Re: [Marxism] Reliability of Data

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

> The note below, came from another list I subscribe to... Question: Why is
> it that we (leftists) tend to rely on World Bank and Economist data. Are
> there any Marxis sources for reliable data? Is it because most of us tend
> to be post-positivist that we do not focus on quantitative data? Are the
> World Bank and The Economist (among other establishment/capitalist
> sources) reliable? Why are they more reliable than others?

HOW NOT TO COUNT THE POOR
Sanjay G. Reddy and Thomas W. Pogge
Version 6.1 3
October 3rd, 2005
Abstract:
The World Bank's approach to estimating the extent, distribution and trend
of global
income poverty is neither meaningful nor reliable. The Bank uses an arbitrary
international poverty line that is not adequately anchored in any
specification of the real
requirements of human beings. Moreover, it employs a concept of purchasing
power
"equivalence" that is neither well defined nor appropriate for poverty
assessment. These
difficulties are inherent in the Bank's "money-metric" approach and cannot
be credibly
overcome without dispensing with this approach altogether. In addition, the
Bank
extrapolates incorrectly from limited data and thereby creates an appearance of
precision that masks the high probable error of its estimates. It is
difficult to judge the
nature and extent of the errors in global poverty estimates that these
three flaws produce.
However, there is reason to believe that the Bank's approach may have led it to
understate the extent of global income poverty and to infer without
adequate justification
that global income poverty has steeply declined in the recent period. A new
methodology
of global poverty assessment, focused directly on what is needed to achieve
elementary
human requirements, is feasible and necessary. A practical approach to
implementing an
alternative is described.

full: http://www.columbia.edu/~sr793/count.pdf


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