Introduction This book might seem, at first glance, somewhat arcane. After all, it is mostly an examination of economic statistics found in key US headlines. In fact, some might view such an exercise as not only arcane but also not worth their time. Why is scrutinizing oft-cited, government-headline statistics so important? Do they offer a reasonably accurate snapshot of America? Shockingly, this is not the case, particularly as these statistics portray the well-being of middle- and low-income Americans. Importantly, then, this book addresses three core questions: First, what, if anything, is wrong with the picture of America painted by the prevailing figures? Second, what does a more accurate picture look like? And third, if the key government economic statistics do inaccurately portray lower- and middle-income Americans, how can they be changed or supplemented to better reflect reality? Alternatively, if viewing the book and its subject matter through a narrow lens, some will wonder whether its insights have the potential to have any real impact. Why should anyone put in the effort to do anything to correct rather academic misperceptions, however widespread? Is improving the focus of our economic measurements worth the effort? All fair questions. In order to answer them, you need to understand a bit about my background. I was born in York, Pennsylvania, a small farming and industrial city at the edge of the quaint and beautiful Amish country, but I've worked most of my career in Washington, as a lawyer, as an economic policymaker, as perhaps most importantly, as a financial regulator, serving for several years as Comptroller of the Currency. Over the last decade or more, when I traveled back home to York, I noticed something of growing concern: Economic circumstances on the ground in Pennsylvania were increasingly askew from the narrative my peers in policymaking circles in Washington presumed to be true. Things in York weren't booming, as you might have presumed listening to roundtable discussions in the nation's capital. And I began to ask why that was. After several years of making these observations, I formed a hypothesis: The economic statistics that form the basis of economic reality are giving policymakers inaccurate renderings of reality. At first, that was just a notion--a hunch that I couldn't yet prove to be true. But I was determined to see my intuition through, and so I hired a crack team of young scholars and economists to work at what we termed the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity, or LISEP. Once these researchers were on board, I asked them to begin what became a forensic analysis with a crucial goal: to understand the roots of the chasm separating perception and reality. The pages that follow are a report arising from what we uncovered. My hope is that after reading this book, you will come to conclusions mirroring my own and share my conviction about the critical importance of accurate government statistics, especially when it comes to understanding the economic reality for lower- and middle-income Americans, a group that comprises more than half of our fellow Americans. Excerpted from The Mismeasurement of America: How Outdated Government Statistics Mask the Economic Struggle of Everyday Americans by Gene Ludwig All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
