Abstract

Statistics is the branch of mathematics that deals with real-life problems. As such, it is an essential tool for economists. Unfortunately, the way the concept of statistics is introduced to students is not compatible with the way economists think and learn. The problem is worsened by the use of mathematical jargon and complex derivations. However, as this book demonstrates, neither is necessary. This book is written in simple English with minimal use of symbols, mostly for the sake of brevity and to make reading literature more meaningful.

All the examples and exercises in this book are constructed within the field of economics, thus eliminating the difficulty of learning statistics with examples from fi elds that have no relation to business, politics, or policy. Statistics is, in fact, not more difficult than economics. Anyone who can comprehend economics can understand and use statistics successfully within this field.

In my opinion, the most important aspect of statistics is its ability to summarize the information embedded in numerous data into few parameters and to capture the essence of data. The ability to capture the inherent core meaning of data from seemingly random and varying bits of information is unique to statistics. It seems that somehow statistics is able to find order in chaos.

This book utilizes Microsoft Excel to obtain statistical results, as well as to perform additional necessary computations. Microsoft Excel is not the software of choice for performing sophisticated statistical analysis. However, it is widely available, and almost everyone has some degree of familiarity with it. Using Excel will eliminate the need for students and readers to buy and learn new software, the need that itself would prove to be another impediment to learning and using statistics.

Keywords

null and alternative hypotheses, standardization, normal distribution function, statistical inference, test statistics, t distribution function, F distribution function, parameter, mean, standard deviation, interpretation and analysis, coefficient of determination, degrees of freedom, sampling distribution of sample statistics, standard error, unbiased, consistent, efficient, central limit theorem, margin of error, individual error, average error, mean squared error, analysis of variance (ANOVA)