If statistics tell a story you don’t want to hear, what do you do? Change the statistics. Such seems to be the intention of Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, who is planning to update the way France measures economic activity. Having promised voters he would stimulate growth and boost spending power, he now seems worried he will be unable to deliver as the global economy cools. So why not tinker with the numbers and include qualitative improvements?

Mr Sarkozy has asked two Nobel prize-winning economists, Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz, to recommend alternative ways of measuring activity to take more account of quality of life and the environment. It would be surprising if Mr Sarkozy were not soon trumpeting a cheering uplift in France’s standing.