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Sources for health care and housing statistics are already listed above and I do not make a single ad-hominem attack on the authors. If you can point out where

Sources for health care and housing statistics are already listed above and I do not make a single ad-hominem attack on the authors. If you can point out where exactly you think I am misrepresenting their argument I will be happy to provide page references so they can disagree with you themselves. To cite just one example as evidence that you need to read AEI "research" more carefully, you can find the authors mention the mid-1980s inclusion of mobile homes and trailer parks as new forms of "housing consumption" in the first paragraph on page 15. I give them some credit for mentioning this, since it should be obvious even to the uninformed that aggregate measures of "housing consumption" are going to go up when you find new forms of housing to count half-way through your survey. As far as the reputation of the AEI goes, it stopped having any when it fired David Frum for being too far left [1]. Mainstream economists find the institute laughable [2], and even conservative economists like Bruce Bartlett mock its employees as "scholars" (his quotes) [3]. Poor quality ideological broadsides like the one cited above are the norm rather than the exception. Charles Murray's "The Bell Curve" is broadly derided for racism, while Kevin Hassett and James Glassman are ridiculed in the mainstream media for backing pump-and-dump schemes like "Dow 36,000" and for seeming to be unaware of such basic economic concepts as discounted cash flow. [1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/25/AR2010032502336.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03... [2] http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2011/10/the-uncertainty-argument-mike-konczal-does-intellectual-garbage-collection-on-aei-quaiity-well-i-cant-call-it-research.html http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2011/10/the-uncertainty-argume... [3] http://capitalgainsandgames.com/blog/bruce-bartlett/1601/groupthink-right-would-make-stalin-proud http://capitalgainsandgames.com/blog/bruce-bartlett/1601/gro...

yummyfajitas 14y ago
"The AEI is a laughingstock in economic circles..." <- Ad hominem. See also the third paragraph of your most recent post. "You should also ask yourself why the authors go through such contortions to count things like rentals as purchases..." <- Misrepresentation. The authors attempt to measure consumption of housing, as does thaumaturgy. You are the only person discussing real estate investments. "Their "income" figures are equally shoddy since they include government transfers through programs like food stamps as part of the "market income" of poorer people..." <- Misrepresentation. The authors explicitly distinguish between earned and unearned income. To cite just one example as evidence that you need to read AEI "research" more carefully, you can find the authors mention the mid-1980s inclusion of mobile homes and trailer parks as new forms of "housing consumption" in the first paragraph on page 15. <- Misrepresentation. The "re-definition" was done by the government, not the AEI. It's also irrelevant, since I compared square footage in 2009 to 1989 (i.e., both stats are after the redefinition).

yummyfajitas 14y ago

"The AEI is a laughingstock in economic circles..." <- Ad hominem. See also the third paragraph of your most recent post. "You should also ask yourself why the authors go through such contortions to count things like rentals as purchases..." <- Misrepresentation. The authors attempt to measure consumption of housing, as does thaumaturgy. You are the only person discussing real estate investments. "Their "income" figures are equally shoddy since they include government transfers through programs like food stamps as part of the "market income" of poorer people..." <- Misrepresentation. The authors explicitly distinguish between earned and unearned income. To cite just one example as evidence that you need to read AEI "research" more carefully, you can find the authors mention the mid-1980s inclusion of mobile homes and trailer parks as new forms of "housing consumption" in the first paragraph on page 15. <- Misrepresentation. The "re-definition" was done by the government, not the AEI. It's also irrelevant, since I compared square footage in 2009 to 1989 (i.e., both stats are after the redefinition).