12/07/2006 3:12:53 pm
Index Inflation. When politicians can show few positive real results in a country, sometimes they try to create a theoretical model where the country comes out better. Some ideologues and biased researchers dedicate lots of time to this. With an increasing pace over the last years, new such products have been developed. Often, they take the shape of indexes where countries are compared.

The normal outcome is that countries with a free economy (that can show real positive results) end up with poor scores in the index. But countries with a big state end up better, lifted by fluffy categories like "well-being", "life satisfaction" or something.

The latest index I have seen is the Happy Planet Index. There, the category "ecological footprints" is an important part. It might seem more funny than serious or of any importance. And indeed theoretical discussions are always interesting and positive.

But part of it is just an attempt to "newspeech". Sometimes they try to create a theoretical foundation for vast politicies - mostly for a big state - out of nothing. That is when the content and methods should be closely examined. And the results should not be accepted as either truth or serious science.