Apparently, this is supposed to be the JMP of an LRM candidate.
Where is our profession going? Is this even considered scientific?
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2503582
Aren't these people aware of spurious correlation?
http://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations
http://twentytwowords.com/funny-graphs-show-correlation-between-completely-unrelated-stats-9-pictures/
Endogeneity anyone?
IMHO, Figure 1 on p. 28 is on par with the MIT cartoonist's agricultural pastoral.