Use of economic statistics

This is an elementary introduction to the sources of economic statistics and their uses in answering economic questions. It is in tended primarily for students studying elementary economics in their first or second year at university, but who are not necessarily going to be either economic or statistical specialists. No mathematical knowledge is assumed, and no mathematical symbols are used.

Some knowledge of the sources of economic statistics, and some facility in presenting and interpreting statistics, are nowadays amongst the qualifications which university students of economics may be expected to attain. The object of this book is to show-by asking and answering a number of typical questions of applied economics what the most useful statistics are, where they are found, and how they are to be interpreted and presented. By this quantitative approach to economics, the reader is introduced to the major British, European and American official sources, to the social accounts, to index num bers and averaging, and to elementary aids to inspection such as moving averages and scatter diagrams.

Because the main feature of the book is the detailed working through of examples, the reader is expected to have close at hand some of the British sources-in particular, the Monthly Digest of Statistics, National Income and Expenditure, and the Annual Abstract of Statistics. Exercises using these sources are provided at the end of each chapter.

The book is based on a course I have given to Cambridge students during the last five years, and I acknowledge the help given by those students who have been my raw materials.

Permission to reproduce official statistics has been kindly granted by the Controller of HM Stationery Office, the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation and the US Department of Commerce.