August 05, 2010
In a discussion of the impact of the BP oil spill, the NYT qualified the estimates of the size of the spill from the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) by telling readers that: “NOAA is the same agency that devised the early, now-discredited estimate that the well was leaking only 5,000 barrels a day, one reason some people distrust the new report.”
This is useful information for readers, since the fact that the agency had previously been off by a factor of ten in its earlier estimate of the size of the spill might suggest something about its competence and/or its integrity. This is relevant to the credibility that should be assigned to new estimates from the agency.
In the same vein, it would be appropriate to report on the failure of individual economists or organizations, like Harvard’s Joint Center on Housing, to notice the $8 trillion housing bubble, when discussing the current views on the housing market and the economy.
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