The measures taken "to contain the spread of Covid-19 will have profound effects not only on businesses and households", but also on economic data and statistics, which are the compass of the markets and of "those who make economic policy decisions". For this we need to find a way do not waste the numbers we have available today. The appeal is contained in a scientific article with an eloquent title - Let's save economic data from Covid-19 - signed by some economists of the Bank of Italy and the European Central Bank (Claudia Biancotti, Alfonso Rosolia, Fabrizio Venditti and Giovanni Veronese).
To avert"the concrete risk of not grasping the rapid changes underway in our economies”, continues the text, it is necessary that “everyone does their part”. In particular, three “main protagonists”:
- the national statistical institutes, which must guarantee "an adequate flow of information, especially in this delicate moment, accompanying users more than usual in the interpretation of the data produced and disseminated";
- the Governments, which "should improve their ability to collect, systematize and make available in a short time" the information used today mainly by companies that produce databases;
- major technology platforms (Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon), including telecommunications companies, whose "impressive amount of information can be used to address the crisis".
According to scholars, the stakes are indeed high, because “define fiscal and monetary policy responses this crisis will be even more difficult” in the absence of adequate information. Not only: "Also the process of price formation on the financial marketswill be less effective, further increasing volatility.
Not to mention that "a widespread lack of information is a formidable weapon in the hands of those who aim to tear apart the fabric of our democracies", continues the article. In short, lack of scientific data means less quality information and greater risk of fake news, primarily on the human and economic costs of the pandemic.
