Be Wary Of Economists Wielding Short Samples

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Correlation by xkcd, a webcomic

Oh, the age-old correlation-implies-causation argument.

Please reference the blog titled How to Spot Advocacy Science: John Taylor Editionposted yesterday by Freakonomics.  It depicts charts prepared by Stanford professor John Taylor and acknowledged by Harvard professor Greg Mankiw (who also linked to the charts without a word about their veracity…until others publicly did so – including Krugman in his blog titled “What’s Behind Low Investment?“). 

Perhaps these two economists, and like-minded peers, will author a book titled “Predictably Disingenuous.”


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