(15) Controlling for the volunteerism of parents helps reduce
spurious correlation driven by family factors that could induce an individual to exhibit altruistic behavior when young and when older.
By
spurious correlation, we mean that the correlation does not indicate any causality.
Of course, I draw no such conclusion, as I recognise that such
spurious correlation is both alarmist and dangerous.
finding appears to be a clear example of a
spurious correlation (otherwise known as illusory correlation or the "lurking variable"), a situation in which two otherwise unrelated variables are correlated because each is related to a third unmeasured variable.
The relationship may be merely a
spurious correlation or a coincidence.
If firms are minimizing land and political costs by siting in areas with low incomes and high unemployment rates, this would create a
spurious correlation between site locations and minorities.
This
spurious correlation points to the need to be cautious when drawing inferences concerning abnormal returns.
Mathematical contributions to the theory of evolution: on a form of
spurious correlation which may arise when indices are used in the measurement of organs.
Spurious correlation and the fallacy of the ratio standard revisited.
[1954]: '
Spurious Correlation: A Causal Interpretation', Journal of the American Statistical Association, 49, pp.
Gonedes attributed the difference between his results and those of BKS to
spurious correlation stemming from their use of market prices to scale income numbers.
This hypothesis is comparable to criticizing Michael's original work on the grounds that his educational elasticity may be proxying an income elasticity, thereby causing a
spurious correlation. This is not the case here because the relationship (as inferred by Hotz and Miller 1988) between age when the first child is born and income is weaker than the relationship between schooling level and parental income.
His results suggest that the spatial correlation between teachers' residences, students' residences, and schools could lead to
spurious correlation between student attributes and teacher characteristics.
So we can rule out the possibility of a
spurious correlation, and be sure that does cause R.(5)
This may be
spurious correlation, however, as the evidence from other countries is ambiguous.
