The Political Economy Research Group (PERG) cordially invites you to the opening guest lecture of this academic year presented by Professor Daniel Mügge
Macroeconomic indicators are everywhere. They dominate news, animate policy debates, and populate economists’ datasets. Debt levels, growth rates, and unemployment figures share an air of objectivity. Look closer, however, and none of these concepts lends itself to straightforward measurement. Indicator formulas are shot through with political choices – and they shape everything from government budgets to our pension adjustment. So why do we measure our economies the way we do? Why does it matter? And what should political economy researchers do about it?
Daniel Mügge is a Professor of Political Arithmetic at the University of Amsterdam. There he heads a team of scholars that analyses the political economy of macroeconomic indicators. He has previously been a fellow at Harvard University and the London School of Economics as well as the lead editor of the Review of International Political Economy.