ending points carefully, you can influence the perception of whether the variable is rising or falling. The

original data show a general pattern with unemployment low in the 1960s, but spiking up in the mid-1970s,

early 1980s, early 1990s, early 2000s, and late 2000s. Figure A11 (g), however, shows a graph that goes back

only to 1975, which gives an impression that unemployment was more-or-less gradually falling over time until

the 2009 recession pushed it back up to its “original” level—which is a plausible interpretation if one starts at

the high point around 1975.

These kinds of tricks—or shall we just call them “presentation choices”— are not limited to line graphs. In a pie

chart with many small slices and one large slice, someone must decide what categories should be used to

produce these slices in the first place, thus making some slices appear bigger than others. If you are making a
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