If the boy keeps this up he's gonna be headlining for The Atlantic in no time:
This Foreign Policy article on Steig Larsson and the decline of the Swedish utopia concludes with what seems to me to be a whopper of a factual error:
If you look at the statistics, Sweden is not a particularly violent country, nor a particularly lenient one to criminals. It is in about the middle of the European averages for both figures. There were 230 homicides in Sweden in 2009, compared with 143 in Washington, D.C., which has a population a bit more than half Sweden’s size. But compare these figures to what they were in the years when Sweden looked like a utopia. In 1990, there were 120 homicides in Sweden, and 472 in Washington. There is a convergence here that doesn’t flatter Sweden.
In fact, there are 9.3 million people in Sweden and only 600,000 in Sweden. In other words, Sweden has about fifteen times the population of Washington DC and less than half the murders. Stockholm is a bit larger than DC, and its murder rate of 3 per 100,000 in 2009 is way lower than DC’s murder rate of 24 per 100,000. And indeed you can see that the relatively low level of violent crime in Sweden is a necessary backdrop for the plot of Larsson’s books. In The Girl Who Played With Fire a triple-murder in Stockholm becomes a major news story that dominates nationwide media attention for several days.
No, Matty, according to your facts, Sweden has about fifteen times the population of Sweden.
Which is a neat trick if you can pull it off.
Remember: Proofreading is the enemy.
Update: Last time I checked, 143 is not "less than half" of 230. Let's double check. 230 divided by 2 is - uh, carry the 7 - 115. Nope... 143 is not less than 115. At least it isn't for us non-Ivy League types.
I loled.
Also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Metropolitan_Area
"As of the 2008 Census Bureau estimate, the population of the Washington Metropolitan Area was estimated to be 5,358,130"
You can get any kind of result if you cherry-pick the "right" facts.
Posted by: Rollory | May 29, 2010 at 09:03 AM
Not looking good for that trip to Stockholm to accept the Nobel for Economics, right now. Hope he got a refundable ticket...
Posted by: BillT | May 29, 2010 at 09:41 AM
The murder rate isn't the best evidence of a "relatively low rate of violent crime". I suggest looking at rape, assault, and robbery, especially in cities like Malmö.
Posted by: Bob Smith | May 29, 2010 at 10:09 AM
Rollory - So, in fact there are 5,358,130 people in Washington and only 600,000 in Washington.
Posted by: Simon | May 29, 2010 at 10:55 AM
It seemed clear to me that Larsson was talking about the Washington metro area, and that's where you get 5.3 million. It's kind of like London. The "City of London" proper is a small part of what everyone thinks of as London.
Posted by: Dennis the Peasant | May 29, 2010 at 12:14 PM
Matthew is using the Geithner Mark II Tax & Deficit Calculator with the new Saved-Or-Created® feature.
Posted by: aelfheld | May 29, 2010 at 01:18 PM
Haha, look at Fatty's correction:
"Sorry, Sweden has fifteen times the population of DC and twice the murders, not half the murders. The point, however, is that the murder rate in DC is dramatically lower than either the overall Sweden murder rate or the Stockholm murder rate."
Posted by: mike | May 29, 2010 at 03:23 PM
Good to see he still can't get his facts straight.
Posted by: Dennis the Peasant | May 29, 2010 at 03:31 PM
"Sweden has about fifteen times the population of Sweden"???
Posted by: dave.s. | May 29, 2010 at 08:36 PM
That's what the man said, he did.
Posted by: Dennis the Peasant | May 29, 2010 at 09:02 PM
y'all just don't understand Matt's nuance...
Posted by: just passin by | May 29, 2010 at 10:27 PM
Washington MSA 7.5 violent deaths per 100,000
Sweden 1.5 violent deaths per 100,000
Posted by: anon | May 29, 2010 at 11:26 PM
Isn't that the difference between the US and Sweden,our work ethic? We want someone dead someone damn well dies. Stupid Scandinavians probably think that because the government says you can't do that, that renders it nigh on impossible. Either that or all of their work rules and such get in the way. Those Swedes need to learn where there's a will there's a way.
Although, has anyone compared suicide rates?
Posted by: ThomasD | May 30, 2010 at 07:12 AM
Um, I'm really not sure about this, maybe I shouldn't say anything, but...
... doesn't Sweden have some kind of rule where every other day 97% of the populace has to leave the country? Like, to clear the snow?
That would account for the discrepancy, I think...
Posted by: bonze | May 30, 2010 at 08:01 PM
Dennis, it's arithmetic like that that will keep you from ever getting a job at the Treasury Department...
Posted by: Richard McEnroe | May 31, 2010 at 11:54 AM
Hey, I'm already disqualified from Treasury. I know how to use Turbotax.
Posted by: Dennis the Peasant | May 31, 2010 at 02:12 PM
So what was his point? that population density affects the incidence of crime? That's why crime figures are reported on per capita bases. Good thing he didn't waste his time at some ivy-covered college...
Posted by: The Commander | June 01, 2010 at 12:16 PM
See Below in which BP proves they may be dumber than little Matty:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/bp_hires_former_dick_cheney_spox_to_run_pr_ops.php?ref=fpb
Posted by: bilejones | June 01, 2010 at 12:45 PM
i dont think its relevant to compare usa with sweden, first of all washington is multinational city and sweden is not(its even not city).
Posted by: adriel@israel | June 01, 2010 at 01:14 PM
Hahahahahaha....
http://trueslant.com/ethanepstein/2010/06/01/potemkin-pundits-did-matt-yglesias-and-ezra-klein-fall-for-chinese-propaganda/
Posted by: Eric Blair | June 01, 2010 at 06:32 PM
Not to to pick on poor Matty but I thought you might enjoy this.
http://trueslant.com/ethanepstein/2010/06/01/potemkin-pundits-did-matt-yglesias-and-ezra-klein-fall-for-chinese-propaganda/
The dumb just keeps on giving.
Posted by: westsoundmodern | June 01, 2010 at 09:25 PM