When it comes to economic activity, a handful of the largest metropolitan areas in the US account for lion's share. In 2013, the top 23 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) accounted for 50% of the total US Gross Domestic Product (GDP). I recently came across a map created by Alexandr Trubetskoy
Employment - that's been a hot topic here in the US lately. Many of the manufacturing jobs we had in past decades are gone now, and it would be great if there was a crystal ball to predict which jobs might be at risk of disappearing in the future. The
Procurement fraud, often a form of internal fraud, is common fraud’s black sheep of the family...whispered about at gatherings or ignored in hopes that it will simply go away. No one wants to shine a questioning light onto trusted employees or imply wrongdoing within our purchasing departments, but the fact
최근 양귀비 불법 재배와 연예인 마약 사건이 잇달아 발생하면서 국내에서는 멀게 느껴졌던 마약 범죄에 대한 관심이 높아지고 있습니다. 실제 관세청은 올해 상반기 마약 밀수가 전년 대비 2.6배 증가했으며, 밀수된 마약의 종류까지 다양해졌다고 발표했는데요. 국가는 이처럼 급증하는 마약 밀수를 차단하기 위해 조사 인력과 장비를 확충하고, 검색 기법을 적극 개발하겠다고 밝혔습니다. 이미
In May, the New York Times published an article “The Little Known Statistician Who Taught Us to Measure Teachers” which profiled the life of Dr. Bill Sanders. The author reflected on Dr. Sanders’ life and work improving education for all students. For those of us in education, Dr. Sanders’ work
Carbon Dioxide ... CO2. Humans breathe out 2.3 pounds of it per day. It's also produced when we burn organic materials & fossil fuels (such as coal, oil, and natural gas). Plants use it for photosynthesis, which in turn produces oxygen. It is also a greenhouse gas, which many claim
Contrario a lo que se podría pensar, el dinero público es finito. Y cuando los recursos y los presupuestos son limitados, se debe asegurar que éstos se destinen a los servicios que requieren los ciudadanos. De ahí que sea sumamente importante prevenir el fraude, los errores y el abuso que
Two of my colleagues have shared their experiences as a statistic and a child who could have been left behind. I too have my own story that helped drive my passion. All of us define equity in different ways. Equity is a concept that is hard to define, and we
The role of analytics in combating terrorism Earlier this spring, I found myself walking through a quiet and peaceful grove of spruce trees south of the small hamlet of Foy outside of Bastogne, Belgium. On travel in Europe, I happened to have some extra time before heading to London. I
The new government’s vision of Brexit is to make the UK a more international, more outward looking nation. One whose future success and status in on the world stage will be dictated by the ability to attract investment and finance, and to drive trade with existing and new partners. Yet
A new book from SAS guides public sector leaders in the use of data to address a wide range of state and local government challenges. Each chapter deals with critical issues facing our country, including the opioid epidemic, child abuse, spiraling health care costs, prison overcrowding, education reform, rampant fraud and the
Following the UK General Election result where no political party secured a clear majority ahead of the Brexit negotiations, it’s fair to say there’s lots of uncertainty facing the UK government right now. This, and the more outward looking post-Brexit era we're facing, are just two reasons why I believe
It has been almost a year since then-U.S. CIO Tony Scott introduced the federal open source policy that called for agencies to share federally-developed software source code. The policy, more than anything, aimed to make agencies more agile. Instead of redeveloping the same programs the open source policy would allow
If countries have a similar median age, does that mean they are also similar in other ways? My best guess at an answer is - probably. Perhaps if we plot the data on a map, we'll be able to see the answer more clearly. I first started thinking about this
Ya no se trata de imaginar cosas. Cada día las empresas enfrentan miles de desafíos. Desde decisiones de negocio hasta procesos operativos, pasando por la manera de relacionarse con sus clientes o de preparar los informes de cumplimientos regulatorios o cuidarse de los ataques o fraudes. No son escenarios que
El fraude y los delitos financieros cuestan a los gobiernos millones de dólares al año. Las agencias gubernamentales tienen que buscar más allá de los enfoques tradicionales para combatir estos crímenes cada vez más complejos y comunes. En este sentido y en beneficio de las entidades gubernamentales, la tecnología analítica
When I was in college, I lived in the Alexander dorm, where each room had an American student and an International student. I learned a lot about the rest of the world, and I also heard a lot of different languages being spoken. I'm really impressed when I hear people
In a world that never stands still, especially in the post-Brexit whirlwind the UK will soon be entering, it’s imperative that government is agile and responsive. More importantly, how can this capability be arrived at without breaking the bank? The UK Government recently released its Transformation Strategy 2017 to 2020.
Two colleagues and I, all former educators, have dealt with education equity gaps both as children and professionally. This is the second post in a series about our experiences. I encourage you to read the first entry, Equity in education: I was a statistic. Many people think of education equity
To stack the deck means to cheat or to fix something so a desired outcome is achieved. This term originated in card games, but can also be applied to other things. And here, I apply it (both metaphorically and literally) to creating a better graph! I recently saw the following
Citizens served by the government are increasingly the same digital savvy consumers that market disruptors in banking, retail and utilities are attracting with sophisticated, data-driven online experiences. It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement; consumers get to buy services in ways that suit them while businesses get the efficiencies they want, wrestling
When presenting information in form of a graph we show the data and let the reader draw the inferences. However, often one may want to draw the attention of the reader towards some aspect of the graph or data. For one such case, a user asked how to highlight one
These days, more and more people move to where the work is. And for many people in Europe, that 'where' is Germany. I recently saw a map of Germany, that showed which country had the most foreigners living in each area. It was an interesting map, but I thought I might
Conversations around equity in education are at a fever pitch. Decades of research show that students of color and low-income students are disproportionately taught by less effective or more inexperienced teachers. Civil rights leaders encouraged the Obama administration to require states to develop Equity Plans to ensure that every student
The US unemployment rate was down to 4.4% in April, which is the lowest we've seen since before the big recession (about 10 years ago). But a single number seldom tells the whole story, so let's look at unemployment data in several different ways, to get a more complete picture...
Water is in the news more & more lately - people seem to either have too much, or too little, at any given time. Therefore being able to plot rivers and lakes on a map could be a very useful skill to add to your graphical bag of tricks. A few
While attending SAS Global Forum, a user asked me about creating a map with a zoomed inset map. This is a topic many users might be interested in, so I decided to create an example and share it. But first, I had to decide which map to use. I thought
I recently saw an interesting data visualization on the flowingdata website, which analyzed & compared the causes of fatal crashes in the US, by month and time-of-day. At first I thought it was a really cool visualization, but after I studied it a while, I realized that I had misinterpreted
Ante un panorama macroeconómico volátil, la búsqueda de oportunidades financieras toma trascendencia. En palabras del analista político-económico, Erick Guerrero los indicadores internacionales apuntan a una crisis del sistema financiero, basta con mirar lo que el Fondo Monetario Internacional registró en su monitor de octubre 2016, donde la deuda global se
During the week when everyone hanging onto their money until the last day files their taxes here in the U.S., I find it valuable to reflect on what won’t happen this week. Based on studies from the IRS, an estimated $458 Billion WON’T be appropriately reported or paid. This is
