Statistically unsound

Friends of mine recently visited Lebanon for the second time, roughly a year since their first trip. Over the course of their weeklong stay they commented on how much more expensive things had become, especially in Beirut. “Everything costs about 10 to 15 percent more,” one said after a particularly overpriced dinner in one of the city’s less enjoyable restaurants.  In economic terms this type of mental accounting is, of course, gibberish. We had not been to the same tourist sites or eaten at the same restaurants and more importantly they had not recorded how much they spent a year previously. Using personal perception as evidence that prices are going up is perhaps the worst kind of do-it-yourself economics. Unfortunately, in Lebanon the lack of reliable statistics leaves few realistic alternatives. This has become particularly apparent after the Central Administration of Statistics (CAS) announced late last month what sounded like