Episode 115: Stranger than Truth—Spurious Correlations Between “Values” and “Prices”

Gabriel and Andrew engage in a fun and informative exposé of a real-world case of spurious correlation—the correlation between industry-level “values” and “prices.” Their discussion is based on chapter 11 of Andrew’s book, Reclaiming Marx’s “Capital,” and “Christianity versus Alternative Faith Bases,” his parody of the value price correlation “studies.” They discuss what spurious correlation is, why the value-price correlations are spurious, who started value-price correlation mania and why, what it has to do with Karl Marx’s actual value theory, how Andrew became involved in exposing the spuriousness of the value-price correlations, and more. Andrew refutes objections to his findings made by Paul Cockshott & Allin Cottrell and by Emilio Díaz & Rubén Osuna.

Alan Freeman’s 1998 “Comment,” warning that the value-price correlations are probably spurious, is cited during the discussion.

 
Plus current-events segment: Razing Arizona—and the US? Near-total ban on abortion resurrected by Arizona’s Supreme Court. Anne Jaclard joins the co-hosts to discuss the implications.

 
Radio Free Humanity is a podcast covering news, politics and philosophy from a Marxist-Humanist perspective. It is co-hosted by Gabriel Donnelly and Andrew Kliman. We intend to release new episodes every two weeks. Radio Free Humanity is sponsored by MHI, but the views expressed by the hosts and guests of Radio Free Humanity are their own. They do not necessarily reflect the views and positions of MHI.

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