Unpopular opinion: those viral GDP growth charts are cherry-picked garbage

I used to share that chart showing the US beating every other economy. Then I looked at the baseline year - 2020. Pick a different starting year and the whole story flips. Has anyone else caught other stats doing the same thing?

3 comments

3 Comments

hannahcraig2d ago

Wait, has anyone checked if these charts use nominal GDP vs purchasing power parity? That swap alone can make China look like the winner or the loser depending on what the person posting wants. I caught a tweet the other day that used "real GDP per capita" but started the timeline right after a recession bottom, which made the recovery look way more dramatic than it actually was. The real trick is picking both your baseline year AND your metric at the same time, because you can get two completely opposite stories depending on which combo you go with.

abby_cooper2d ago

My neighbor once bragged that his retirement portfolio doubled in five years, only admitting later that he'd started counting right after the 2008 crash wiped out half his savings. Same thing happens with grocery store ads that show prices from last month's sale instead of the regular price to make the discount look bigger. People pick the starting point that tells the story they want, whether it's about their 401k or the economy.

thomasgonzalez1d ago

Statistics: the only field where you can pick your own starting line and call it science. Next they'll tell me their portfolio is crushing it because they started measuring last Tuesday at 2:47 PM.