national statistical agencies must be maintained; private data reliance should not diminish resources for official number crunching.\n  - Strong ties between statistical agencies, private providers, government officials, and academics can improve data quality."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Calls for modernization of metrics and measurement",
      "content": "- Core economic metrics like GDP and productivity may be misaligned with a data-driven economy.\n- Specific modernization needs:\n  - Measurement systems should better reflect the growth of intangible assets such as digital services.\n  - Measurement must adapt to the evolving structure of global production."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Risks from concentration, geopolitics, and material demands",
      "content": "- Data concentration risks:\n  - Concentration of data collection among a handful of Big Tech companies threatens competition and innovation.\n  - Policies that mandate broader data sharing are recommended to counteract concentration.\n- Geopolitical and resource pressures:\n  - AI’s data hunger drives material demands (energy, chips, minerals, water) that reshape global power dynamics."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Approaches, innovations, and practitioner perspectives",
      "content": "- Approaches highlighted:\n  - Nowcasting and other innovative methods can help developing economies close information gaps.\n  - Proposals to turn intangible data into countable economic inputs (valuation and pricing of data) are discussed.\n- Voices and contributions within the issue:\n  - Kenneth Cukier: urges a new mindset to harness alternative data, likening economists to radiologists who must adapt to clearer scans.\n  - Claudia Sahm: advocates using new data alongside official sources and stresses transparency for central bank accountability.\n  - Bert Kroese (IMF): warns that private data reliance must not undermine official statistical resources.\n  - Rebecca Riley: calls for modernization to capture intangible assets and changed global production structures.\n  - Viktor Mayer‑Schönberger: argues for broader data sharing to protect competition and innovation.\n  - Thijs Van de Graaf: exposes material demands behind AI and geopolitical consequences.\n  - Laura Veldkamp: examines the value, pricing, and sharing of data.\n  - Jeff Kearns: documents nowcasting’s benefits for developing economies.\n  - Saurabh Garg (head of India’s statistical agency): describes tackling scale and rising public demand for real-time data."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Key takeaway and public-good framing",
      "content": "- Central thesis: Better measurement is not just about acquiring more data; it is about using data wisely to serve the public good by clarifying reality, responding to complexity, and enabling better decisions.\n- Closing line from the piece: “Data, after all, is a means not an end.”\n\nSource: IMF Blog — \"Better Economic Measurement Is About Wiser Use, Not Just More Data\", Gita Bhatt, December 3, 2025.\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- fd-dec25-lowres\n  - fd-dec25-lowres (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - fd-dec25-lowres (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n\n---\n\n References\n\n- This issue of Finance & Development\n- Kenneth Cukier\n- Claudia Sahm\n- Bert Kroese\n- Rebecca Riley\n- Viktor Mayer-Schönberger\n- Thijs Van de Graaf\n- Laura Veldkamp\n- Jeff Kearns\n- Saurabh Garg\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2025/12/02/better-economic-measurement-is-about-wiser-use-not-just-more-data"
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    "Authors: Gita Bhatt",
    "Published: December 3, 2025",
    "Author: Gita Bhatt",
    "Date: December 3, 2025",
    "Core message: Statistics are a means, not an end, and improving economic measurement requires wiser use of new data sources—not merely more data.",
    "Context: The piece introduces a Finance & Development issue focused on how new data sources and techniques (satellites, smartwatches, social media, transactions, AI) are changing economic measurement and policymaking.",
    "New data sources can offer faster, granular, and sharper insights that better reflect “ground truth.”",
    "Risks and limitations identified:",
    "Notable numeric/contextual point:",
    "Official statistics remain essential because they provide continuity, methodological rigor, and public accountability.",
    "Recommendations and cautions:",
    "Core economic metrics like GDP and productivity may be misaligned with a data-driven economy.",
    "Specific modernization needs:",
    "Data concentration risks:",
    "Geopolitical and resource pressures:",
    "Approaches highlighted:",
    "Voices and contributions within the issue:",
    "Central thesis: Better measurement is not just about acquiring more data; it is about using data wisely to serve the public good by clarifying reality, responding to complexity, and enabling better decisions.",
    "Closing line from the piece: “Data, after all, is a means not an end.”",
    "**fd-dec25-lowres**",
    "[This issue of Finance & Development](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd)",
    "[Kenneth Cukier](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2025/12/the-pulse-of-the-planet-cukier)",
    "[Claudia Sahm](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2025/12/alternative-data-and-monetary-policy-claudia-sahm)",
    "[Bert Kroese](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2025/12/point-of-view-instilling-trust-through-statistics-bert-kroese)",
    "[Rebecca Riley](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2025/12/its-time-to-modernize-measures-of-growth-rebecca-riley)",
    "[Viktor Mayer-Schönberger](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2025/12/point-of-view-why-data-should-be-shared-viktor-mayer-schonberger)",
    "[Thijs Van de Graaf](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2025/12/inside-the-ai-led-resource-race-thijs-van-de-graaf)",
    "[Laura Veldkamp](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2025/12/the-hidden-price-of-data-laura-veldkamp)",
    "[Jeff Kearns](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2025/12/forecasting-the-present-in-developing-economies-jeff-kearns)",
    "[Saurabh Garg](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2025/12/in-the-trenches-counting-smarter-srikanth-srinivas)"
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