The Development of Economic Statistics as an Influence on Theory and Policy

Alec Cairncross

Chapter 1 in National Income and Economic Progress, 1988, pp 11-20 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Colin Clark’s most important contribution has undoubtedly been to economic statistics. He showed us, so to speak, how to play with statistics: how, by means of a little speculative arithmetic, to mix statistics that were firm with statistics that were far from firm and arrive at conclusions of major importance in resolving issues of economic policy. He opened up a world of the past in which one could still think in magnitudes when the quantitative data were fragmentary and uncertain, building the bricks of economic history out of straws in the wind. At the same time he helped to revolutionise governmental use of statistics for current policy by encouraging the estimation of economic aggregates, recognising that the pitfalls of such estimations were much the same as those involved in piecing together the statistical fragments of past centuries.

Keywords: Civil Service; National Income; Economic Section; Royal Statistical Society; Economic Progress (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1988
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-349-19340-0_2

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9781349193400

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-19340-0_2

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().