Economist letter of the month

From the 10 March issue:

Social indicators

SIR – Your leader regarding Argentina’s dodgy inflation figures asked us to imagine a world without statistics (“Don’t lie to me, Argentina”, February 25th). In such an imaginary world, “governments would fumble in the dark, investors would waste money and electorates would struggle to hold their political leaders to account”. Please tell me: how exactly would that be different from the real world?

PAOLO BELLOMO

Scarsdale, New York