Edward L. Feige, in Challen~e(Nov.-Dec. 1979)) 901 ~.-~roadwa~,
white Plains,
N.Y. 10603.
In Washington, bad economic data may result in bad policy. Feige, a University of Wisconsin economist, finds the federal government's statistics on the U.S. economy so incomplete as to be nearly worthless.
The main problem: the official data exclude "irregular" economic activity-from illegal drug trafficking and gambling profits to moonlighting and "off-the-books' bartering. Economist Peter...