Part III: Economic Data Processing

Part III sheds light on crucial techniques for transforming economic and financial data. This includes methods to derive growth rates, adjust values for real terms, and calculate per capita figures. It also guides on aggregating data across frequencies, for example, transitioning from monthly to yearly values. The section also clarifies common data types, differentiating between stock and flow variables, levels of measurement, and data structures like cross-sectional and time-series. Core statistical metrics such as mean, median, and variance are also explained.

Included chapters:

• Chapter 12: “Data Categorization” delves into different ways to classify and categorize economic data.
• Chapter 13: “Data Transformation” explores methods for modifying and manipulating data, to make it more suitable for analysis or to reveal hidden patterns.
• Chapter 14: “Statistical Measures” introduces statistics common to Finance and Economics, like measures of centrality, dispersion, and association.
• Chapter 15: “Data Aggregation” explains how to compile data from a lower frequency to a higher one, such as aggregating monthly data into quarterly or annual data.