Guebert: Tea leaves are for tea, hard data is for hard choices

Guebert: Tea leaves are for tea, hard data is for hard choices

Contrary to popular belief, economists don't read tea leaves, and most — like the rest of us — wouldn't know a tea leaf from a spinach leaf. Economists do, however, gather bushels of hard data on goods like used car sales, imported shoes, and grocery prices to estimate how the U.S. and global economies might react (or "gain insight," as many might say already hedging their predictions) to everyday occurrences like factory closings, crop reports,…

Tea leaves are for tea, hard data is for hard choices - Farm and Dairy

Contrary to popular belief, economists don’t read tea leaves, and most — like the rest of us — wouldn’t know a tea leaf from a spinach leaf. Economists do, however, gather bushels of hard data on goods like used car sales, imported shoes and grocery prices to estimate how the U.S. and global economies might react (or “gain insight,” as many might say already hedging their predictions) to everyday occurrences like factory closings, crop reports o…