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Beware of the zombie statistic
Feb 22, 2019

Beware of the zombie statistic

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From the BBC World Service... As the U.S. and China haggle over the toughest issues in their trade talks, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is in China strengthening ties between the two nations. What do "Despacito" singer Luis Fonsi, Venezuela's president Nicolás Maduro and billionaire businessman Richard Branson have in common? They're all involved in rival concerts to raise awareness of the Venezuelan crisis. Plus, we explore the rise of the zombie statistic: fake numbers that are repeated again and again until they end up influencing policy.

Today's show is sponsored by the Alliance for Lifetime Income, WellFrame, the University of Florida Warrington College of Business and Indeed.


From the BBC World Service… As the U.S. and China haggle over the toughest issues in their trade talks, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is in China strengthening ties between the two nations. What do “Despacito” singer Luis Fonsi, Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro and billionaire businessman Richard Branson have in common? They’re all involved in rival concerts to raise awareness of the Venezuelan crisis. Plus, we explore the rise of the zombie statistic: fake numbers that are repeated again and again until they end up influencing policy.

Today’s show is sponsored by the Alliance for Lifetime Income, WellFrame, the University of Florida Warrington College of Business and Indeed.

The team

Victoria Craig Host, BBC
Stephen Ryan Senior Producer, BBC
Jonathan Frewin Producer, BBC
Daniel Shin Producer
Meredith Garretson Morbey Senior Producer
Alex Schroeder Producer
Erika Soderstrom Producer
Rose Conlon Producer
Brian Allison Technical Director