3 ms·

Median isn’t the average and Matt was computing the average household Amazon spend.

raw_anon_1111 8mo ago
The mean is almost always a meaningless statistics. It only takes a few people to buy stuff like this to skew it. http://www.sellersprite.com/en/blog/most-expensive-thing-on-amazon http://www.sellersprite.com/en/blog/most-expensive-thing-on-...
- twoodfin 8mo ago
  Be that as it may, the point at issue was the Amazon spending of the average US household. I’m not sure what point relevant to the discussion you’re trying to make, other than reflexively arguing with any use of means in economic analysis. OK, sure, tell Matt Stoller.
  - ryandrake 8mo ago
    I guess it's just always important/helpful to keep in mind that the average is almost certainly going to be misleading when the distribution is extremely skewed, as is the case for household income. It's usually a mistake to talk about averages in these cases, when the median is almost always going to be more meaningful.
    - danwills 8mo ago
      Agree, but can't we just include both average _and_ mean? And maybe min/max while we're at it? Seems like that could give a much clearer picture (without even needing a graph!?)
      - tsimionescu 8mo ago
        Min & max are also meaningless for most distributions, so probably you should instead look at P1 and P99 or something, and all of a sudden you're now talking about 5 numbers when all you wanted was a quick point.
  - vintermann 8mo ago
    The average Amazon spending of a US household, not the Amazon spending of the average US household. That second one gets weird.
    - twoodfin 8mo ago
      I’d be comfortable assuming household income and household Amazon spend are highly correlated.
cyberax 8mo ago
It actually is for the normal distribution.
- twoodfin 8mo ago
  Sure, but I’m certain US household income is not normally distributed, and I’d bet all the money in my pockets that US household Amazon spend isn’t normally distributed, either.
- bandrami 8mo ago
  Household income is not normally distributed. In fact nothing with a hard zero can be normally distributed.

The mean is almost always a meaningless statistics. It only takes a few people to buy stuff like this to skew it. http://www.sellersprite.com/en/blog/most-expensive-thing-on-amazon http://www.sellersprite.com/en/blog/most-expensive-thing-on-...

twoodfin 8mo ago
Be that as it may, the point at issue was the Amazon spending of the average US household. I’m not sure what point relevant to the discussion you’re trying to make, other than reflexively arguing with any use of means in economic analysis. OK, sure, tell Matt Stoller.
- ryandrake 8mo ago
  I guess it's just always important/helpful to keep in mind that the average is almost certainly going to be misleading when the distribution is extremely skewed, as is the case for household income. It's usually a mistake to talk about averages in these cases, when the median is almost always going to be more meaningful.
  - danwills 8mo ago
    Agree, but can't we just include both average _and_ mean? And maybe min/max while we're at it? Seems like that could give a much clearer picture (without even needing a graph!?)
    - tsimionescu 8mo ago
      Min & max are also meaningless for most distributions, so probably you should instead look at P1 and P99 or something, and all of a sudden you're now talking about 5 numbers when all you wanted was a quick point.
- vintermann 8mo ago
  The average Amazon spending of a US household, not the Amazon spending of the average US household. That second one gets weird.
  - twoodfin 8mo ago
    I’d be comfortable assuming household income and household Amazon spend are highly correlated.

cyberax 8mo ago

It actually is for the normal distribution.

twoodfin 8mo ago
Sure, but I’m certain US household income is not normally distributed, and I’d bet all the money in my pockets that US household Amazon spend isn’t normally distributed, either.
bandrami 8mo ago
Household income is not normally distributed. In fact nothing with a hard zero can be normally distributed.