Tasty Data Goodies

A look at Wall Street's salaries

Nate Silver over at FiveThirtyEight investigates the salaries of Wall Street professionals. While he maintains some level of sympathy for these guys, the numbers don't lie; the suits on Wall Street are making more than they're worth.

First, Silver takes a look at stats from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Compensation for employees in the securities industry increased a whopping 97 percent between 1992 and 2007. In contrast, the average worker's compensation only increased 20 percent over the same period.

So why did the suits get such a big bump? Deregulation of the financial sector could be one possible answer. Thomas Philippon of New York University and Ariell Reshef of the University of Virginia found a strong correlation between the amount of deregulation and employee salaries. The graph below, from a recent paper, shows relative financial wage and deregulation. (And you know how we love a good comparison graph around here.)

Check out the full blog post for more on the right way to fix Wall Street's pay.

Little Red Riding Hood

Tomas Nilsson presents the story of Little Red Riding Hood like you've never seen it before. Using animated infographics, Nilsson's interpretation is creative, fresh and entertaining. From maps of the Hundred Acre Wood to the nutritional facts of dear, old Granny and the price of the Hunter's rugged outfit, we're loving it. Check out the video below:

Slagsmålsklubben - Sponsored by destiny from Tomas Nilsson on Vimeo.

Swivel Business: Join the Party

As we prepare to unveil Swivel's new direction to the public, Swivel Business will return to an invitation-only registration.

The Swivel team has been working on plenty of new features and we can't wait to share them with you. With the latest release, members can create dynamic, fully customizable charts to share with coworkers and friends. In addition, we've made it easier than ever to upload, format, and edit your spreadsheets in Swivel. There are more exciting new features on the way, so stay tuned.

For an exclusive look, request an invitation to Swivel Business.

March Madness

The first round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament begins today. This flow chart from Gunaxin can help any guy balance time for the tournament with work and his wifey. If you do get stuck at work, you can always watch the action on-demand with Facebook.

PS. Who do you think will win? Don't forget to fill out your brackets!

Who's Watching the Watchmen?

The critically acclaimed graphic novel, Watchmen, premieres as a feature film this week. A blog post on MTV says that critics of the movie are in three camps: those who love the film; those who don't think the movie lives up to the book; and those who have never even heard of it. (Sounds like the critiques of every film adapted from a book, if you ask me.) Either way, I'm excited to see it this weekend! So in the spirit of Swivel, I dug up some data to share with you.

The novel: Watchmen is published by DC Comics. In January, zombies in Walking Dead knocked Watchmen out of the number one spot among graphic novels. As a whole, DC has 33.45% of the unit market share, placing them behind Marvel (42.82%).

 

The film: How do you think it will fare in the box office compared to previous films based on comic books? The film has already grossed $4.6 million from midnight screenings early this morning. The graph below shows the total worldwide gross for movies based on comic books and graphic novels.

 

Have a good weekend! If you see the movie, let me know what you think.

Home prices across the pond

When I was in England and Scotland last fall, I fell in love with the idea of buying and running a bed and breakfast over there (if I could just get over the so-not-California winter weather). But, during my flight of fancy I never stopped to think about what it's like to be a first-time home buyer in Britain.

A recent blog post from The Economist journeys across the pond to see what home prices look like in Britain. According to Nationwide, home prices in Britain dropped 1.8% last month and the rate of decline is expected to accelerate.

Still, home prices are much too high for first-time buyers. The graph below shows the ratio of house prices to earnings for first-time buyers in London and Britain. The blog claims that either incomes need to double or prices have to halve for the market to stabilize.