  I review statistical parallax absolute magnitude determinations which employ
data from the HIPPARCOS satellite for RR Lyrae and Cepheid variables, and for
several other stellar classes. Five groups have studied the RR Lyrae stars, and
the results are reassuringly consistent: M_V(RR) = 0.77 +- 0.13 mag at [Fe/H] =
-1.6 dex. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations showed that systematic errors are
small (~0.03 mag or less), and corrections for them were applied in the above
result. The RR Lyrae result is thus very secure. A statistical parallax study
of Cepheids found the Period--Luminosity zero-point to be considerably fainter
than studies based on HIPPARCOS trigonometric parallaxes. The distance modulus
of the Large Magellanic Cloud derived from this zero-point is in excellent
agreement with that derived using the RR Lyrae result. I discuss why the
statistical parallax absolute magnitude calibrations differ with some other RR
Lyrae and Cepheid calibrations.
