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A comment on A look beyond the Twitter IPO finds rot beneath the gloss of recovery. Parent comment

Re:A look beyond the Twitter IPO finds rot beneath the gloss... by scrollbar on Sunday November 10, 2013 @12:10PM (#6707324)
Not directly (but I agree). I'm saying that averages ignore distribution. If you combine one part of 100% growth and nine parts 0% growth then overall you have 10% growth. Does that mean all the parts are growing, or even most of them are growing? Nope.
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Re:A look beyond the Twitter IPO finds rot beneath the gloss... by mikeash on Sunday November 10, 2013 @12:22PM (#6707373)
I think it's even more skewed than that. Growth that occurs among wealthier people has a disproportionate impact on the average, too.

For example, if the top 10% of people have half the stuff, then just 20% growth among the top 10% and 0% growth among the rest will give you an average of 10%.

On the other hand, if the bottom 90% experience 5% growth and the top 10% experience none, it looks like an average of merely 2.5%.

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