Sentence:  Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists' most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too. GDP measures the total value of output in an economic territory. Its <WSD>apparent</WSD> simplicity explains why it is scrutinised down to tenths of a percentage point every month. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Appearing to the eye or mind (distinguished from, but not necessarily opposed to, true or real); seeming.