HAP also argued that the sample was biased, claiming that RR selectively omitted data for Australia, Canada, and New Zealand for the early post-World War II period, which showed high growth despite large public debts, while including data for the United States for the same period that showed negative GDP growth, which Herndon attributed to demobilization of U.S. military personnel. Also, by using only one year's data for New Zealand, a negative 7.6% GDP growth in 1951, a year in which New Zealand's trade suffered from a major strike, the average central tendency of the available 5 years (1946–1949 and 1951) shifted from 2.6% to −7.6%.Smith, Gary. Standard Deviations. page 62
