Although involved in projects of influent institutions like the Cowles Commission, the NBER, and the Michigan Survey Research Center (SRC), George Katona, the “pioneer student and chief collector of consumer anticipations data” (Tobin, 1959, p. 1) is virtually absent from accounts of the...

Although involved in projects of influent institutions like the Cowles Commission, the NBER, and the Michigan Survey Research Center (SRC), George Katona, the "pioneer student and chief collector of consumer anticipations data" (Tobin, 1959, p. 1) is virtually absent from accounts of the topics...

This essay examines the evolution of data-collection practices in American expenditure surveys over much of the twentieth century. Economists conducting expenditure surveys faced one fundamental concern: their success hinged upon the cooperation of interviewees (typically housewives) and the...

Observation and observing in economics Harro Maas and Mary S. Morgan -- The space of observation Cunning observation: US agricultural statistics in the time of laissez-faire Emmanuel Didier -- Economic observation and measurement in Russia before 1917: surveying typicalities and sampling...

Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, a large number of price index number formulae have been developed, mostly named after their inventors, such as the Paasche and Layspeyres indexes. Parallel with the invention of new index formulae, criteria were developed for distinguishing between...

Die Krise der internationalen Finanzmärkte hat die allgemeine Wahrnehmung für die in diesen Märkten inhärenten Risiken merklich verändert. Glaubten manche Anleger in den Boomphasen der Finanzmärkte, dass sich eine hohe Kapitalrendite mit geringem Risiko verbinden ließe, wenn man nur die...

Philosophy of current knowledge distinguishes facts from values. It maintains that facts areobjective, indisputable, universally verifiable, and do not require to persuade. Since rhetoricis persuasion it is assumed to be deceptive and overlook reality. Therefore, statistics in itscurrent form...

Walter Andrew Shewhart is regarded as the founder of Statistical Quality Control (SQC), an approach to production inspection based on the application of statistical theory. He developed SQC in the 1920s while working at Bell Telephone Laboratories. During this period, he was tasked with training...

In 1918 the Central Statistical Administration (TsSU) was founded with the support of Lenin. Pavel Illich Popov was its first director (1918-1926). TsSU proceeded to the merging and centralization of the former decentralized statistical system of the zemstva (local governments) inherited from...