causal

Data error makes structural-adjustment growth studies untrustworthy

The famous econometric debates comparing strong versus modest reformers to tease out an average GDP growth effect of structural adjustment/liberalization are undermined because the underlying data availability is so poor that there is enough error to make these analyses not trustworthy—effectively meaningless.

causalpending

Speaker

Morten Jerven

Evidence Quote

the big debates have always been to try to compare strong reformers to modest reformers, and then try to tease out an average GDP growth effect. Now, when we know how big the underlying availability of these data series are, we know there is enough error in there to make these kind of analyses completely--well, not trustworthy.

Source

Morten Jerven on Measuring African Poverty and ProgressEconTalk
Created: 6/13/2026, 12:25:58 AM

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