Hurricane Maria Did Not Kill 3,000 Puerto Ricans: The Flaw in the Milken/GWU Report

3 Pages Posted: 10 Oct 2018

See all articles by Philip Maymin

Philip Maymin

Fairfield University - Charles F. Dolan School of Business; Athletes Unlimited

Zakhar Maymin

Independent

Date Written: September 15, 2018

Abstract

The "official" report alleging that Hurricane Maria caused the deaths of 2,975 Puerto Ricans is flawed. The primary flaw is the implicit assumption that the mortality rate of those who left the island and those who stayed on the island was the same. This assumption is not warranted or supported. We provide a numerical example to illustrate this error. With this error removed, the report’s own Figure 1 shows that the death toll due to Hurricane Maria was minimal.

Keywords: Puerto Rico, Probability, Logic, Flaw, Mistake, Storm

Suggested Citation

Maymin, Philip and Maymin, Zakhar, Hurricane Maria Did Not Kill 3,000 Puerto Ricans: The Flaw in the Milken/GWU Report (September 15, 2018). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3249913 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3249913

Philip Maymin (Contact Author)

Fairfield University - Charles F. Dolan School of Business ( email )

N. Benson Road
Fairfield, CT 06824
United States

Athletes Unlimited ( email )

888 7th Avenue
New York, NY 10106
United States

Zakhar Maymin

Independent ( email )

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