Poor Numbers, by economic historian Morten Jerven, bills itself as the first critical analysis of the landscape of African economic development statistics. Jerven, an Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University, argues that flawed, incomplete and improperly collected data in this area has resulted in severely inefficient allocation of aid and development resources from nonprofits and international organizations.
Jerven also critiques some of the metrics which have become the de facto cornerstones of development economics, such as GDP per capita, which he says is less predictive in the poorest countries. The book calls for greater support of national statistics offices across Africa to encourage the production of better data and thereby enable more meaningful analysis.
