Benford’s Law and COVID-19 reporting

Christoffer Koch and Ken Okamura

Economics Letters, 2020, vol. 196, issue C

Abstract: Trust in the reported data of contagious diseases in real time is important for policy makers. Media and politicians have cast doubt on Chinese reported data on COVID-19 cases. We find Chinese confirmed infections match the distribution expected in Benford’s Law and are similar to that seen in the U.S. and Italy. We identify a more likely candidate for problems in the policy making process: Poor multilateral data sharing on testing and sampling.

Keywords: Corona COVID-19; Statistical reporting; Government accountability; World Health Organization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E61 E65 H41 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:196:y:2020:i:c:s0165176520303475

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2020.109573

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