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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Economy & business fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about economy & business. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

7,103 published reviews in this topic

Pagella PoliticaEconomy & business

«La pressione fiscale non aumenta neanche di 1 euro»

Publisher’s rating: Pinocchio andante

The claim came from a Facebook post by Carlo Sibilia, then an undersecretary at the Interior Ministry. He said tax pressure would not rise “by even one euro.” The review checks the claim against the government’s forecast for 2020, rather than treating the phrase as a claim about one particular tax: it explains that tax pressure is a ratio of tax and contribution revenues to GDP. The decisive evidence is the 2020 Budgetary Planning Document, published by the Economy and Finance Ministry on 15 October 2019. According to the review, it forecast tax pressure at 41.9 percent in 2019 and 42.0 percent in 2020—a rise of 0.1 percentage points. The review therefore concludes that the forecast contradicts Sibilia’s assertion that tax pressure would not increase. The review also qualifies what that comparison means. It says tax pressure can rise because government revenues increase or GDP falls, and that increased revenues need not come only from new or higher taxes. It notes that the budget bill included new levies, but the forecasted rise in the overall ratio—not any single levy—is its direct evidence against the claim. The review further says describing a ratio such as tax pressure in euros is incorrect.

FACTLYEconomy & business

Average Annual turnover of the Taj Mahal and the Statue of Unity are approximately Rs. 22.3 crores and Rs. 71.6 crores respectively.

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim compares approximate annual turnover figures of Rs. 22.3 crore for the Taj Mahal and Rs. 71.6 crore for the Statue of Unity. FACTLY’s review examined the figures behind that social-media comparison and distinguished the periods they covered. It reports that the Taj Mahal’s ticket revenue was approximately Rs. 77.9 crore in financial year 2018–19, while the Statue of Unity’s ticket sales brought in nearly Rs. 71.66 crore during nearly 11 months after its inauguration. The review also checked whether the Taj Mahal figure might represent an average across several years. It says that even using the average of the previous three years’ revenue, as the post purportedly did, the Taj Mahal figure would be around Rs. 61.4 crore—not Rs. 22.3 crore. Thus, the reported Taj Mahal revenue does not support the figure in the claim, and the Statue of Unity figure is a collection over nearly 11 months rather than a comparable full-year total. The review’s comparison is qualified by differences in the reporting periods and ticket prices. It says the Taj Mahal figures cover financial year 2018–19, whereas the Statue of Unity figures run from October 31, 2018, to October 2019. It also cautions that ticket revenues cannot be directly compared because the monuments have different prices and multiple ticket variants.

NewtralEconomy & business

Desde el tercer trimestre de 2018 hemos creado 530.000 nuevos puestos de trabajo

Publisher’s rating: Falso

Newtral examined Pedro Sánchez’s claim during an election debate that 530,000 jobs had been created since the third quarter of 2018. To check the comparison, it used Spain’s Labour Force Survey (EPA) figures for the number of people working in the quarters Sánchez named. The review reported 19,528,000 employed people in the third quarter of 2018 and 19,874,000 in the third quarter of the year in which he spoke. That change is 346,000, not 530,000. The article also checked Social Security affiliation figures, from Sánchez becoming president through the latest figure then published by the Labour Ministry, and said that method did not produce the claimed number either. The review noted an important qualification: using the second quarter of 2018 as the starting point gives 530,000. After publication, the PSOE told Newtral that Sánchez’s wording was ambiguous and that “since I have been governing” would have been the correct phrasing. Thus the stated figure fits a different starting point, but not the third-quarter starting point in the claim.

NewtralEconomy & business

Blackstone, un fondo buitre, ya se ha convertido en el mayor casero de España

Publisher’s rating: Verdad a medias

The review examines Pablo Iglesias’s statement during the 10N election debate that Blackstone had become Spain’s largest landlord. It finds that the claim is supported if “largest” means the owner with the most rental homes among comparable owners: the review reports that Blackstone had about 30,000 homes for rent and says this made it the largest owner of this type of property in Spain. It identifies five residential rental companies behind which Blackstone sits: Albirana, Euripo Fidere, Testa and Torbel, as listed in the review. But that comparison does not mean Blackstone controls most of Spain’s rental housing. Using the Banco de España’s figures, the review says professional landlords account for 10% of the rental market and individuals control the remaining 90%. It puts Spain’s rental housing stock at about 2.7 million homes and calculates Blackstone’s share at 1.1%. The key qualification is therefore the difference between being the largest owner in a particular category and being a dominant landlord across the national market. The review adds that corporate landlords have a more substantial presence in some large cities, citing Barcelona as an example.

NewtralEconomy & business

La Constitución dice que las pensiones se tienen que actualizar conforme el IPC

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerned remarks by Pablo Iglesias during a candidates’ debate: he argued that the Constitution required pensions to be revalued in line with the Consumer Price Index (IPC). The review reports that Iglesias referred to Article 50, which concerns pensions, and then said the Constitution required updating them according to the IPC. The issue is therefore not whether pensions should be raised, but whether the Constitution specifies the IPC as the measure for doing so. (S1: “Pablo Iglesias ha defendido durante el debate de candidatos celebrado este lunes que las pensiones deben ser revalorizadas con el IPC.”; “ha añadido: «Garanticemos la revalorización de las pensiones al IPC. Porque la Constitución española dice que se tienen que actualizar conforme al Índice de Precios al Consumo«.”) The review’s decisive comparison is between that specific assertion and the wording it attributes to Article 50. It says the article requires public authorities to ensure pensions are “adequate” and “periodically updated,” but does not name the IPC or any other indicator. Thus, the constitutional text described in the review supports a general requirement for periodic updates, not the more specific claim that those updates must follow the IPC. (S1: “El artículo 50 de la Constitución dice que lo poderes públicos garantizarán que las pensiones deben ser «adecuadas» y «periódicamente actualizadas», pero no menciona el IPC, ni ningún otro indicador.”) The review identifies the Spanish Constitution as its source. Its conclusion turns on the absence of an index in the provision’s stated requirement: “periodically updated” does not itself specify CPI-based updating. The review does not say that Article 50 forbids using the IPC or that pensions cannot be revalued by that measure; its finding is limited to the claim that the Constitution says they must be. (S1: “Fuentes Constitución Española”; “pero no menciona el IPC, ni ningún otro indicador.”)

Pagella PoliticaEconomy & business

«Nel 2016 e nel 2017 la nostra produzione industriale e il nostro tasso di investimenti è cresciuto più di quello della Germania»

Publisher’s rating: Vero

The claim concerns Carlo Calenda’s comparison of Italy and Germany in 2016 and 2017. Pagella Politica reports that Calenda made the statement on 20 October 2019 at the inauguration of the Corima pharmaceutical-packaging plant in the Sienese area. The review checked two measures: the industrial production index and the investment rate of non-financial businesses, using Eurostat indicators.

NewtralEconomy & business

Blackstone, un fondo buitre, ya se ha convertido en el mayor casero de España

Publisher’s rating: Verdad a medias

In the televised debate, Unidas Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias said Blackstone had become Spain’s largest landlord and argued that limits should be placed on the fund. Newtral rated the statement “half true”: its account accepts that Blackstone had about 30,000 homes for rent, but notes that professional landlords as a group accounted for only 10% of the market. That comparison qualifies the impression that Blackstone’s large portfolio made it dominant across Spain’s rental market. However, the excerpt does not say what share of the market Blackstone itself held, define the market measure, or identify the source or date of the 30,000-home figure. It therefore supports the stated qualification, but does not provide enough detail to independently assess the underlying counts or establish Blackstone’s precise ranking against other landlords.