National Egoism or International Cooperation

National egoism or international cooperation? This is the crucial question in today's world. It is also of immense importance for statistical work. National egoism will get us nowhere when it comes to the most pressing issues of our time—demographic development, migration, and climate change. International cooperation is needed—both in policy and in statistical work. High population growth in many regions of the world, unequal distribution of income and wealth, and climate change all contribute to poverty and increasing migration. A wide range of comparable statistical data is available to measure these phenomena. The data are harmonised and compiled in close cooperation between national and international organisations. It is up to policymakers to use these data as a basis for cross-national population, development, and climate policy decisions to avert disasters and set the course for a happier future. Despite increasing international cooperation, shortcomings in the field of statistics can still be observed. Several examples illustrate this. The first relates to Argentina's problems with price statistics, the second to the misuse of data at the World Bank. In a recent investigative report, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva was accused of manipulating the influential 2018 Doing Business report in favour of China. Georgieva was managing director of the World Bank Group from 2017 to 2019 and served as acting president of that institution from 1 February to 8 April 2019, following the resignation of Jim Yong Kim. The other two examples are cases in which economic policy makers are solely focused on achieving the highest possible economic growth and therefore believe they can manipulate the rate of change in real gross domestic product (GDP) used as a target. This could be observed recently in the world's two most populous economies—India and China. The step from the responsible use of official statistical data to its falsification and misuse is small. To prevent this, the independence of international and national statistical offices is an important ¬requirement for successful statistical work worldwide and nationally. But even in countries with the best reputation, serious conflicts can arise between politicians and statisticians—for example, in Canada.