Sir John Calperthwaite, Hong Kong’s financial secretary in the 1960s, as his most important advice to developing countries was that they should first abolish their Office of National statistics.
He refused to collect economic statistics because he said that if he started collecting statistics, people would start wanting to do something about them. Hong Kong did not collect any balance of payments statistics until after 1997.
The other reason why Hong Kong refuse to collect economic statistics was to make it harder for London to interfere. Naturally, the Chinese government is very keen Hong Kong collecting economic statistics so it can meddle in its affairs.
African Arguments has an interesting article on the intersection of academia and politics.
The economist Morten Jerven has an excellent new book out called Poor Numbers: How We Are Misled by African Development Statistics and What to Do about It. Jerven was supposed to give a speech Tuesday at the United Nations Economic Commission on Africa (UNECA) about his work but it was cancelled for political reasons.
Jerven alleges that Pali Lehohla, South Africa’s Statistician General, issued an ultimatum to UNECA that “if they let me speak he would withdraw all South African delegates from the UNECA meetings.”
Lehohla, pictured above in the yellow suit, admitted his disagreement with Jerven’s work. Apparently it has touched a nerve throughout Africa. Here are some allegations:
1. Lehohla argues that Jerven “has not done his research” and “that we agreed as statisticians that we shall not engage him any further until he can…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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