The Mismeasurement of America

A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST INDIE BOOK OF 2025

"A hard-hitting indictment of the data underpinning federal economic policies.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

The Mismeasurement of America reveals, at long last, why public perceptions of the economy differ so drastically from prevailing statistics. The truth turns out to be disconcerting: The statistics are misleading.

Here we find the roots of growing public resentment. Despite headlines heralding growth and prosperity, most Americans have fallen behind. They’re working harder year upon year not to get ahead but merely to stay apace. For them, the American Dream appears to be slipping further and further away.

Beneath the resentment is something else: The misleading statistics that shape our understanding of reality are steering powerful policymakers to make misguided decisions at the federal, state, and local levels alike. And, for most Americans, the results continue to be catastrophic.

How did we get here? Having spent the better part of the last forty years working on economic policy, former US Comptroller of the Currency Gene Ludwig walks readers through the research done by the economic team at the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity. In the process, we see how outdated definitions have skewed our perceptions of:

• Unemployment
• Wages
• Inflation
• Upward mobility and growth

The Mismeasurement of America presents new and better ways to understand what’s really happening in the American economy. To save the American Dream, we need good economic indicators. In these pages, Gene Ludwig shows us how to get there.