The challenge of useful data in the social sciences

A major challenge for the social sciences is obtaining data that is reliable, gives significant insight, and could be used to test theories. Each week I read The Economist. Many of their articles feature graphs of social or economic data. To me, some of the graphs are just random noise or show marginal trends that I am not convinced are that significant. But other graphs are quite dramatic or insightful. Previously, I posted a famous one about smoking.

This week I saw the graph below in The New York Times, as part of a long article, Childbirth Is Deadlier for Black Families Even When They’re Rich, Expansive Study Finds, based on this preprint.


The data clearly shows the distressing fact that "The richest Black women have infant mortality rates at about the same level as the poorest white women."

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