Economic statistics is a topic in

applied statistics Statistics (from German: ''Statistik'', "description of a state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a scientific, industr ...

and

applied economics Applied economics is the study as regards the application of economic theory and econometrics in specific settings. As one of the two sets of fields of economics (the other set being the ''core''), it is typically characterized by the application ...

that concerns the collection, processing, compilation, dissemination, and

analysis Analysis ( : analyses) is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (3 ...

economic data Economic data are data describing an actual economy, past or present. These are typically found in time-series form, that is, covering more than one time period (say the monthly unemployment rate for the last five years) or in cross-sectional dat ...

. It is closely related to business statistics and

econometrics Econometrics is the application of statistical methods to economic data in order to give empirical content to economic relationships. M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics," '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 2, p. 8 p. ...

. It is also common to call the data themselves "economic statistics", but for this usage, "economic data" is the more common term.

Overview

The data of concern to economic statistics may include those of an

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

within a region, country, or group of countries. Economic statistics may also refer to a subtopic of

official statistics Official statistics are statistics published by government agencies or other public bodies such as international organizations as a public good. They provide quantitative or qualitative information on all major areas of citizens' lives, such as ...

for data produced by official organizations (e.g.

national statistical services National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ...

, intergovernmental organizations such as

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate ...

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a centra ...

s, and ministries). Analyses within economic statistics both make use of and provide the empirical data needed in economic research, whether descriptive or

econometric Econometrics is the application of statistical methods to economic data in order to give empirical content to economic relationships. M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics," '' The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics'', v. 2, p. 8 p. 8 ...

. They are a key input for decision making as to

economic policy The economy of governments covers the systems for setting levels of taxation, government budgets, the money supply and interest rates as well as the labour market, national ownership, and many other areas of government interventions into the ec ...

. The subject includes statistical analysis of topics and problems in

microeconomics Microeconomics is a branch of mainstream economics that studies the behavior of individuals and firms in making decisions regarding the allocation of scarce resources and the interactions among these individuals and firms. Microeconomics fo ...

macroeconomics Macroeconomics (from the Greek prefix ''makro-'' meaning "large" + ''economics'') is a branch of economics dealing with performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. For example, using interest rates, taxes, and ...

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." Having a business name does not separ ...

finance Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of f ...

forecasting Forecasting is the process of making predictions based on past and present data. Later these can be compared (resolved) against what happens. For example, a company might estimate their revenue in the next year, then compare it against the actual ...

data quality Data quality refers to the state of qualitative or quantitative pieces of information. There are many definitions of data quality, but data is generally considered high quality if it is "fit for tsintended uses in operations, decision making and ...

, and policy evaluation. It also includes such considerations as what data to collect in order to quantify some particular aspect of an economy and of how best to collect in any given instance.

References

Citations

Sources

* Allen, R. G. D., 1956. "Official Economic Statistics," ''Economica'', N.S., 23(92), pp.
360
365. * Crum, W. L., 1925. ''An Introduction to the Methods of Economic Statistics'', AW Shaw Co. * Giovanini, Enrico, 2008
''Understanding Economic Statistics''
OECD Publishing. * Fox, Karl A., 1968. ''Intermediate Economic Statistics'', Wiley
Description.
* Kane, Edward J., 1968. ''Economic Statistics and Econometrics'', Harper and Row. * Morgenstern, Oskar, 9501963. ''On the Accuracy of Economic Observations''. 2nd rev. ed. ("The Accuracy of Economic Observation
ch. 16
. Princeton University Press. * Mirer, Thad W., 1995. ''Economic Statistics and Econometrics'', 3rd ed. Prentice Hall
Description.
* Persons, Warren M., 1910. "The Correlation of Economic Statistics," ''Publications of the American Statistical Association'', 12(92), pp
287
322. * Wonnacott, Thomas H., and Ronald J. Wonnacott, 1990. ''Introductory Statistics for Business and Economics'', 4th ed., Wiley. * Ullah, Aman, and David E. A. Giles, ed., 1998. ''Handbook of Applied Economic Statistics'', Marcel Dekker.
Descriptionpreview
an
back cover.
* Zellner, Arnold, ed. 1968. ''Readings in Economic Statistics and Econometrics'', Little, Brown & Co.

Journals

* '' Journal of Business and Economic Statistics'' * '' Review of Economics and Statistics'' (from ''Review of Economic Statistics'', 1919–47)

External links

Economic statistics section
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

from ''UCB Libraries GovPubs''

The White House pages on U.S. economic statistics
Historical Financial Statistics
Center for Financial Stability (emphasizes statistics before about 1950)
Fundamental principles of official statistics
United Nations, Statistics Division

UNECE
OANDA FXEconostats
Historical graphical economic data of major industrial countries
OECD Official Statistics
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Statistics
Eurostat
The European Commission's Statistical Office {{Authority control Applied statistics Mathematical and quantitative methods (economics) Socio-economic statistics