

The Excel Depression - kibwen
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/opinion/krugman-the-excel-depression.html

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kibwen
Interesting mainly because of the importance of a coding error, as further
described here: [http://www.nextnewdeal.net/rortybomb/researchers-finally-
rep...](http://www.nextnewdeal.net/rortybomb/researchers-finally-replicated-
reinhart-rogoff-and-there-are-serious-problems)

 _"As Herndon-Ash-Pollin puts it: "A coding error in the RR working
spreadsheet entirely excludes five countries, Australia, Austria, Belgium,
Canada, and Denmark, from the analysis. [Reinhart-Rogoff] averaged cells in
lines 30 to 44 instead of lines 30 to 49...This spreadsheet error...is
responsible for a -0.3 percentage-point error in RR's published average real
GDP growth in the highest public debt/GDP category." Belgium, in particular,
has 26 years with debt-to-GDP above 90 percent, with an average growth rate of
2.6 percent (though this is only counted as one total point due to the
weighting above)."_

