Sure, the macroeconomic statistics are fiction, but it would be rather hard to make decisions based on them look convincing when they don’t even exist:
Istat, the Italian statistics agency, says its resources are strained to breaking point amid the country’s tough austerity drive to repair its public finances. From January 2013, the agency – the equivalent of the UK’s own Office for National Statistics – warned it will stop putting out any official data, if the government goes ahead with planned budget cuts.
“Spending cuts are putting Istat at risk. From January onwards we will not issue any statistics,” Enrico Giovannini, head of the agency, told newspaper La Repubblica.
Zen question of the day: If an economy doesn’t have any statistics reported, does economic activity still occur?