Economists warn: Trump's actions will undermine the credibility of US statistics

Odaily Planet Daily News Economists warn that the Trump administration's move to drastically cut federal staff and research funding could undermine the quality and credibility of the U.S.'s "gold standard" statistics. From employment reports to inflation indexes, U.S. data can shake Wall Street's $105 trillion stock and bond markets in milliseconds and is the basis for policies that affect the trajectory of the world's largest economy. Ricardo Reis, a professor at the London School of Economics and an adviser to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, said: "All federal funding cuts, and some layoffs driven by the Department of Government Efficiency... are often a fatal blow to already tight survey work." He added: "The survey work behind data such as the consumer price index, gross domestic product - I think all of these surveys may be affected." (Jin Shi)