Surrounded by Morons

Just kidding!! Honestly!!! Really!

Let me clarify matters by extending the word "Morons" to "Oxymorons" (or, "Oxmora", if you prefer). Econometric oxymorons, in particular - the econometric equivalents of  "press release", or "non-alcoholic beer".

Now do I have your attention?

Here are some examples:

• Nonparametric maximum likelihood
• Nonparametric Bayesian estimation
• Structural VAR models

Yes - I know they're all for real, but think  about them!

And then here's one that always has me rolling on the floor: "Instrumental variables estimation of a reduced form equation". This one seems to come up, explicitly or implicitly, in any number of empirical micro. papers.

I think this last one deserves its own separate post!

© 2011, David E. Giles