From Jeremy Jose, J.Jose@ugrad.unimelb.edu.au
The first of your two features on the World Summit contained an impressive number of statistics (17 August, p 30). But it also stands as an example of how statistics can be skewed to show only one side of the story.
Income statistics are a good example. To be meaningful they should be given in “purchasing price parity” figures, which take account of the fact that $1 buys much less in Britain than, say, Rwanda.
Aid statistics are another. If you add up total foreign aid, including private charitable donations, the US doesn’t look nearly so bad.
