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Sean Snee blogs about how the Analysis Function recommends providing alternative text for data visualisations, to ensure content is accessible to everyone.

Despite slight differences in the age distribution, it's comforting to see that the Cato survey‐​based estimates are very close to the 2020 enumeration results.

This blog is based on an article in the Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy by Ilari Ilmakunnas. Click here to access the article. Despite the shared understanding that it is useful to analyse poverty by means of different measures, one measure is more commonly used than others. In the EU, the at-risk-of-poverty threshold… Continue reading Enhancing Clarity in Poverty Analysis →

While homeschooling is still a small segment of education in the US, the explosive growth detailed in the Post's report shows people are increasingly recognizing the benefits of more personalized education.

The battle was generally favorable for Ukraine, as it destroyed a lot of Russian combat power. But Ukraine waited too long to withdraw and failed to prepare a solid second line of defense.
The post Battle of Avdiivka: A Preliminary Analysis first appeared on FDD's Long War Journal.

Kevin Drum points to an obscure, but radical proposal to change the way the US government does benefit cost analysis. The Office of Management and Budget has released draft guidance saying One practical approach to implementing weights that account for diminishing marginal utility uses a constant-elasticity specification to determine the weights for subgroups defined by […]

The Islamic State's Central Africa Province, known locally as the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, mounted its second attack in western Uganda since last Friday. The mobile unit currently operating inside Uganda represents the first sustained guerrilla presence in the country since 2007.
The post Analysis: Islamic State strikes in western Uganda first appeared on FDD's Long War Journal.

Call for Papers für eine Tagung vom 21. bis 22. März 2024 in Essen. Deadline: 20. Oktober 2023

In a coordinated effort, Iran has supported, funded and encouraged its network of armed groups on Israel's borders to launch attacks.
The post Analysis: Iran Leverages Armed Groups Against Israel first appeared on FDD's Long War Journal.

Ari D. Glogower (Northwestern Pritzker School of Law) has posted A Basic Needs Baseline for Distributional Analysis (Brigham Young University Law Review, Vol. 48, No. 6, 2023) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Studies of income inequality and the distributive...

The Michigan survey of consumer sentiment has diverged its correlation with unemployment and inflation, as has (to a lesser degree) the Conference Board survey of confidence. Interestingly, they've both diverged from sentiment as measured by text analysis. Figure 1: University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment (blue), Conference Board Consumer Confidence (tan), and Shapiro, Sudhof and Wilson […]

Another year and another repeat:The biggest private providers of children's homes in England made profits of more than £300m last year, as concern mounts over the conditions some children are being placed in and the spiralling costs for councils.Gosh, what horrors, the capitalists are making out like bandits. And now to make the same criticism the last time they told us this. This is not just to pick nits, this is a lousy analysis, entirely scabrous even.For the report manages the remarkable feat of detailing the vast profits being made and also worries about the financial condition of the companies, whether they make enough to keep going as a valid concern. Which is, we admit, really a very wild piece of contortionism.As we've said before:It's a report from Revolution Consulting which looks at the operating profits, not net profits, of the care home providers. That is, it looks at the excess of revenue over cost before accounting for mortgages, interest upon them, depreciation or maintenance of buildings and so on. You know, things that are a considerable portion of costs concerning anything with the word "home" in it. By using Ebitda as the measure it, in effect, looks only at the current account, not the capital. Which is, as a measure of profitability, absurd.As this year's version of the report says: Some financial analyses go further in also looking to eliminate rental costs of property, but this study has not taken that further step. Several providers report sizeable operating lease costs, often in relation to rental of property used by the provider. These costs raise the possibility that and profit or loss on renting property to the operating business is not included in the reporting we have accessed. They're not including property costs. Or even, they're not including the costs of buying property via debt (ie, a mortgage or the like) when estimating profitability but are looking at debt levels when measuring going concern basis. Which is, as we say, a contortion too far.The aims here are, obviously enough, to a) complain about the capitalists and b) insist that the bureaucracy should have more power over the sector. Which is why such effort has to be made to scratch that itch.But then this is how government is done these days, isn't it? A rickety construction of figures in order to sway opinion and logic and reality be damned.There are things we'd like to know about the private, capitalist provision of children's homes. Is this method better, cheaper or more responsive than council provision of the same thing? If it is then we should use it, if it isn't then we should not. But note what this current reports says about such matters - nothing. It's performative number crunching intended to persuade, nothing else.But as we say, that's how government is done these days.

Call for Papers for a Conference in Vienna, Austria, on October 10–11, 2024. Deadline: April 5, 2024

Today, the Confidence Board's consumer confidence index clocked in at 110.7, vs. Bloomberg consensus of 103.8. The Michigan survey of consumer sentiment and to a lesser extent the Conference Board survey of confidence have diverged from their historical correlation with inflation and unemployment. Interestingly, while the Michigan measure in particular has deviated from the text […]