These were the words that adorned the office wall of the statistician who trained and mentored me early in my career. They were true then, and remain so now. Despite the temptation to trust our guts (and the subsequent success of Blink, which I still don’t quite understand), I’ve found time and time again that issues need to be rigorously examined before valid conclusions may be drawn.
Which is why I was so excited to read Dr. Viki Sonntag’s (PhD, economics) seemingly excellent report entitled “Why Local Linkages Matter“, a study initiated in 2005 by Sustainable Seattle. I say “seemingly” because the truth is I’ve only read the Executive Summary, Appendix A on the mathematical model (seemed sound to me) and the references (my grad school advisor always warned not to trust any work that doesn’t cite at least one reference 50 years old – this work holds up to that test). And because it draws conclusions that are consistent with my gut, and/or that I want to believe, which is always a dangerous thing. The conclusions, essentially, are that dollars spent locally have a disproportionate effect on local economies. Well… yeah. That’s what I would have guessed. And now the data seems to support it, too.
I will enjoy reading the complete report over the upcoming weekend, and hope that others may, too. And I hope that maybe it will change some purchasing behavior.
