Category Archives: Dubious statistics

Low Labour Shortages Can Help Explain Sluggish Wage Growth

Real-time indicators based on qualitative survey data provided an overly optimistic picture of labour market conditions and wage growth in the aftermath of the Great Recession.

‘A Definite and Sustained Increase’: Europe Leads Record Single-Day Worldwide Covid-19 Infection Surge

Europe reported nearly 100,000 new Covid-19 infections on Thursday—more than in the U.S., India, and Brazil, the world’s Covid-19 case leaders

The US Excess Mortality Rate from COVID-19 Is Substantially Worse than Europe’s

Debunking yet another defense of the US’ abject Covid-19 performance.

Corralling the Facts on Herd Immunity

learing up some confusion on herd immunity, a key topic in Covid-19 policy debates.

Ilargi: Why Trump Will Win

A contrarian reading on Trump’s prospects.

CalPERS Cooks Its Books: Grossly Understated Investment Consultant Meketa’s Expenses in Annual Financials; Made a Criminal False Account by Burying the Cost

CalPERS violates accounting rules by hiding outside consulting costs in internal investment overheads. None of the possible reasons are good.

CalPERS’ Bad Numbers: CEO Marcie Frost’s Multi-Hundred Thousand /Year Advisor Randle Communications Missing from Board Reports

A remarkable series of accidents led to the CalPERS board not being told how much CEO Marcie Frost’s advisor Randle Communications costs.

What Rent Drop? Listed Prices Aren’t Budging Where COVID-19 Hit Hardest

New York City disproves popular beliefs about flight from cities and rent declines.

‘The Situation Is Dire’: As Trump Takes Victory Lap, New Jobs Report Reveals Alarming Surge in Permanent Unemployment

As we cruise into Labor Day, the state of permanent U.S. unemployment is dire; and with no end in sight to the pandemic, will only worsen.

COVID: Where Science Goes To Die

A forceful critique of Covid-19 research.

22 Year Study Finds Hedge Fund Managers Collect 64% of Investors’ Gross Returns

Hedge fund managers claw an awful lot in fees out of their investors but the reasons look to be different than for private equity.

Delayed Second Stimulus Already Leading to Cuts in Grocery Store Spending

Hunger is on the rise. Grocery store operators see weaker spending now that the $600/week unemployment supplements are gone.

“Savings Glut” Fables and International Trade Theory: An Autopsy

Debunking Bernanke’s pet excuse for the global financial crisis, the savings glut hypothesis, which of course exculpates the Fed.

CalPERS Preliminary Returns Inconsistent with Other CalPERS Data; CalPERS Refuses to ‘Splain Even Though It Ought to be Easy

CalPERS has yet to clear up an anomaly in its reported preliminary returns.

Hubert Horan: Can Uber Ever Deliver? Part Twenty-Three: Uber’s Already Hopelessly Unprofitable Economics Take A Major Coronavirus Hit

The press is still refusing to depict Uber accurately, as a rotting corpse.