The Statistical Method in Economics and Political Science

Originally published in 1929. This balanced combination of fieldwork, statistical measurement, and realistic applications shows a synthesis of economics and political science in a conception of an organic relationship between the two sciences that involves functional analysis, institutional interpretation, and a more workmanlike approach to questions of organization such as division of labour and the control of industry. The treatise applies the test of fact through statistical analysis to economic and political theories for the quantitative and institutional approach in solving social and industrial problems. It constructs a framework of concepts, combining both economic and political theory, to systematically produce an original statement in general terms of the principles and methods for statistical fieldwork. The separation into Parts allows selective reading for the methods of statistical measurement; the principles and fallacies of applying these measures to economic and political fields; and the resultant construction of a statistical economics and politics. Basic statistical concepts are described for application, with each method of statistical measurement illustrated with instances relevant to the economic and political theory discussed and a statistical glossary is included.