The Role of Measurement in Economics

First published in 1951, and originally delivered as the Newmarch Lectures for 1948-9, this book examines the role of measurement in obtaining and applying economic knowledge. Esteemed economist Richard Stone, who went on to win the Nobel Prize in Economics, divides his topic into four sections: questions of fact and empirical constructs; the truth or falsity of a hypothesis; the estimation of parameters; and questions of prediction. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in economics and the development of the discipline.List of tables; List of diagrams; Preface; Part I. Introduction: 1. Newmarch and the progress of statistical inquiry; 2. Economics and measurement; 3. Four types of question in economics; Part II. Four Aspects of the Problem of Measurement: 4. Facts and empirical constructs; 5. Deductively formulated theories and their verification; 6. Postulates for the theory of choice; 7. The estimation of parameters; 8. The nature of prediction; 9. A simple model; 10. The development of a linear model over time; 11. Prediction and economic policy; 12. Practical objections to exact models; 13. Prediction from static models; Part III. Some Illustrations of the Problems of Measurement: 14. Social Accounting; 15. The three forms of economic activity; 16. Transactions in the British economy in 1948: an example; 17. The derivation of the example from published sources; 18. The structure of transactions and some important national aggregates; 19. The group structure of transactions; 20. Systems of transactions from the viewpoint of accountancy; 21. Statistical design in social accounting; 22. Market demand from the viewpoint of economic theory; 23. Other influences to be taken into account; 24. The formulation of market demand relationships; 25. Statistical problems; 26. Demand analyses for the United Kingdom; 27. Demand analyses for the United States of America; 28. The sources used in the American analyses; 29. Concluding remarks.