Category Archives: Dubious statistics

Brexit Derivatives Risk: Did the City Overplay Its £38 Trillion Hand?

Novating UK derivatives contracts entered into by EU clearinghouse members is a ginormous mess, particularly in a Brexit crashout. But how serious a mess?

Inequality Represents a Wasted Opportunity for Poverty Reduction

If poverty is falling, why you should still care about what happens to inequality.

Disaster Profiteers vs. the People of Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico shows how distress and grifting too often go hand in hand.

Steve Keen: How Economics Became a Cult

Steve Keen, author of Debunking Economics and one of the few economists to foresee the crisis, explains what is wrong with the discipline.

The Fracking Industry’s Water Nightmare: Injection Wells Damage Production Wells, Rising Disposal Costs Will Increase Industry Losses

The fracking industry’s wastewater disposal is an unrecognized production and economic problem that is going from bad to worse.

Why Dodd-Frank Is a Protection Racket for Banks

How Dodd-Frank left banks’ massive lending and safety-net subsidies intact.

The Bank of International Settlement’s Claudio Borio, Who Warned About the Crisis, Says the World Economy Is About to Get Very Sick

BIS chief economist Claudio Borio warns that central bankers have overdone the liquidity party, and investors are not being paid enough to take ris

CalPERS’ CEO Marcie Frost’s History of Embellishment and Poor Management Goes Back to Washington

Yet more confirmation of our findings regarding CalPERS CEO Marcie Frost’s record of misrepresentations.

Why the “Green New Deal” Is a Headfake

How “Green New Deal” proponents repeat the intellectual errors made by the critics of the 1970s Limits to Growth studies.

J.D. Alt: Paying for Hurricanes

A reminder that the budgetary “paying for things” framing is a way to deny resources to citizens.

Census Bureau Reveals Grim Facts about Real Earnings of Men

A look at real earnings data belies happy talk about wage gains.

The Economy Under Trump: Business Optimism Combined with Inequality

Gerald Epstein dissects the Trump Administration happy talk about the state of the economy.