A roundup of the links that caught my eye this week.
This week the big news for stats geeks was the release of the Australian census, with lots of news. I haven’t had time to play with the data yet, but here is the link. @mattcowgill points out that in 15% of couple families, female income is higher than male income. This is up from 13% in 2006.
In a related set of links, there were a few different articles that caught my eye about data visualization this week. The Financial Times had a great article about how good data images improve communication of statistics. The Economist had a go at Michael Cembalest of JP Morgan for misrepresenting 2,000 of economic history.
The Atlantic had one of the best articles I’ve read about why mothers, particularly, find it really hard to make to the absolute top of their professions – Why Women still can’t have it all, and why the workplace does need to change if we’re going to get equal representation at the most senior levels. Even The Economist felt compelled to comment. In a related development, Women on Boards released their annual survey of women on the ASX200 Boards – the percentage is up to 13.9%, but the next 100 companies only have 7.6%. The Australian Government has 35.9%, but NSW government only 20.7%.
In a story I’ve not seen anywhere else – Matt Talibi in the Rolling Stone writes about the mafia like scandal in the municipal bond market – a vast market rigging scheme where bids were controlled to shave basis points off the interest rate.
Two stories about JM Keynes this week. First, was he really an outstanding fund manager (The Economist says yes, but by going against the herd in a big way) and second in a long article about the future of work and leisure, quoting Keynes as expecting everyone to work 15 hours a week by 2030.
And finally, happy 100th birthday to Alan Turing (article by Vint Cerf), who is getting all the recognition and celebration he should have had in his lifetime, instead of persecution – check out this fabulous cake in the shape of a bombe – the illustration of this post is the Google Doodle on the day in his honour (linked from GeekinSydney).