Stupid Measures: Bizzare Economic Indicators

Every now and then, economists come up with a new  doubtful  brilliant indicator. The Big Mac Index and the Skyscraper Boom Indicator are among the most famous and actually serious indicators.

However, there is plenty of room for everyone! and here is a list of the 36 most bizzare economic indicators.

My favorites:

• Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Cover Indicator
• Men's Underwear Index
• Aspirin and Tylenol Usage
• Latvian Hooker Index
• Alligator Population Index

Related Link: Stupid Measures tag

Replay: How expensive is your city (iPod) ?

A 'replay post' in honor to Steve Jobs (1955-2011):

[image credit: Uhull S.A.]

How expensive is your city (iPod) ?  

The most expensive and richest cities in the world measured by the iPod index ! "And what the Hell is that?" you might ask. It's something similar to the "Big Mac Index" (but stupid).

"The newly introduced iPod index measure how long an employee would have to work to be able to afford the Apple MP3 player." Here.

Stupid Measures: The end of population

It has been a while since we have created a 'Stupid Measures' session here at Urban Demographics Blog. The Economist Magazine has published this chart that shows the years at which national populations will disappear.

This chart is stupid, both for technical reasons and because humankind will be extinct much earlier than that!

[Thanks Bernardo Furtado for the tip]

[image credit: The Economist Magazine]

NeW! 'Stupid Measures' session: the Trick-or-Treat Index

(picture by Melissa M'Lou)

Ok. I'm now officialy creating a new session here at Urban Demographics Blog. It's called Stupid Measures*. The idea is to highlight measures and indexes constructed in a stupid way or that are simply worthless.

This is the case of the Trick-or-Treat Index developed by the controversial Richard Florida. This is the index well explained by Lauren Kelley:

"The index is based on five criteria: the percentage of children ages 5 to 14, for obvious reasons; median household income, because more money = more candy; the share of people who walk to work, because it’s easier to trick-or-treat in neighborhoods that are walkable; population density, which tells you where there are the most people around to fork over candy corn; and the prevalence of artists, designers and other cultural creatives, since those types tend to get more into the Halloween spirit"

Interesting, right? But still (stupid) worthless.... More about the the Trick-or-Treat Index here. This map below shows the Trick-or-Treat Index calculated for every major U.S. metro area.

*The Stupid Measures session was unofficially inaugurated with the iPod Index on 18th August, 2010.

(hat tip to Tyler Cowen)

How expensive is your city (iPod) ?

The most expensive and richest cities in the world measured by the iPod index ! "And what the Hell is that?" you might ask. It's something similar to the "Big Mac Index" (but stupid).

"The newly introduced iPod index measure how long an employee would have to work to be able to afford the Apple MP3 player." Here.