User:RandomP/Economy of X

What's all this, then?
I've noticed that for many articles about countries, the economy section flatly fails to adhere to the NPOV. At least partly, this appears to be because prose is copied verbatim from the CIA world factbook. In order to get an idea of the scope of the problem, I'm currently looking at all country articles, and the list below is supposed to help me keep track.

The most common problem, by far, is that a causal relationship is asserted as a statement, without attributing it to anyone. Economics is complicated, and care must be taken only to use this construction when the causation is, well, beyond a reasonable doubt.

Passing judgement on a government, in the way the CIA factbook frequently does by declaring it or its economic policies "sound", "imprudent", and the like, is unacceptable except, possibly, in the most extreme of cases.

There's also a general point of view that high GDP and full employment are ipso facto good things; this isn't very controversial, but it's not universally accepted either. When such problems can be fixed with simple rewording, I'll generally do that.

Statistics
(I'm not sure all the counts are accurate, I copy-and-pasted to wc):

Of 246 articles I looked at, 108 seemed okay with regard to the concerns above (though 8 of those had other, non-NPOV issues); 65 had problems (4 of which had severe problems) with the NPOV;  12 had no economy section, or only numbers in the economy section;  57 countries received no classification, which means that while the section appears troubling, I'm not totally sure that it's violating the NPOV. Those countries don't have severe issues.

Strategy
I'm thinking of setting up a "pipeline", in a way, in order to fix those countries:


 * decide which countries to fix, review and archive the economy section
 * check the article to see whether there's already a discussion going on about these issues
 * save a copy of the economy section
 * post a (boilerplate, mostly) text to the article's talk page
 * wait a certain period (1 week is my current idea), during which I intend to be available for discussion
 * if no consensus has been reached, go back to the previous step
 * make changes to the article

I will go slow, starting by putting one article a day in the pipeline. I will also start with countries that have severe issues but whose articles aren't extremely heavily edited.

Boilerplate text (under construction)
I have reviewed the "Economy" section in all country articles on Wikipedia; unfortunately, many of them have NPOV issues, and by my reading, this article is one of them.

Common issues with this section include:
 * verbatim quotes from the CIA world factbook
 * describing a country's economic policy as "sound", "unsound", "imprudent", etc.
 * assuming a link between economic health and low inflation
 * using expressions like "the GDP improved" (should be increased), "beneficial levels of inflation" (should be low levels of inflation), etc.
 * postulating cause-effect relationships that seem controversial.

Issues in this specific article are:

This note will stay up for a week before I'll make any further changes. Please feel free to be bold and fix the article yourself, though! I'll also be monitoring this discussion page, and will try answering any concerns.

If you want to discuss the entire project, you can do so on my talk page or at the talk page for this specific project.

The perfect Economy section
I personally would like to find, at least, something about the following numbers:
 * real GDP growth per year in recent years. Note that this number is properly expressed in percent per annum, not just percent.
 * real GDP per capita growth. This is arguably even more important than the previous measure, because real GDP per capita is what is widely used as a measure of economic development.  Again, percent per annum, not just percent.
 * currency: this is important!  it's no longer the case that it's "normal" for a country to have its own currency, and even if it does, this currency might or might not be pegged.  If it's pegged, is it backed?
 * inflation: inflation should always be stated with both the currency and the region it applies to! a pegged currency naturally has an inflation rate very close to that of the currency it's pegged to.  Also keep in mind that inflation isn't necessarily a bad thing, at least according to the NPOV.
 * income distribution: there's a standard measure of this, the name of which I forget.

Panama
considered: June 18 talk page notice: June 18 fixed (by other editor): September 17

notes: rvv

Mali
considered: June 18 talk page notice: June 19 fixed: September 17

notes: rvv

Tuvalu
considered: June 19 talk page notice: June 20 fixed: September 17

Georgia (country)
considered: June 21 talk page notice: June 21 half-fix (needs rewrite): September 17

totally okay

 * Åland – Åland Islands (Autonomous province of Finland)
 * 🇦🇱 Albania – Republic of Albania
 * 🇩🇿 Algeria – People's Democratic Republic of Algeria
 * 🇦🇩 Andorra – Principality of Andorra
 * 🇦🇴 Angola – Republic of Angola
 * 🇦🇮 Anguilla (UK overseas territory)
 * Ascension Island (Dependency of the UK overseas territory of Saint Helena)
 * 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan – Republic of Azerbaijan
 * 🇧🇪 Belgium – Kingdom of Belgium
 * 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso
 * 🇧🇮 Burundi – Republic of Burundi
 * 🇨🇲 Cameroon – Republic of Cameroon
 * 🇨🇦 Canada
 * 🇨🇻 Cape Verde – Republic of Cape Verde
 * 🇰🇾 Cayman Islands (UK overseas territory)
 * 🇨🇽 Christmas Island – Territory of Christmas Island (Australian overseas territory)
 * 🇨🇨 Cocos (Keeling) Islands – Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australian overseas territory)
 * 🇨🇷 Costa Rica – Republic of Costa Rica
 * 🇨🇮 Côte d'Ivoire – Republic of Côte d'Ivoire
 * 🇨🇾 Cyprus – Republic of Cyprus
 * 🇩🇯 Djibouti – Republic of Djibouti
 * 🇩🇲 Dominica – Commonwealth of Dominica
 * 🇪🇪 Estonia – Republic of Estonia
 * 🇪🇹 Ethiopia – Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
 * Falkland Islands (UK overseas territory)
 * 🇫🇯 Fiji – Republic of the Fiji Islands
 * 🇫🇮 Finland – Republic of Finland
 * 🇵🇫 French Polynesia (French overseas community)
 * 🇬🇦 Gabon – Gabonese Republic
 * 🇬🇺 Guam – Territory of Guam (US overseas territory)
 * 🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau – Republic of Guinea-Bissau
 * 🇭🇳 Honduras – Republic of Honduras
 * 🇮🇸 Iceland – Republic of Iceland
 * 🇮🇩 Indonesia – Republic of Indonesia
 * 🇮🇲 Isle of Man (British Crown dependency)
 * 🇯🇪 Jersey – Bailiwick of Jersey (British Crown dependency)
 * 🇰🇮 Kiribati – Republic of Kiribati
 * 🇰🇵 Korea (Democratic People's Republic of) – Democratic People's Republic of Korea
 * 🇰🇷 Korea (Republic of) – Republic of Korea
 * Kosovo – Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohia (Autonomous province of Serbia under UN protectorate)
 * 🇰🇼 Kuwait – State of Kuwait
 * 🇱🇻 Latvia – Republic of Latvia
 * 🇱🇸 Lesotho – Kingdom of Lesotho
 * 🇱🇹 Lithuania – Republic of Lithuania
 * 🇱🇺 Luxembourg – Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
 * Macao – Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (Area of special sovereignty)
 * 🇲🇾 Malaysia
 * 🇲🇻 Maldives – Republic of Maldives
 * 🇲🇹 Malta – Republic of Malta
 * 🇲🇭 Marshall Islands – Republic of the Marshall Islands
 * 🇲🇺 Mauritius – Republic of Mauritius
 * Micronesia – Federated States of Micronesia
 * 🇲🇨 Monaco – Principality of Monaco
 * 🇲🇳 Mongolia
 * 🇲🇸 Montserrat (UK overseas territory) (minimal section)
 * 🇲🇦 Morocco – Kingdom of Morocco
 * 🇳🇦 Namibia – Republic of Namibia
 * 🇳🇷 Nauru – Republic of Nauru
 * 🇳🇵 Nepal – Kingdom of Nepal
 * Netherlands Antilles (Self-governing country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
 * 🇳🇮 Nicaragua – Republic of Nicaragua
 * 🇳🇬 Nigeria – Federal Republic of Nigeria
 * 🇳🇺 Niue (Associated state of New Zealand)
 * Northern Cyprus – Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
 * 🇲🇵 Northern Mariana Islands – Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (US overseas commonwealth)
 * 🇳🇴 Norway – Kingdom of Norway
 * 🇵🇼 Palau – Republic of Palau
 * 🇵🇾 Paraguay – Republic of Paraguay
 * Pitcairn Islands – Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno Islands (UK overseas territory)
 * Pridnestrovie – Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic
 * 🇶🇦 Qatar – State of Qatar
 * 🇷🇼 Rwanda – Republic of Rwanda
 * Saint Helena (UK overseas territory)
 * 🇰🇳 Saint Kitts and Nevis – Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis
 * Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - copyedit
 * 🇼🇸 Samoa – Independent State of Samoa
 * 🇸🇲 San Marino – Most Serene Republic of San Marino
 * São Tomé and Príncipe – Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe
 * 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone – Republic of Sierra Leone
 * 🇸🇮 Slovenia – Republic of Slovenia
 * 🇸🇧 Solomon Islands
 * Somaliland – Republic of Somaliland
 * South Ossetia – Republic of South Ossetia
 * 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka – Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
 * 🇸🇪 Sweden – Kingdom of Sweden
 * 🇨🇭 Switzerland – Swiss Confederation
 * 🇹🇯 Tajikistan – Republic of Tajikistan
 * Timor-Leste – Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
 * 🇹🇰 Tokelau (Overseas territory of New Zealand)
 * Tristan da Cunha (Dependency of the UK overseas territory of Saint Helena)
 * 🇹🇨 Turks and Caicos Islands (UK overseas territory)
 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom – United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
 * 🇺🇸 United States – United States of America
 * 🇻🇺 Vanuatu – Republic of Vanuatu
 * 🇻🇦 Vatican City – State of the Vatican City
 * 🇻🇪 Venezuela – Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
 * Virgin Islands, British – British Virgin Islands (UK overseas territory)
 * Virgin Islands, United States – United States Virgin Islands (US overseas territory)
 * 🇼🇫 Wallis and Futuna – Territory of Wallis and Futuna Islands (French overseas community)
 * 🇾🇪 Yemen – Republic of Yemen

minor edits required

 * 🇧🇲 Bermuda (UK overseas territory) ("equivalent", not equal?)
 * 🇬🇲 Gambia, The – Republic of The Gambia (needs uspov and copyedit though)
 * 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein – Principality of Liechtenstein (minor copyedit required)
 * 🇵🇹 Portugal – Portuguese Republic (copyedit required though)
 * 🇵🇷 Puerto Rico – Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (US overseas commonwealth) (copyedit though - compares median GDP in one region with average GDP in another)
 * 🇵🇲 Saint Pierre and Miquelon (French overseas community)
 * 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia – Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (copyedit though)
 * Svalbard (Territory of Norway) (uspov though)

fixed (on reversal watch)

 * 🇵🇦 Panama – Republic of Panama (severe problems)
 * 🇲🇱 Mali – Republic of Mali
 * 🇹🇻 Tuvalu
 * Georgia

less severe issues

 * 🇦🇫 Afghanistan – Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
 * 🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda
 * 🇦🇼 Aruba (Self-governing country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
 * 🇧🇩 Bangladesh – People's Republic of Bangladesh
 * 🇧🇧 Barbados
 * 🇧🇿 Belize
 * 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina
 * 🇧🇼 Botswana – Republic of Botswana
 * 🇧🇷 Brazil – Federative Republic of Brazil
 * 🇧🇬 Bulgaria – Republic of Bulgaria
 * 🇰🇭 Cambodia – Kingdom of Cambodia
 * 🇹🇩 Chad – Republic of Chad
 * 🇨🇱 Chile – Republic of Chile
 * 🇹🇼 China (Republic of) – Republic of China
 * Congo (Democratic Republic of) – Democratic Republic of the Congo
 * Congo (Republic of) – Republic of the Congo
 * 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic
 * 🇪🇬 Egypt – Arab Republic of Egypt
 * 🇸🇻 El Salvador – Republic of El Salvador
 * 🇬🇷 Greece – Hellenic Republic
 * 🇬🇱 Greenland (Self-governing country in the Kingdom of Denmark)
 * 🇬🇩 Grenada
 * 🇬🇳 Guinea – Republic of Guinea
 * 🇬🇾 Guyana – Co-operative Republic of Guyana
 * 🇭🇹 Haiti – Republic of Haiti
 * 🇮🇷 Iran – Islamic Republic of Iran
 * 🇮🇹 Italy – Italian Republic
 * 🇯🇵 Japan
 * 🇯🇴 Jordan – Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
 * 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan – Republic of Kazakhstan
 * 🇰🇪 Kenya – Republic of Kenya
 * 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan – Kyrgyz Republic
 * 🇱🇾 Libya – Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
 * 🇲🇬 Madagascar – Republic of Madagascar
 * 🇲🇷 Mauritania – Islamic Republic of Mauritania
 * 🇲🇩 Moldova – Republic of Moldova
 * 🇲🇪 Montenegro – Republic of Montenegro
 * 🇲🇿 Mozambique – Republic of Mozambique
 * 🇳🇪 Niger – Republic of Niger
 * 🇵🇰 Pakistan – Islamic Republic of Pakistan
 * 🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea – Independent State of Papua New Guinea
 * 🇵🇪 Peru – Republic of Peru
 * 🇷🇺 Russia – Russian Federation ('copyedit first though)
 * 🇱🇨 Saint Lucia
 * 🇸🇳 Senegal – Republic of Senegal
 * 🇸🇨 Seychelles – Republic of Seychelles (mostly okay)
 * 🇿🇦 South Africa – Republic of South Africa
 * 🇪🇸 Spain – Kingdom of Spain
 * 🇸🇩 Sudan – Republic of the Sudan
 * 🇹🇿 Tanzania – United Republic of Tanzania.
 * 🇹🇭 Thailand – Kingdom of Thailand
 * 🇹🇬 Togo – Togolese Republic
 * 🇹🇳 Tunisia – Tunisian Republic
 * 🇹🇷 Turkey – Republic of Turkey
 * 🇹🇲 Turkmenistan
 * 🇺🇬 Uganda – Republic of Uganda
 * 🇺🇦 Ukraine
 * 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan – Republic of Uzbekistan

severe issues

 * 🇦🇷 Argentina – Argentine Republic (severe)
 * 🇦🇲 Armenia – Republic of Armenia (severe)
 * 🇩🇪 Germany – Federal Republic of Germany (severe issues)

Review again (57 countries)

 * 🇦🇺 Australia – Commonwealth of Australia (potential minor issues)
 * 🇦🇹 Austria – Republic of Austria (potential minor issues)
 * 🇧🇸 Bahamas, The – Commonwealth of The Bahamas
 * 🇧🇭 Bahrain – Kingdom of Bahrain
 * 🇧🇾 Belarus – Republic of Belarus (severe non-NPOV issues)
 * 🇧🇯 Benin – Republic of Benin ("should"?)
 * 🇧🇹 Bhutan – Kingdom of Bhutan (gross national happiness section)
 * 🇧🇴 Bolivia – Republic of Bolivia (definitely review privatisation bit again)
 * Brunei – Negara Brunei Darussalam ("stated plans include reducing unemployment")
 * 🇨🇫 Central African Republic
 * China (People's Republic of) – People's Republic of China
 * 🇨🇴 Colombia – Republic of Colombia
 * 🇰🇲 Comoros – Union of the Comoros
 * 🇭🇷 Croatia – Republic of Croatia
 * 🇨🇺 Cuba – Republic of Cuba
 * 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
 * 🇩🇰 Denmark – Kingdom of Denmark
 * 🇪🇨 Ecuador – Republic of Ecuador
 * 🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea – Republic of Equatorial Guinea (seems to be contradictory)
 * 🇪🇷 Eritrea – State of Eritrea
 * 🇫🇴 Faroe Islands (Self-governing country in the Kingdom of Denmark)
 * 🇫🇷 France – French Republic
 * 🇬🇭 Ghana – Republic of Ghana
 * 🇬🇮 Gibraltar (UK overseas territory) (just "advantages", really)
 * 🇬🇹 Guatemala – Republic of Guatemala (currently out of date)
 * 🇬🇬 Guernsey – Bailiwick of Guernsey (British Crown dependency) (er, what? "Unlike many countries Guernsey has not delegated money-creation to the central bank and has instead issued interest-free money since 1816. As a result the government has not had to use increasing amounts of tax revenue to repay debt to the central bank, which has led to low income tax rates, no goods and services tax and no capital gains tax." is nutty).
 * 🇭🇰 Hong Kong – Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (Area of special sovereignty) ("exponential increase" copyedit required)
 * 🇭🇺 Hungary – Republic of Hungary (copyedit though)
 * 🇮🇳 India – Republic of India
 * 🇮🇶 Iraq – Republic of Iraq (probably okay)
 * 🇮🇪 Ireland
 * 🇮🇱 Israel – State of Israel
 * 🇯🇲 Jamaica
 * Laos – Lao People's Democratic Republic
 * 🇱🇧 Lebanon – Republic of Lebanon
 * 🇱🇷 Liberia – Republic of Liberia (minor copyedit, at least)
 * 🇲🇼 Malawi – Republic of Malawi
 * 🇲🇽 Mexico – United Mexican States
 * 🇲🇲 Myanmar – Union of Myanmar
 * 🇳🇱 Netherlands – Kingdom of the Netherlands
 * 🇳🇿 New Zealand (seems okay)
 * 🇴🇲 Oman – Sultanate of Oman (minor language: improved for increased etc)
 * 🇵🇭 Philippines – Republic of the Philippines (major copyedit required)
 * 🇵🇱 Poland – Republic of Poland (copyedit required)
 * 🇷🇴 Romania (long section, "was transformed" to "has changed" is a no-brainer though)
 * 🇸🇬 Singapore – Republic of Singapore
 * 🇸🇰 Slovakia – Slovak Republic
 * 🇸🇴 Somalia (seems okay)
 * 🇸🇷 Suriname – Republic of Suriname
 * Syria – Syrian Arab Republic
 * 🇹🇴 Tonga – Kingdom of Tonga
 * 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago – Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
 * 🇺🇾 Uruguay – Oriental Republic of Uruguay
 * Vietnam – Socialist Republic of Vietnam
 * 🇪🇭 Western Sahara – Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
 * 🇿🇲 Zambia – Republic of Zambia (seems okay)
 * 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe – Republic of Zimbabwe (seems okay)

No Economy section (12 countries)

 * Abkhazia – Republic of Abkhazia
 * 🇬🇧 Akrotiri and Dhekelia – Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (UK overseas territory)
 * 🇦🇸 American Samoa – Territory of American Samoa (US overseas territory)
 * 🇨🇰 Cook Islands (Associated state of New Zealand)
 * 🇾🇹 Mayotte (French overseas community)
 * Nagorno-Karabakh – Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
 * 🇳🇨 New Caledonia (French community sui generis)
 * 🇳🇫 Norfolk Island – Territory of Norfolk Island (Australian overseas territory)
 * Palestine – State of Palestine
 * 🇷🇸 Serbia – Republic of Serbia (numbers only)
 * 🇸🇿 Swaziland – Kingdom of Swaziland
 * 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates