Abstract
Some statisticians and economists might find it surprising to learn that statistics and economics share common roots going back to ‘Political Arithmetic’ in the mid-17th century. The primary objective of this article is to revisit the common roots and trace the parallel development of both disciplines up to and including the 20th century, and to attempt to signpost certain methodological lessons that were missed along the way to the detriment of both disciplines. The emphasis is primarily on methodological developments, with less attention paid to institutional developments.
This chapter was originally published in The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd edition, 2008. Edited by Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume
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Spanos, A. (2008). Statistics and Economics. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_1935-1
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