Click to learn more about author Steve Miller. In my many years as a data scientist, I’ve spent more time doing forecast work than any other type of predictive modeling. Often as not, the work’s involved forecasting demand for an organization’s many products/lines of business a year or more out based on five or more […]
An Alternative View of Stock Market Returns
Click to learn more about author Steve Miller. Last week wasn’t a good one economically for the POTUS. February jobs numbers were much lower than anticipated; the balance of trade deficit ballooned to its highest level in a generation even as the president doubled down on purported deficit-busting tariffs; the budget deficit skied to record […]
Evidence, the POTUS, Pandas, and Seaborn
Click to learn more about author Steve Miller. In these highly-polarized political times, there seems no shortage of untruthful claims/boasts by the nation’s leaders. Alas, many citizens are highly credulous, blithely accepting the veracity of any statements from their tribes. At the same time, there are plenty of evidence-based skeptics who demand data before accepting […]
Homicide and Violent Crime in Chicago, 2018 – Barely
This is my 4th article on crime in Chicago for DATAVERSITY. A combination of several factors piqued my interest in Chicago crime two years ago. First was the availability of detailed crime data from the city. Until two weeks ago, the data were posted daily a week in arrears. Now it appears that updates will […]
Presidents and Stock Markets with R
Click to learn more about author Steve Miller. My suburban Chicago neighbors and I were at it again, discussing politics, the economy, and the stock market at an end-of-summer barbecue. Though there’s little support for the current POTUS, the group is differentiated red from blue economically, and discussions are generally quite lively. On the one […]
Chicago Homicides 2018, a Second Look with R
Click to learn more about author Steve Miller. A year ago, I posted a blog on the disturbing 57% increase in Chicago homicides for 2016. There’s been no shortage of loaded commentary since, including strong if misinformed statements by the POTUS. A bit more balanced perspective was provided by fivethiryeight. There can be no denying […]
Jobs, Education, and R
Click to learn more about author Steve Miller. I came across a jaw-dropping article from the Brookings think tank two weeks ago. The column noted that “household employment data reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show that Americans with college degrees can account for all of the net new jobs created over the […]