Economists: Trump's actions will undermine the credibility of U.S. statistical data

ChainCatcher news, according to Jin Shi reports, economists warn that the Trump administration's significant cuts to federal staff and research funding could undermine the quality and credibility of the United States' "gold standard" statistics. From employment reports to inflation indices, U.S. data can shake Wall Street's $105 trillion stock and bond markets in mere milliseconds and serve as the foundation for policies that influence the trajectory of the world's largest economy.

Ricardo Reis, a professor at the London School of Economics and an advisor to the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank, stated: "The cuts to all federal funding, along with some layoffs pushed by the Office of Management and Budget… often deal a fatal blow to already strained survey work." He added, "The survey work behind data like the Consumer Price Index and Gross Domestic Product—I believe all of these surveys could be affected."