ECON 010 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Statistical Inference, Categorical Variable, Panel Data
Document Summary
In business and economics, the information gathered by the collection and analysis of data gives decision makers a better understanding of the business and economic environment. The ability to process this information enables decision makers to make informed decisions. Definition: statistics is the collection, presentation and interpretation of data. There are several examples where analyzing statistical information is particularly useful. For example, in finance, financial analysts use a variety of statistical information to make investment recommendations. Stock analysts look at data such as price-earnings ratios, book value and dividend yields to make an informed recommendation on whether clients should buy or sell a particular stock. Another example would be macroeconomists who are interested in providing forecasts about economic growth and inflation. In order to make forecasts they need statistical information such as the unemployment rate, the producer price index (ppi), and manufacturing capacity utilization. The information is then entered into computer models which are used to make forecasts.
