00915 - Economic Statistics

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course the student had acquired: - the basic knowledge of the main economic aggregates and indexes (GDP, consumption and real income, indexes of productivity); - the fundamental tools for a more in depth interpretation and analysis of thematic as: measure of inflation, analysis of inequality of incomes and poverty, statistic measures related to the labour market; - the basic tools for the analysis of models for economic policy.

Course contents

Modulo I

Prof Riccardo D’Alberto

Topic 1

Census and survey data. Non-probabilistic sampling strategies. Panel data and time series. Data organization, data management and data set building.

Survey typologies, foundations of statistical surveys, principles of sampling errors and measurement errors. Principles and protocols of data quality.

Topic 2

Official and unofficial data sources, data processing with data warehouse, data analysis with Excel. Data sources: Istat, Banca d’Italia, Eurostat, European Central Bank, UN data, FAOSTAT, OECD, IMF, World Bank. Administrative open data (for example, dati.gov.it) and scientific/academic open data repositories. US Census Bureau, Australian Bureau of Statistics, UK Office for National Statistics, Statistics Netherlands.

Study cases and examples of economic and applied statistics. Foundations of economic statistics, principles of contabilità nazionale and sistema dei conti. Variability ratios, statistical ratios, indexes, and properties.

Concentration, variability, inequality, and the Gini index.

Topic 3

Principles of stated and revealed preferences methods.

Principles of methods and techniques for policy analysis in the context of the observational studies.

 

Modulo II

Prof.ssa  Rosa Bernardini Papalia

I.The system of National Economic Accounts.

 

II. Measures and analysis of time and space variation of economic aggregates. Price Indices. Economic and statistic approaches to index number theory. The use of consumer price indices in the deflation of aggregates. Indicator of inflation processes. Spatial comparisons of consumer price indices, purchasing power parities and international comparisons of inflation.

 

III. Measures and analysis of income inequalities and poverty.

Data sources. Inequality measures: the Theil index, the Atkinson index. Poverty measures: the indices of diffusion and intensity of poverty. The Sen index. Human development indices.

 

IV. Measures and analysis of Labour.

Data sources of Labour Supply. Composition of Labour Force. Economic indicators.

Readings/Bibliography

A. Santeusanio A., Storti G., Statistica economica, 2003, Salerno, CUSL (chapters: 1, 2, 3.1, 3.2, 4, 5).

Extra material will be provided by the Prof.

List of other tests to be consulted for further indepth information

EUROSTAT REVIEW ON NATIONAL ACCOUNTS AND MACROECONOMIC INDICATORS SPECIAL ISSUE ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EUROPEAN SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTS (ESA 2010).

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/3217494/6391869/KS-GP-13-002-EN-N.pdf/b311952d-ff3c-497b-a468-036641a5c3e7

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-manuals-and-guidelines/-/KS-02-13-269

Teaching methods

Lectures and exercises

Assessment methods

Written exam

The final examination is in the form of a written test consisting of 3 exercises and 2 both theoretical and empirical questions; exam time: 1 h and half; it is not allowed to consult books or class notes.

For students attending the course

For Module I, an mid-term test and home work are planned.The evaluation of the home work can lead to an increase in the final grade of the mid-term test up to a maximum of 5 points.

Teaching tools

Teaching material available on the web (iol.unibo.it).

 

Slides and teaching materials - exercises and examples - concerning lectures are prepared by the teacher and available on line (via Reference distribution list).

Topics are presented using pc and video-projector.

For Module II: Reference distribution list: rossella.bernardini.svicse

Office hours

See the website of Rosa Bernardini Papalia

See the website of Riccardo D'Alberto