When I do my work well, one thing that happens is I put some facts people "know" into context so that you understand as well as know. Here's a couple examples of recent writings others have on this subject:

• Business Insider reports on a Carbon Counter. What does it measure, a stock or a flow? Why does that matter? Turns out the people who put the counter up don't understand that question.
• Greg Mankiw discusses health statistics in the discussion of Obamacare, with an explanation of ceteris paribus. "To make comparisons in health outcomes, you need to control for other variables. Without such controls, the simple correlations have little meaning." So when you find studies that use the controls (like the Lancet cancer study that Gary Becker refers to in Mankiw's post), we do well. See also Glen Whitman from 2008.

Labels: economics