A theft amounting to GBP1 was a capital offence in 1260 and a judge in 1610 affirmed the law could not then be applied since GBP1 was no longer what it was. Such association of money with a date is well recognized for its importance in very many connections. Thus arises the need to know how to convert an amount at one date into the right amount at another date: in other words, a price index. The longstanding question concerning how such an index should be constructed is known as 'The Index Number Problem'. The ordinary consumer price index represents a practical response to this need. However the search for a true price index has given rise to extensive thought and theory to which an impressive number of economists have each contributed a word, or volume. However, there have been hold-ups at a basic level, which are addressed in this book. The approach brings the subject into involvement with utility construction on the basis of finite data, in a form referred to as 'Afriat's Theorem' but now with utility subject to constant (and also possibly approximate) returns.

'The Number Bias combines vivid storytelling with authoritative analysis to deliver a warning about the way numbers can lead us astray - if we let them.' TIM HARFORD Even if you don't consider yourself a numbers person, you are a numbers person. The time has come to put numbers in their place. Not high up on a pedestal, or out on the curb, but right where they belong: beside words. It is not an overstatement to say that numbers dictate the way we live our lives. They tell us how we're doing at school, how much we weigh, who might win an election and whether the economy is booming. But numbers aren't as objective as they may seem; behind every number is a story. Yet politicians, businesses and the media often forget this - or use it for their own gain. Sanne Blauw travels the world to unpick our relationship with numbers and demystify our misguided allegiance, from Florence Nightingale using statistics to petition for better conditions during the Crimean War to the manipulation of numbers by the American tobacco industry and the ambiguous figures peddled during the EU referendum. Taking us from the everyday numbers that govern our health and wellbeing to the statistics used to wield enormous power and influence, The Number Bias counsels us to think more wisely. 'A beautifully accessible exploration of how numbers shape our lives, and the importance of accurately interpreting the statistics we are fed.' ANGELA SAINI, author of Superior

Human Development Indices and Indicators: 2018 Statistical Update is being released to ensure consistency in reporting on key human development indices and statistics. It provides a brief overview of the state of human development - snapshots of current conditions as well as long-term trends in human development indicators. It includes a full statistical annex of human development composite indices and indicators across their various dimensions. This update includes the 2017 values and ranking for the HDI and other composite indices as well as current statistics in key areas of human development for use by policymakers, researchers and others in their analytical, planning and policy work. In addition to the standard HDR tables, statistical dashboards are included to draw attention to the relationship between human well-being and five topics: quality of human development, life-course gender gaps, women's empowerment, environmental sustainability and socioeconomic sustainability. Accompanying the statistical annex is an overview of trends in human development, highlighting the considerable progress, but also the persistent deprivations and disparities

Over the last thirty years there has been extensive use of continuous time econometric methods in macroeconomic modelling. This monograph presents a continuous time macroeconometric model of the United Kingdom incorporating stochastic trends. Its development represents a major step forward in continuous time macroeconomic modelling. The book describes the model in detail and, like earlier models, it is designed in such a way as to permit a rigorous mathematical analysis of its steady-state and stability properties, thus providing a valuable check on the capacity of the model to generate plausible long-run behaviour. The model is estimated using newly developed exact Gaussian estimation methods for continuous time econometric models incorporating unobservable stochastic trends. The book also includes discussion of the application of the model to dynamic analysis and forecasting.

This 2004 volume offers a broad overview of developments in the theory and applications of state space modeling. With fourteen chapters from twenty-three contributors, it offers a unique synthesis of state space methods and unobserved component models that are important in a wide range of subjects, including economics, finance, environmental science, medicine and engineering. The book is divided into four sections: introductory papers, testing, Bayesian inference and the bootstrap, and applications. It will give those unfamiliar with state space models a flavour of the work being carried out as well as providing experts with valuable state of the art summaries of different topics. Offering a useful reference for all, this accessible volume makes a significant contribution to the literature of this discipline.

Kapitalmarktorientierte Unternehmen in der EU haben ihre Konzernabschlusse seit 2005 nach den International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) zu erstellen. Ziel ist es, die Rechnungslegungsadressaten mit hochwertigen Informationen uber die wirtschaftliche Lage zu versorgen. Fraglich ist jedoch, ob die IFRS-Einfuhrung dies allein erreichen kann. So wird die Rechnungslegungspraxis nicht nur von Normen, sondern auch von institutionellen Faktoren beeinflusst. Anhand ausgewahlter Eigenschaften von Ergebnisgroessen untersucht der Autor vor diesem Hintergrund, inwiefern die Umstellung auf die IFRS eine qualitative Veranderung der Rechnungslegungspraxis in ausgewahlten Landern der EU erkennen lasst. Daran anknupfend geht er der Frage nach, inwiefern bestimmte Unternehmen besondere Anreize zu einer hochwertigen IFRS-Rechnungslegung haben.

Price and quantity indices are important, much-used measuring instruments, and it is therefore necessary to have a good understanding of their properties. When it was published, this book is the first comprehensive text on index number theory since Irving Fisher's 1922 The Making of Index Numbers. The book covers intertemporal and interspatial comparisons; ratio- and difference-type measures; discrete and continuous time environments; and upper- and lower-level indices. Guided by economic insights, this book develops the instrumental or axiomatic approach. There is no role for behavioural assumptions. In addition to subject matter chapters, two entire chapters are devoted to the rich history of the subject.

The fastest, easiest, most comprehensive way to learn Adobe XD CC Classroom in a Book (R), the best-selling series of hands-on software training workbooks, offers what no other book or training program does-an official training series from Adobe, developed with the support of Adobe product experts. Adobe XD CC Classroom in a Book (2018 release) contains 10 lessons that cover the basics and beyond, providing countless tips and techniques to help you become more productive with the program. You can follow the book from start to finish or choose only those lessons that interest you. Purchasing this book includes valuable online extras. Follow the instructions in the book's "Getting Started" section to unlock access to: Downloadable lesson files you need to work through the projects in the book Web Edition containing the complete text of the book, interactive quizzes, videos that walk you through the lessons step by step, and updated material covering new feature releases from Adobe What you need to use this book: Adobe XD CC (2018 release) software, for either Windows or macOS. (Software not included.) Note: Classroom in a Book does not replace the documentation, support, updates, or any other benefits of being a registered owner of Adobe XD CC software.

This book is intended to provide the reader with a firm conceptual and empirical understanding of basic information-theoretic econometric models and methods. Because most data are observational, practitioners work with indirect noisy observations and ill-posed econometric models in the form of stochastic inverse problems. Consequently, traditional econometric methods in many cases are not applicable for answering many of the quantitative questions that analysts wish to ask. After initial chapters deal with parametric and semiparametric linear probability models, the focus turns to solving nonparametric stochastic inverse problems. In succeeding chapters, a family of power divergence measure likelihood functions are introduced for a range of traditional and nontraditional econometric-model problems. Finally, within either an empirical maximum likelihood or loss context, Ron C. Mittelhammer and George G. Judge suggest a basis for choosing a member of the divergence family.

Published in 1932, this is the third edition of an original 1922 volume. The 1922 volume was, in turn, created as the replacement for the Institute of Actuaries Textbook, Part Three, which was the foremost source of knowledge on the subject of life contingencies for over 35 years. Assuming a high level of mathematical knowledge on the part of the reader, it was aimed chiefly at actuarial students and those with a professional interest in the relationship between statistics and mortality. Highly organised and containing numerous mathematical formulae, this book will remain of value to anyone with an interest in risk calculation and the development of the insurance industry.

Logistic models are widely used in economics and other disciplines and are easily available as part of many statistical software packages. This text for graduates, practitioners and researchers in economics, medicine and statistics, which was originally published in 2003, explains the theory underlying logit analysis and gives a thorough explanation of the technique of estimation. The author has provided many empirical applications as illustrations and worked examples. A large data set - drawn from Dutch car ownership statistics - is provided online for readers to practise the techniques they have learned. Several varieties of logit model have been developed independently in various branches of biology, medicine and other disciplines. This book takes its inspiration from logit analysis as it is practised in economics, but it also pays due attention to developments in these other fields.

What do we mean by inequality comparisons? If the rich just get richer and the poor get poorer, the answer might seem easy. But what if the income distribution changes in a complicated way? Can we use mathematical or statistical techniques to simplify the comparison problem in a way that has economic meaning? What does it mean to measure inequality? Is it similar to National Income? Or a price index? Is it enough just to work out the Gini coefficient?
Measuring Inequality tackles these questions and examines the underlying principles of inequality measurement and its relation to welfare economics, distributional analysis, and information theory. The book covers modern theoretical developments in inequality analysis, as well as showing how the way we think about inequality today has been shaped by classic contributions in economics and related disciplines. Formal results and detailed literature discussion are provided in two appendices. The principal points are illustrated in the main text, using examples from US and UK data, as well as other data sources, and associated web materials provide hands-on learning.
Measuring Inequality is designed to appeal to both undergraduate and post-graduate students, and academic economists. Its emphasis on practical application means that it will also be useful to policy analysts and advisors.

This book is a collection of essays written in honor of Professor Peter C. B. Phillips of Yale University by some of his former students. The essays analyze a number of important issues in econometrics, all of which Professor Phillips has directly influenced through his seminal scholarly contribution as well as through his remarkable achievements as a teacher. The essays are organized to cover topics in higher-order asymptotics, deficient instruments, nonstationary, LAD and quantile regression, and nonstationary panels. These topics span both theoretical and applied approaches and are intended for use by professionals and advanced graduate students.

Econophysics applies the methodology of physics to the study of economics. However, whilst physicists have good understanding of statistical physics, they may be unfamiliar with recent advances in statistical conjectures, including Bayesian and predictive methods. Equally, economists with knowledge of probabilities do not have a background in statistical physics and agent-based models. Proposing a unified view for a dynamic probabilistic approach, this book is useful for advanced undergraduate and graduate students as well as researchers in physics, economics and finance. The book takes a finitary approach to the subject, discussing the essentials of applied probability, and covering finite Markov chain theory and its applications to real systems. Each chapter ends with a summary, suggestions for further reading, and exercises with solutions at the end of the book.

This 2005 volume contains the papers presented in honor of the lifelong achievements of Thomas J. Rothenberg on the occasion of his retirement. The authors of the chapters include many of the leading econometricians of our day, and the chapters address topics of current research significance in econometric theory. The chapters cover four themes: identification and efficient estimation in econometrics, asymptotic approximations to the distributions of econometric estimators and tests, inference involving potentially nonstationary time series, such as processes that might have a unit autoregressive root, and nonparametric and semiparametric inference. Several of the chapters provide overviews and treatments of basic conceptual issues, while others advance our understanding of the properties of existing econometric procedures and/or propose others. Specific topics include identification in nonlinear models, inference with weak instruments, tests for nonstationary in time series and panel data, generalized empirical likelihood estimation, and the bootstrap.

Originally published in 2005, Weather Derivative Valuation covers all the meteorological, statistical, financial and mathematical issues that arise in the pricing and risk management of weather derivatives. There are chapters on meteorological data and data cleaning, the modelling and pricing of single weather derivatives, the modelling and valuation of portfolios, the use of weather and seasonal forecasts in the pricing of weather derivatives, arbitrage pricing for weather derivatives, risk management, and the modelling of temperature, wind and precipitation. Specific issues covered in detail include the analysis of uncertainty in weather derivative pricing, time-series modelling of daily temperatures, the creation and use of probabilistic meteorological forecasts and the derivation of the weather derivative version of the Black-Scholes equation of mathematical finance. Written by consultants who work within the weather derivative industry, this book is packed with practical information and theoretical insight into the world of weather derivative pricing.

The idea that simplicity matters in science is as old as science itself, with the much cited example of Ockham's Razor, 'entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem': entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity. A problem with Ockham's razor is that nearly everybody seems to accept it, but few are able to define its exact meaning and to make it operational in a non-arbitrary way. Using a multidisciplinary perspective including philosophers, mathematicians, econometricians and economists, this 2002 monograph examines simplicity by asking six questions: what is meant by simplicity? How is simplicity measured? Is there an optimum trade-off between simplicity and goodness-of-fit? What is the relation between simplicity and empirical modelling? What is the relation between simplicity and prediction? What is the connection between simplicity and convenience? The book concludes with reflections on simplicity by Nobel Laureates in Economics.

This must-have manual provides detailed solutions to all of the 300 exercises in Dickson, Hardy and Waters' Actuarial Mathematics for Life Contingent Risks, 3 edition. This groundbreaking text on the modern mathematics of life insurance is required reading for the Society of Actuaries' (SOA) LTAM Exam. The new edition treats a wide range of newer insurance contracts such as critical illness and long-term care insurance; pension valuation material has been expanded; and two new chapters have been added on developing models from mortality data and on changing mortality. Beyond professional examinations, the textbook and solutions manual offer readers the opportunity to develop insight and understanding through guided hands-on work, and also offer practical advice for solving problems using straightforward, intuitive numerical methods. Companion Excel spreadsheets illustrating these techniques are available for free download.

This book describes the classical axiomatic theories of decision under uncertainty, as well as critiques thereof and alternative theories. It focuses on the meaning of probability, discussing some definitions and surveying their scope of applicability. The behavioral definition of subjective probability serves as a way to present the classical theories, culminating in Savage's theorem. The limitations of this result as a definition of probability lead to two directions - first, similar behavioral definitions of more general theories, such as non-additive probabilities and multiple priors, and second, cognitive derivations based on case-based techniques.

This is a comprehensive source of official statistics for the regions and countries of the UK.It is an official publication of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), therefore providing the most authoritative collection of statistics available. It is updated annually, the type and format of the information constantly evolves to take account of new or revised material and reflects current priorities and initiatives. It contains a wide range of demographic, social, industrial and economic statistics which provide insight into aspects of life within all UK regions. Data is presented clearly in combination of tables, maps and charts providing the ideal tool for researching UK regions.Regional Trends is a comprehensive source of official statistics for the regions and countries of the UK. This edition includes a wide range of demographic, social, industrial and economic statistics, covering aspects of life within all areas of the UK. The data are presented clearly in a combination of tables, maps and charts.

Price and quantity indices are important, much-used measuring instruments, and it is therefore necessary to have a good understanding of their properties. When it was published, this book is the first comprehensive text on index number theory since Irving Fisher's 1922 The Making of Index Numbers. The book covers intertemporal and interspatial comparisons; ratio- and difference-type measures; discrete and continuous time environments; and upper- and lower-level indices. Guided by economic insights, this book develops the instrumental or axiomatic approach. There is no role for behavioural assumptions. In addition to subject matter chapters, two entire chapters are devoted to the rich history of the subject.

This laboratory manual is intended for business analysts who wish to increase their skills in the use of statistical analysis to support business decisions. Most of the case studies use Excel,today's most common analysis tool. They range from the most basic descriptive analytical techniques to more advanced techniques such as linear regression and forecasting. Advanced projects cover inferential statistics for continuous variables (t-Test) and categorical variables (chi-square), as well as A/B testing. The manual ends with techniques to deal with the analysis of text data and tools to manage the analysis of large data sets (Big Data) using Excel. Includes companion files with solution spreadsheets, sample files, data sets, etc. from the book. Features: Teaches the statistical analysis skills needed to support business decisions Provides projects ranging from the most basic descriptive analytical techniques to more advanced techniques such as linear regression, forecasting, inferential statistics, and analyzing big data sets Includes companion files with solution spreadsheets, sample files, data sets, etc. used in the book's case studies

Do economics and statistics succeed in explaining human social behaviour? To answer this question. Leland Gerson Neuberg studies some pioneering controlled social experiments. Starting in the late 1960s, economists and statisticians sought to improve social policy formation with random assignment experiments such as those that provided income guarantees in the form of a negative income tax. This book explores anomalies in the conceptual basis of such experiments and in the foundations of statistics and economics more generally. Scientific inquiry always faces certain philosophical problems. Controlled experiments of human social behaviour, however, cannot avoid some methodological difficulties not evident in physical science experiments. Drawing upon several examples, the author argues that methodological anomalies prevent microeconomics and statistics from explaining human social behaviour as coherently as the physical sciences explain nature. He concludes that controlled social experiments are a frequently overrated tool for social policy improvement.

Econophysics has been used to study a range of economic and financial systems. This book uses the econophysical perspective to focus on the income distributive dynamics of economic systems. It focuses on the empirical characterization and dynamics of income distribution and its related quantities from the epistemological and practical perspectives of contemporary physics. Several income distribution functions are presented which fit income data and results obtained by statistical physicists on the income distribution problem. The book discusses two separate research traditions: the statistical physics approach, and the approach based on non-linear trade cycle models of macroeconomic dynamics. Several models of distributive dynamics based on the latter approach are presented, connecting the studies by physicists on distributive dynamics with the recent literature by economists on income inequality. As econophysics is such an interdisciplinary field, this book will be of interest to physicists, economists, statisticians and applied mathematicians.

Employers Can Reduce Their Employees' Health Care Costs by Thinking Out of The BoxEmployee health care costs have skyrocketed, especially for small business owners. But employers have options that medical entrepreneurs have crafted to provide all businesses with plans to improve their employees' wellness and reduce their costs. Thus, the cost of employee health care benefits can be reduced markedly by choosing one of numerous alternatives to traditional indemnity policies. The Finance of Health Care provides business decision makers with the information they need to match the optimal health care plan with the culture of their workforce. This book is a must guide for corporate executives and entrepreneurs who want to attract-and keep--the best employees in our competitive economy.