Economic analysis
Topic: Economic Data: Census, NSS, Surveys and Statistical Tools · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 1 "Introduction (Statistics for Economics)"; Class 11, Ch 8 "Use of Statistical Tools"
Meaning
Economic analysis explains an economic problem by finding its causes. It comes after the data are collected and before a policy is chosen. The chain is: data → analysis → policy → evaluation. Without analysis, the government cannot know what measure will actually solve the problem.
Example
Data show that many people in a region are poor. Economic analysis explains this poverty by its causes: unemployment, low productivity and backward technology. Each cause then points to a possible policy.
Don't confuse with
- Economic data: data are the raw facts in numbers. Analysis is the step that explains those facts through their causes.
- Economic policy: policy is the measure chosen to solve the problem. Analysis only explains why the problem exists.
Related concepts
- Statistics
- Economic data
- Economic policy
- Quantitative data
- Qualitative data
- Statistical prediction
- Statistical methods are no substitute for common sense
- Project report
- Target group