Odaily News Economists warn that the Trump administration’s moves to slash federal staff and research funding could undermine the quality and credibility of the nation’s “gold standard” statistics. From jobs reports to inflation gauges, U.S. data can shake Wall Street’s $105 trillion stock and bond markets in milliseconds and underpin policies that shape the trajectory of the world’s largest economy.
"All the cuts in federal funding, and some of the layoffs that have been driven by the Department of Government Efficiency ... tend to be a death blow to already strained survey work," said Ricardo Reis, a professor at the London School of Economics and an adviser to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. He added: "The survey work behind the consumer price index, the gross domestic product, etc. - I think all of these surveys are likely to be affected." (Jinshi)