Unemployment statistics
How definitions, categories and political communication shape the picture conveyed by a number.
Read German original →Statistics & Data
Statistics
Numbers can clarify. They can also conceal, distort and persuade. These texts examine both sides.
Historical context: Several long-form articles in this section are archival texts. Their original German versions remain available and are not silently presented as current datasets or current research.
Paradoxes of proportional representation
Why apparently fair allocation procedures can lead to surprising results.
Read German original →Is Germany a high-tax country?
How the selection and presentation of indicators can shape political claims.
Read German original →Population growth in China
How axis scaling can make the same dataset appear dramatic or restrained.
Read article →The Balloonist
A classic mathematician joke about the difference between being correct and being useful.
Read article →