RE: Profit Rates -- From Michael Yates

[Sabri Oncu <soncu@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Doug writes:

> Gee, better contact the folks at the Bureau of Economic
> Analysis. I bet they never thought of this!
>
> In fact, I'm sure they've never thought of many of
> the objections brought up on PEN-L over the last several
> days. They are, after all, just a bunch of third-rate
> public sector bean counters.

I think what Doug mentioned is important. By the way, it is not
just the public sector, where those who are in charge of
producing such statistics are in desparate need of education. A
similar problem exists also in the private sector, even at
Investments Banks, where they are willing to pay good salaries
for well educated people. One way to look at this is that it is
an adverse selection problem. Of course, there is also a problem
of moral hazard:  when you have deadlines, the accuracy of your
"estimates" becomes a very minor concern.

Sabri