any conclusions reached by the authors are different from conventional wisdoms because these conclusions are all qualified, and any new data might change them.

another example, referred to in the introduction of the book, is the whole conventional wisdom about how money influences politics.

this is an example of another conventional wisdom, it sounds like it might be true.

but consider this; does the candidate with the most money win because of the money, or did the wining candidate win, and raise the most money, because of their appeal in the first place?

their data says that money doesn’t matter at all. that the winning candidate could cut his campaign spending in half and only loose about one percent of the vote.

food for thought.