Category Archives: Dubious statistics

The Economic Cost of Devastating Hurricanes and Other Extreme Weather Events Is Even Worse Than We Thought

irming up the math on the economic cost of climate change makes a bad picture look worse.

Wolf Richter: Subprime Bites – Auto-Loan Delinquencies Spike to Q3 2009 Level, Despite Strongest Labor Market in Years

A high level of auto-loan delinquencies challlenges the cheery spin the Fed and the financial press is putting on the state of the ecoomy.

Why We Need New Measures of Potential Output—and What They Tell Us

Economists and policy makers are waking up to the fact that estimates of what is possible in the economy – “potential output” – are way off: this paper explains why.

Ilargi: Renewables Are Dead

How Germany’s failure to meet renewable energy targets demonstrates that renewables won’t be able to meet current and expected production needs.

Buttigieg’s Small Donor Surge: Less There Than Meets the Eye?

A first look at the data about Buttigieg’s donors raises some uncomfortable questions.

What the April 15 Emerson Democratic Primary Poll Says About Emerson and Sanders

It’s 2016 all over again, as the press and analysts go to unusual lengths to ignore Sanders’ gains.

Private Equity Investors’ Pockets Picked Even More With Increases in Carry Fees

More evidence that private equity is an exercise in separating fools from their money.

Why China’s Current Account Balance Approaches Zero

China’s once-hefty current account surpluses are falling away. What are the implications?

Hubert Horan: Can Uber Ever Deliver? Part Nineteen: Uber’s IPO Prospectus Overstates Its 2018 Profit Improvement by $5 Billion

Uber’s financial data in its S-1 filing is misleading and even inconsistent.

Bill Black: Tom Friedman Just Noticed that the UK “Has Gone Mad”

Bill Black uses Tom Friedman’s recognition just this week that Brexit is a mess as the foundation of a detailed takedown of Friedman’s propaganda, um, views.

Wall Street Journal Story Confirms That CalPERS Plans to Overpay Grossly in Its New Private Equity Scheme

More proof (as if you needed it) that CalPERS is clueless.

Striking Teachers in Denver Shut Down Performance Bonuses – Here’s How That Will Impact Education

Denver teachers were able to put an end to a performance bonus system they argued was capricious. What impact might this change have?

Wolf Richter: My Fancy-Schmancy “Fed Hawk-o-Meter” Ticks Down, Still Red-Lines. In Passing, Fed Plants Seed for Removing “Patient”

Not surprisingly, given economic weakness in Europe and China plus Trump trade war saber-rattling, the Fed seems less gung ho about the health of the economy than it was last summer.

Climate Damages: Uncertain but Ominous, or $51 per Ton of Carbon?

The dark and contested art of pricing carbon emissions.