The Perils of Projections

One of the great economists of the last century, John Kenneth Galbraith, once quipped that “the only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.” The same can be said for pretty much anything that we foolishly insist on forecasting –...

The Politicization of Census Data

Prior to the 2020 census, there was considerable debate about the politicization of the census through the proposed question on immigration status. The ultimate decision by the Supreme Court to disallow the question was largely because of the concern that the accuracy...
Grist for the AGS Data Mill

Grist for the AGS Data Mill

Over the years, our data library has grown from a few hundred demographic variables to well over forty thousand elements that now covers both the United States and Canada. While we are admittedly data geeks, guilty of building data just for the fun of it, many of our...

In Memory of a Mentor and Friend

This week, I read with considerable sadness of the passing of an old friend and mentor, Tony Lea. As many will know, Tony was an integral part of the success of Environics Analytics in Toronto over the past two decades. I first met Tony some forty years ago when I...

A Playlist for the Data Scientist

To be a data person is to be a tragic and lonely creature riding the roller coaster that comes along with trying to answer a question with error laden data that doesn’t measure what you think it does. So, we came up with a play list that mirrors your typical day (and...