What is the importance of statistics in economics?
Statistics is immensely useful in the study of economics. Following are some points of importance of statistics :
(i) Statistics help an economist to understand an economic problem. Using various statistical methods, effort is made to find the causes behind it with the help of the qualitative and quantitative facts.
Once the causes of the problem arc identified it is easier to formulate certain policies to tackle it.
(ii) Statistics enables an economist to present economic facts in precise and definite forms. When economic facts are expressed in statistical terms, they become exact facts which are more convincing than vague statements.
(iii) Statistics is used in finding relationship between different economic variables. We can find the relationship between demand and price, consumption expenditure and income, general price level and government expenditure by applying the statistical tool of correlation.
(iv) Statistics helps an economist in predicting changes in one economic factor due to changes in another factor. This can he done with the help of regression technique.