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Why is data so important in determining how we live?

Tim Harford investigates how good policies depend on the availability of reliable statistics

Why are good data so important to policymakers around the world – whether they know it or not – and what happens when the data available is bad or even missing?

Presenter Tim Harford speaks to Georgina Sturge, a statistician at the House of Commons library in London and the author of Bad Data: How Governments, Politicians and the Rest of Us Get Misled by Numbers.

Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Jon Bithrey

(Photo: Data analyst using a dashboard with charts, metrics and KPI to analyse performance and create insight reports. Credit: Getty Images)

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9 minutes

Last on

Mon 12 Dec 2022 10:50GMT
BBC World Service

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  • Sat 10 Dec 2022 05:50GMT
    BBC World Service except Australasia
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Podcast

  • More or Less

    Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics used in everyday life