Data for Applied Economists
Sourcing Economic Data
Why is correctly sourcing data important?
How can we assess suitability of research sources?
- Is it timely and up-to-date?
- Is it accurate?
- Is it complete?
- Is it concise?
- Is it objective/unbiased?
- Visit NOMIS
- Select ‘Query Data’
- Select ‘Popular Datasets’
- These datasets are survey based, which means that they provide an estimation of the UK’s economic activity based on a small selection.
- Select ‘Annual Population Survey’
- Select Geography: All countries
- Select Date: 2005-2022 (12 months to December)
- Select Variable: Unemployment Rate 16-64
- Download your data
- Visit Scottish Government Economy Statistics
- Choose ‘About GDP’
- Choose ‘GDP Quarterly National Accounts for 2022 Quarter 2’
- Download ‘Second Estimate of GDP in volume terms by industry’
Handling Economic Data
- What kind of graph do I need?
- Add Chart Elements: Title, Axes, Axis Titles and Annotations.
- Is the scale correct?
- Use colours to draw attention to key data
- What conclusions can be drawn? Is this clear?
Time-series
Cross-sectional
Indexing Data
Data as a % of GDP
Budget section, a countries debt level is often measured as a % of GDP. This is because rising debt levels over the long run are manageable as long as the economy is also growing. - This means that debt levels could rise consistently, but for as long as GDP increases by the same proportion, the debt-to-GDP ratio would remain constant.
Interactive Graphs
Data for Applied Economists Flashcards
Time series analysis is a specific way of analysing a sequence of data points collected over an interval of time.
Panel data (or time series cross section) means that we have data from many units (Individuals, countries etc.), over many points in time.
a type of data collected by observing many subjects (such as individuals, firms, countries, or regions) at the one point or period of time.
Unemployment rates are calculated as the number of unemployed people divided by the economically active population.
An index shows the development of a number over time. It shows the change of a figure from one point in time to another. The ‘base year’ is usually set to 100. An index value of 110 then indicates an increase by 10 % compared to the value in the reference period.