Editorial policy

Where our facts come from

We build each topic from a research file of verified facts. Every number in it is checked against the agency or document that issued it: for example the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the Congressional Budget Office, Statistics Canada and the Bank of Canada. News reports can point us to a story, but the numbers we print come from the original source, and each one is linked.

Labelling

Every figure states its country, its unit or currency, the period it covers and who published it. When a number is preliminary and the agency may revise it, we say so. Forecasts are labelled as forecasts and attributed to whoever made them.

Something new on every page

We do not rewrite other people's articles. Each page adds something of its own: a chart from official data, a US and Canada comparison, or a worked example that shows what a change means in dollars.

Checks before publishing

Each page passes an automatic check that every number traces back to our research and that every statistic has a source link, and then a person reviews and signs it off. The page shows who checked it and when.

Updates

Some pages track numbers that change, such as interest rates or inflation. We update them when the agency releases new data and record each change in an update log. We only change the "Updated" date when the content really changes.

Independence

No advertiser or company reviews or pays for our articles. See how we make money.