Data problems with Capital in the 21st Century
Financial Times
Thomas Piketty’s book, ‘Capital in the Twenty-First Century’, and its thesis of rising inequality tapped into the zeitgeist and electrified the post-financial crisis public policy debate. But according to a Financial Times investigation, the rock-star French economist appears to have got his sums wrong. Some issues concern sourcing and definitional problems. Some numbers appear simply to be constructed out of thin air.
shared by Huffington Post, @LongShortTrader, @spignal, @GTCost
 

Piketty response to FT data concerns
Financial Times
shared by Huffington Post, Naked Capitalism, Here Is The City
 

Thomas Piketty’s real challenge was to the FT’s Rolex types
theguardian.com
Paul Mason: If the FT’s attack on the radical economist is right, then all the gross designer bling in its How To Spend It section can be morally justified.
shared by reddit/Economics, @eisingerj, @johngapper, Naked Capitalism
 

Blogs review: The Piketty data controversy
bruegel.org
What’s at stake: While everyone praised the data collection effort behind the bestseller book “Capital in the 21st century”, Chris Giles of the Financial Times has dug up data-entry errors and dubious adjustments, which appeared unexplained in the book. While Piketty appears confident in his response to the FT that the overall conclusions of his book are robust, he hasn’t yet provided a point-by-point response to the questions raised.
shared by @MarkThoma, @Noahpinion, Naked Capitalism, @moorehn, @mccarthyryanj
 

A Piketty problem?
The Economist
This morning, the Financial Times leads with a striking allegation: "Capital in the Twenty-First Century", the bestselling analysis of inequality by economist Thomas Piketty, is fundamentally flawed thanks to errors in the data backing the book.
shared by @TheStalwart, @MichaelKitces, reddit/Economics, @AnjuliDavies
 

Has Thomas Piketty Pulled a Reinhart and Rogoff?
fixingtheeconomists.wordpress.com
Well, a team at the FT under Chris Giles has claimed to have discovered serious errors in the data spreadsheets underlying Thomas Piketty’s work. A few housekeeping issues before I proceed.
shared by @izakaminska, Naked Capitalism, Marginal Revolution, @moorehn
 

Be Skeptical of Both Piketty And His Skeptics
fivethirtyeight.com
Data never has a virgin birth. It can be tempting to assume that the information contained in a spreadsheet or a database is pure or clean or beyond reproach. But this is almost never the case.
shared by reddit/Economics, @DLeonhardt, @JacobWolinsky, @JustinWolfers
 

Eurosceptics storm Brussels
Financial Times
France’s far-right Front National stormed to victory in European elections on Sunday night, leading an unprecedented surge in support for anti-EU parties across Europe that was set to reverberate far beyond Brussels.
shared by @ryanchittum, Naked Capitalism, @Dvolatility, @SonyKapoor
 

China Pulls Cisco Into Dispute on Cyberspying
New York Times
A state-run newspaper says the network equipment maker has close ties with the U.S. government and military, which the company denies.
shared by @niubi, @panphil
 

China Said to Push Banks to Remove IBM Servers in Spy Dispute
Bloomberg
The Chinese government is reviewing whether domestic banks’ reliance on high-end servers from International Business Machines Corp. compromises the nation’s financial security.
shared by @Nemo_incognito, @peter_tl, @niubi, Crossing Wall Street
 

China clamps down on US consulting groups
Financial Times
China has ordered state-owned enterprises to cut ties with US consulting companies such as McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group because of fears they are spying on behalf of the US government.
shared by @retheauditors, @prchovanec, @larsonchristina, @M_C_Klein
 

Real Estate Tycoon Sees Titanic Moment for China’s Housing Market
Wall Street Journal
China’s once buoyant property market is facing some rough sailing. In fact, according to one tycoon – Soho China Ltd’s chief Pan Shiyi — the real estate market is looking more like the Titanic headed in the direction of an iceberg.
shared by @JacobWolinsky, @peter_tl, @jimpoco, @prchovanec
 

Chinese ship sinks Vietnamese fishing boat in South China Sea- Nikkei Asian Review
nikkei.com
A Chinese vessel rammed and sank a Vietnamese fishing boat off the coast of Vietnam on Monday afternoon.
shared by Business Insider, @TheStalwart, @peter_tl, @jbarro
 

Is College Worth It? Clearly, New Data Say
New York Times
The pay gap between college graduates and everyone else rose to a record high last year, suggesting there are too few graduates.
shared by reddit/Economics, @LaurenYoung, @MarkThoma, @JustinWolfers
 

SEC set to spur exchange trading
Wall Street Journal
Top U.S. securities regulators are embracing a plan designed to shift more trading onto exchanges and away from private trading venues operated by banks and other firms.
shared by @ritholtz, @IvanTheK, Reformed Broker
 

Rap Genius Co-Founder Moghadam Fired Over Tasteless Comments on Santa Barbara Shooting
recode.net
shared by @TheStalwart, Huffington Post, @lizzieohreally, @moorehn
 

Equity research ‘bloodbath’ gathers pace
Financial Times
Life as an investment bank equity research analyst has not been a bed of roses since the financial crisis.
shared by @howardlindzon, @AmyResnick, @ReformedBroker, Reformed Broker, @SallieKrawcheck
 

Warren Buffett: These were my biggest early mistakes
The Reformed Broker
Happy Memorial Day Weekend! Today I thought we’d spend some time with one of investing’s greatest minds at a critical point in history. The below is excerp
shared by @derekhernquist, @jasonzweigwsj, @BarbarianCap, @StockTwits
 

Apple sees the light in push for Jetsons-style home automation
Financial Times
Apple is readying a new software platform that would turn the iPhone into a remote control for lights, security systems and other household appliances, as part of a move into the “internet of things”.
shared by @ToddSullivan, @EmanuelDerman, @HamzeiAnalytics
 

What conservatives don’t understand about the modern U.S. economy
theweek.com
shared by @delong, @SpiegelPeter, @morningmoneyben, @Noahpinion
 

The Deal’s Done. But Not the Fees.
New York Times
The Securities and Exchange Commission is taking a closer look at what private equity firms charge their investors.
shared by @lucymarcus, Naked Capitalism, reddit/Economics, @cate_long
 

Draghi: Monetary policy in a prolonged period of low inflation
European Union
Draghi speech: Monetary policy in a prolonged period of low inflation.
shared by @EconBrothers, @davidmwessel, @ecb, @FGoria, @YanniKouts