Sweden’s Cradle-to-Grave State Means Bad Stats Affect Everyone
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Everyone is allowed one mistake. In Sweden, the Statistics Office has made so many the biggest morning newspaper taunted it with the picture “2 + 2 = 3.”
The agency calculates inflation and incomes that form the basis for making payouts for pensions, unemployment and parental leave. With more than half of all Swedes cashing state checks in the country’s cradle-to-grave social system, mistakes get noticed. The government and central bank use the numbers for their own forecasts and decisions.