I liked the interview but these guys might do better to avoid hot button topics with data sources that are politically charged. The formula succeed in "freakanomics" when they took on a correlation to abortion and crime. They based their reasons behind solid numbers. At the time it was not a stretch to assume that the published violent crime rate and abortion numbers were accurate, which allowed them to make a valid and persuasive argument. However, vaccines are a hot button topic right now. Wikipedia might call vaccines "an encyclopedia entry under-attack." This is a scenario where edits are made poignantly after certain topic becomes hotly debated. Suddenly the figures are questionable because people are willing to fudge the numbers. People from all fields begin publishing BS depending on what side they are on. At the end of the day you are often left with polarized gibberish masquerading as true data. Long story short, I wouldn't trust the 60% and cdc 'top 10 leading death' stat that Dubner suggests implies an irrational contradiction in the way society behaves. The real solid data will not become known until this issue dies down. This is true for any hot button issue.
ORIGINAL COMMENT
I liked the interview but these guys might do better to avoid hot button topics with data sources that are politically charged. The formula succeed in "freakanomics" when they took on a correlation to abortion and crime. They based their reasons behind solid numbers. At the time it was not a stretch to assume that the published violent crime rate and abortion numbers were accurate, which allowed them to make a valid and persuasive argument. However, vaccines are a hot button topic right now. Wikipedia might call vaccines "an encyclopedia entry under-attack." This is a scenario where edits are made poignantly after certain topic becomes hotly debated. Suddenly the figures are questionable because people are willing to fudge the numbers. People from all fields begin publishing BS depending on what side they are on. At the end of the day you are often left with polarized gibberish masquerading as true data. Long story short, I wouldn't trust the 60% and cdc 'top 10 leading death' stat that Dubner suggests implies an irrational contradiction in the way society behaves. The real solid data will not become known until this issue dies down. This is true for any hot button issue.