Statistics for economists

While the main thrust of this book is in the area of economics and socio-economics, it should also be useful to students in the related areas of the social sciences, e.g. politics, geography, social planning, sociology, etc., and many of the worked examples have been deliberately chosen from these other fields.

The book aims to provide all the statistics which would be required by students following courses in these subjects. The book starts at the very beginning, with a chapter on the organisa tion of data, followed by chapters on the description of data. After a chapter on probability and probability distributions, there follows three chapters on statistical inference (sampling distribu tions, estimation and hypothesis testing). The book concludes with an examination of simple and multiple regression analysis.

The mathematical ideas have been kept as simple as possible (for example, I have eschewed the use of matrix algebra when dealing with multiple regression) and the book is therefore suitable for students with no mathematics beyond 'O' level.

The book is designed for the following groups of people:

(a) Students following degree (or equivalent) courses in econo

mics or related social sciences who require a formal course in

introductory statistics.

(b) Research or postgraduate students either taking up statistics for the first time, or wishing to refresh their memory in certain areas.

(c) People working in the professions who need to understand (or re-understand) some statistics.

The author wishes to acknowledge the help of his editors, the assistance of an anonymous reviewer and the skill of all those who contributed to the typing of the manuscript.