Survivor bias. If a mutual fund company runs three funds, two of which do well, one of which does poorly, they will simply dissolve the underperforming fund and continue to report performance on the survivors. They now appear to have a purely successful record, with all their (current) funds performing well. By systematically eliminating negative data, the survivors give a false impression of consistent success. -- GK
...is a weblog about the liberal arts 2.0 edited by Jason Kottke since March 1998 (archives). You can read about me and kottke.org here. If you've got questions, concerns, or interesting links, send them along.
