Course description
The course offers students a thrilling excursion into the world of modern economic statistics. The students will learn why there are no ideal indicators, what simplifications are made during data collection, and how statistics is infiltrated with distortions and inaccuracies. On the basis of this knowledge the students will understand what should be taken into account when choosing indicators for empirical analysis, and how to interpret correctly results of such analysis. The students will consider several key examples — GDP, inflation, purchasing power parity, poverty, natural capital, human capital — and learn how statistical observation of various economic and social phenomena is organized, how raw statistical data are aggregated into economic indicators, and what are the possibilities and limitations of using these statistical indicators in applied economic analysis.
Literature
- Measurement in Economics: a Handbook / Ed. M. Boumans. London: Academic Press, 2007.
- Stiglitz J. E., Sen A., Fitoussi J. P. Report by the commission on the measurement of economic performance and social progress. Paris: Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, 2010.