For richer—or poorer

DODGY statistics are something that has come to be associated with Argentina in recent years. Indeed this month the IMF gave the Argentine government a deadline of December 17th to come up with credible inflation numbers, or risk unspecified sanctions. But across the Andes in Chile, an argument has raged for the past few weeks as to whether the centre-right government of Sebastián Piñera has fiddled the poverty numbers to flatter its economic record.

The discrepancy involved is small. But the principle at stake is a big one: Chile has long stood out in Latin America for the seriousness of its economic policies and the impartiality of its statistics. This reputation helped it to be invited to become the first South American member of the OECD, a club of mainly rich countries, in 2010. It now looks a little tarnished.