Introductory Statistics for Economics
Spring 2024
About this book
As its name suggests, Introductory Statistics for Economics is a textbook intended for use in an introductory (first or second year) statistics course for economics majors. It was written for use as a textbook for ECON 233, the introductory statistics course for economics majors at Simon Fraser University.
The content is similar to most other introductory statistics courses for business and economics students, but with a few important differences. When I was assigned to teach ECON 233, I reviewed the available textbooks and found that most of them provide a somewhat dated perspective on statistical analysis at an extremely high price. I wanted a textbook that was fairly priced, combined both Excel and R, and reflected (or at least did not run counter to) contemporary thinking about issues like reproducibility, tidy data, and credible inference. The only way to get all of these features was to write my own book.
The book is available at no charge in HTML, PDF, and EPUB formats at https://bookdown.org/bkrauth/IS4E/. Usage is allowed under the MIT License. Instructors are welcome to assign it as a course textbook, but are strongly encouraged to contact me first so that I can inform you about any significant changes to the content.
The book itself has been created using Bookdown. Its source code is available at https://github.com/bvkrauth/econ233, and errors or typos can be reported to me at bkrauth@sfu.ca or https://github.com/bvkrauth/econ233/issues.
Conventions of this book
This book uses consistent visual conventions to convey information.
Organization
Each chapter is meant to be covered in one full week of a typical one-semester course. Chapters are introduced with learning goals and prerequisites to review before proceeding. Practice problems are provided at the end of each chapter, and are organized by learning goal.
The chapters themselves are organized into three parts.
- Chapters 1-5 (FUNDAMENTALS) introduce the basic theoretical concepts
of probability and random variables, as well as the basic computer
skills to work with data in Excel.
- They assume basic computer skills as well as familiarity with sets, functions, and the summation operator.
- They should be considered prerequisites for the later chapters.
- Chapter 5 depends on Chapter 2, and Chapter 4 depends on Chapter 3. Otherwise, these chapters can be read or covered in any order.
- Chapters 6-8 (STATISTICAL THEORY) develop the theory of statistics.
- They assume knowledge of the material from Chapters 1-5, especially Chapters 3 and 4.
- They are not required for Chapters 9-11.
- They must be covered in order.
- Chapters 9-11 (WORKING WITH DATA) teach more advanced data skills
in both Excel and R.
- They chapters assume knowledge of the material from Chapters 1-5, especially Chapters 2 and 5), but do not assume Chapters 6-8.
- Chapter 11 depends on Chapter 10. Otherwise, they can be read or covered in any order.
There is also an appendix reviewing mathematical tools that are used throughout the book, but that should have been covered in a previous mathematics course.
Typography
Computer instructions including Excel formulas, R code,
file names, etc. are shown in code format.
\(Mathematical\) expressions are shown in large italics.
Excel worksheet names are shown in italics. Italics are also used to emphasize important points.
New terminology is shown in bold and italics when introduced.
Variable names are shown in bold.
Boxes
Pull-out information is shown in colored boxes.
Example 0.1 Boxes like this are for examples
Boxes like this are for showing course or chapter goals.
Boxes like this are for providing economic background.
Boxes like this are for providing information that is specific to my SFU ECON 233 course.
Boxes like this are for warning you about common mistakes or misunderstandings.
Boxes like this are for providing optional information that might be of interest to some students.