«Speaking of other works of fiction, I'm always amazed at how new and improved statistical measures used by government statisticians continue to make the economy improve. Just recently, although the unemployment rate went up again last month to a nine-year high, new statistical measures made the previous month's job losses of 48,000 completely disappear. Our GDP numbers are becoming one of the 7 Wonders of the World. We are able to translate a nominal improvement in technology sales into hundreds of billions of dollars of new GDP. Nobody actually received these new inflated statistical dollars—not the manufacturer, nor the retailer of these goods—but they still showed up in the GDP numbers.
You may also be surprised to find out that one reason inflation levels have remained low—while the prices you pay for things keeps going up—is due to statistical tinkering as well. Quality improvements in products such as automobiles are used to reduce the price of the car. The car price actually went up, but this price increase is not included in the way we compute inflation. We also use other statistical measures to improve GDP. The government imputes a hypothetical value from rent, if you own a home, and adds that to GDP. They also include imputed income from free checking accounts and add that to GDP. Now they are studying the value of domestic chores performed around the home for their beneficial inclusion to enhance GDP. If you mow your lawn, clean your home, take out the garbage, wash your windows or car, or baby-sit your kids, these are services performed that save you money. If you didn't perform these services yourself, you would have to hire someone else to perform them for you. Therefore, to government statisticians, they have hypothetical GDP value.»
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