Recent Blog Posts
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The Times' Rorshach Geithner Story
Apr 27 20099:04am EDT -
Sinking Animal Spirits
Apr 27 20098:04am EDT -
Counter-cyclical Urban Policy
Apr 26 200910:04am EDT -
Be Your Own Counterfeiter
Apr 26 20099:04am EDT -
Being Tim Geithner
Apr 25 200912:04pm EDT -
Notes From a Press Conference Naif
Apr 25 20099:04am EDT -
What Good is the News?
Apr 25 20098:04am EDT -
Stressful Enough
Apr 24 20092:04pm EDT -
Not Regretting the Pound
Apr 24 20091:04pm EDT -
Introducing the New Ford Squeeze
Apr 24 20099:04am EDT -
Non-Economic Questions of the Day
Apr 24 20099:04am EDT -
The Stress Test Blind Alley
Apr 24 20098:04am EDT -
Happy Hour
Apr 23 20099:04pm EDT -
Recovery Without Rebalancing
Apr 23 20096:04pm EDT -
The Shape of Your Recession
Apr 23 20095:04pm EDT
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Why Live Earth Shouldn't Count Its Viewers
Carl Bialik asks, apropos the Live Earth estimates of 2 billion viewers: "Is it OK to cite questionable estimates in service to a good cause?" The answer, of course, is no. But especially not when the issue is one where the entire moral high ground is predicated on your having more accurate and reliable numbers than the other guy.
The problem is that these numbers have been customarily exaggerated for years, and that if Live Earth had come out with a more credible number, people would have mentally compared it unfavorably to the 1 billion people they think watch the Oscars every year. But still, "everybody else does it" is always the weakest excuse. Better not to release numbers at all than to release numbers which are ridiculous on their face.
