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Statistics

Rideshare driver pointing at map app

FBI

FBI Reports Dubious 'Trend' of Rideshare Driver Kidnappings

Plus: Pandemic learning loss, German weed legalization, and more...

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 10.27.2022 9:31 AM

Taped off crime scene

Crime

Is Crime Getting Better or Worse? We Don't Really Know.

The FBI changed the way it compiles data, and reporting law-enforcement agencies have yet to catch up.

J.D. Tuccille | 10.24.2022 7:00 AM

neon question mark surrounded by graffiiti

Criminal Justice

Did Murders Rise in 2021? No One Knows.

Plus: Court says DACA is illegal, Colorado baker appeals gender transition cake ruling, and more...

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 10.6.2022 9:46 AM

nyt-gun-control

Guns

Guns Aren't a Public Health Issue

A deeply flawed documentary by the gray lady unwittingly makes the case for why the CDC shouldn't be studying gun violence.

John Osterhoudt and Aaron Brown | 9.30.2022 1:05 PM

handgun and bullets

Reason Roundup

Number of American Mass Murders Relatively Steady Since 2006

Plus: A surge in female voter registrations, eminent domain in North Carolina, and more...

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 8.22.2022 9:40 AM

January 6

Lies, Damned Lies, and …

How a truly ridiculous statistical notion played its part in the January 6 uprising

David Post |The Volokh Conspiracy | 7.15.2022 8:11 AM

Gun Control

Do Studies Show Gun Control Works? No.

Out of 27,900 research publications on gun laws, only 123 tested their effects rigorously.

Aaron Brown and Justin Monticello | 3.31.2022 4:55 PM

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Violence

Survey Finds No Rise in Anti-Asian Violence, Assaults Declined in 2020

Some encouraging results from the 2020 National Crime Victimization Survey

Robby Soave | 10.19.2021 9:15 AM

featureenb1

Hate crimes

Do We Really Need New Anti-Asian Hate Crime Laws?

A holistic look at the data shatters the narrative about bias-based violence.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 9.19.2021 6:00 AM

Statistics

Statistics, and How the World Works

A surprising number of people seem to believe that the "improbability" that Biden could have won (in a fair election) is evidence that he didn't win (in a fair election). It isn't.

David Post |The Volokh Conspiracy | 12.15.2020 11:27 AM

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Coronavirus

Prominent Researchers Say a Widely Cited Study on Wearing Masks Is Badly Flawed

"Masks matter. So does good science. Let's do both."

Ronald Bailey | 6.22.2020 5:11 PM

COVIDTestSchematic

Coronavirus

Critics Say a Pair of California Antibody Studies Contain Critical Statistical Errors That Produced Implausible Results

Too many false positives, nonrandom study population, and infection fatality rates out of whack with other data, critics claim.

Ronald Bailey | 4.22.2020 5:29 PM

sipaphotosseven533053

Donald Trump

No, Russian Bots Didn't Cause Trump's Poll Numbers To Increase 1 Percent Per 25K Retweets

Blaming Trump's election on the magical power of Russian Twitter bots is seductive because it excuses Americans for electing an obviously unqualified candidate.

Eric Boehm | 7.1.2019 4:45 PM

jerryz2

F.A. Hayek

How To Crush 'the Tyranny of Metrics'

Historian Jerry Z. Muller says we waste too much time fixating on measurements that lead us astray.

Nick Gillespie | 5.15.2019 10:00 AM

dreamstime_l_144028716

Sex

Foggy Sex Trafficking Stats Pop Up in the Bay Area

Did San Francisco really see a 170 percent "spike in human trafficking" last year?

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 4.20.2019 6:00 AM

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Hate crimes

Stop Letting People Lie to You About Hate Crime and Human Trafficking Spikes

Government statistics often show more reports of both. That doesn't mean either is on the rise.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 2.22.2019 3:32 PM

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Future

Zombie Statistics

The terrifying power of useful bad data.

Katherine Mangu-Ward | 11.2.2018 7:00 AM

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Labor

Are American Workers Getting Shafted?

Think labor's share of America's economic output has been plunging? Think again.

Gene Epstein | 8.28.2018 8:00 AM

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Mass Shootings

No, There Haven't Been 18 School Shootings This Year

It trivializes a brutal crime to inflate the count this way. Cut it out.

Eric Boehm | 2.16.2018 10:00 AM

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Straws

15 Times Major Media Outlets Used a Statistic about Plastic Straws Based on Research by a 9-Year-Old

A number's popularity does not prove its accuracy.

Christian Britschgi | 1.26.2018 3:41 PM

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Polls

Is That Poll That Found College Students Don't Value Free Speech Really 'Junk Science'? Not So Fast

Or how writing about survey methodology can go wrong fast

Stephanie Slade | 9.30.2017 11:52 AM

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Crime

Human-Trafficking Arrests Are Very Rare in Most States

The exceptions in 2016 were Minnesota and Texas, according to newly released FBI data.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 9.25.2017 11:10 AM

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Hate crimes

No Rise in Hate-Crime Rate Since 2004

"Hate crimes" suspected to be motivated by racial bias have dropped, but those perceived to be motivated by gender bias nearly doubled.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 6.30.2017 12:15 PM

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Cato

Do Libertarian Voters Actually Exist? Yes, and in Droves [Reason Podcast]

Cato's polling director Emily Ekins says as many as one in five voters can be identified as libertarian.

Nick Gillespie and Ian Keyser | 6.28.2017 1:30 PM

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Voting

Politicians Choosing Their Voters vs. Voters Choosing Their Politicians

The Supreme Court to decide if gerrymandering is unconstitutional

Ronald Bailey | 6.20.2017 3:45 PM

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Gender

Suspect Statistics From Plastic Surgeon Society Say 'Gender Confirmation Surgeries' Up 19 Percent Last Year

There were 3,256 such surgeries in 2016, says the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. But how it got this number is anyone's guess.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 5.23.2017 7:20 PM

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Civil Liberties

The Opaque Blue Line

C.J. Ciaramella | 4.29.2017 6:00 AM

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Children

Enough Stranger Danger! Children Rarely Abducted by Those They Don't Know

U.S. kids are no more likely to be abducted today than they were decades ago, and much more likely to be returned safely when they are.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 3.31.2017 12:30 PM

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Epidemiology

Eat More Peppers, Live Longer; Eat More Grilled Meat, Die Sooner

Exploring the absurdities of modern nutritional epidemiology.

Ronald Bailey | 1.25.2017 2:45 PM

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Crime

Did Nonfatal Violent Crime Come Down Last Year After All?

Dueling crime statistics

Jesse Walker | 10.20.2016 4:05 PM

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Sex Trafficking

Sex-Trafficking Stat Check: How 45 Toledo Teens Become '1,000 Child Sex-Trafficking Victims'

Officials claim that more than 1,000 Ohio children are "trafficked into the sex trade each year." Here's why they're wrong.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 5.26.2016 8:05 AM

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Science

Their Science Is Not Broken, Assert Psychologists

Contradicts claims that only 40 percent of studies could be replicated.

Ronald Bailey | 3.4.2016 11:15 AM

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Guns

Good News, Americans! Cars Are Now Killing as Few People as Guns!

The numbers don't justify the outrage and fear.

Scott Shackford | 12.18.2015 10:25 AM

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New York Times

The New York Times Says Working in Nail Salons Causes Cancer and Miscarriages. The Evidence Says Otherwise. (Part 3)

The final in a three-part series on how Sarah Maslin Nir's investigative series violated the standards of responsible journalism.

Jim Epstein | 10.29.2015 1:30 PM

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Epidemiology

Epidemiology Makes Astrology Look Respectable

Sitting all day will kill you. Well, maybe not.

Ronald Bailey | 10.20.2015 11:25 AM

Policy

Why Can't Anyone Agree How Many Mass Shootings There Have Been In 2013?

Making sense of the competing statistics

Jesse Walker | 9.19.2013 12:32 PM

Policy

Making Sense of Mass-Shooting Statistics

James Alan Fox vs. Mother Jones

Jesse Walker | 1.24.2013 1:35 PM

Policy

Off the Books: The Benefits of Free Enterprise That Economic Statistics Miss

W. Cox and Richard Alm | 8.1.2002 12:00 AM

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