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Information about Economic Indicator

An economic indicator (or business indicator) is a statistic about the economy. Economic indicators allow analysis of economic performance and predictions of future performance.

Economic indicators include various indices, earnings reports, and economic summaries, such as unemployment, housing starts, Consumer Price Index (a measure for inflation), industrial production, bankruptcies, Gross Domestic Product, retail sales, stock market prices, and money supply changes. Economic indicators are primarily studied in a branch of macroeconomics called "business cycles". The leading business cycle dating committee in the United States of America is the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government in the field of labor economics and statistics.

Types of Indicators

Leading, Coincident, Lagging

Coincident indicators are indicators which occur at the same time as the economic activity.

Example:
  • Payroll
  • Personal income less transfer payments and overall change in GDP
Leading indicators are economic indicators which tend to change before the general economic activity, and so may sometimes be used as a predictor.

Example:
  • Stock prices
  • Average work hours in manufacturing sector
  • Housing Markets
  • Inflation
  • Interest rates
Lagging indicators trail behind the general economic activity.

Example:
  • Unemployment rate
  • Percentage change in CPI
  • GDP (sometimes)
The time difference between the indicator and the economic activity is called lead time or lag time.

Correlation

An indicator can also move in the same or opposite direction of the general economic activity. Pro-cyclical indicators move in the same direction as the general economic activity. Counter-cyclical indicators move in the inverse direction of the general economic activity. Unemployment is an example of a counter-cyclical indicator. Statistically, correlation can be used to determine whether an indicator is pro- or counter-cyclical.

List of Economic Indicators

Note: Some economic indicators like the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index can be purchased for a fee prior to their release to the public.

See also

External links

For other uses, see Statistics (disambiguation).
A statistic (singular) is the result of applying a function (statistical algorithm) to a set of data.
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Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Greek for oikos (house) and nomos (custom or law), hence "rules of the house(hold).
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prediction is a statement or claim that a particular event will occur in the future in more certain terms than a forecast. The etymology of this word is Latin (from præ- "before" plus dicere "to say").
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worldwide view.
Unemployment is the state in which a worker wants, but is unable, to work. The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed workers divided by the total civilian labor force.
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Housing Starts are used in the United States of America as an indicator of the state of the economy. Housing Starts are the number of privately owned new homes (technically housing units) on which construction has been started over some period.
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A consumer price index (CPI) is an index number measuring the average price of consumer goods and services purchased by households. It is one of several price indices calculated by national statistical agencies. The percent change in the CPI is a measure of inflation.
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Inflation is measured as the growth of the money supply in an economy, without a commensurate increase in the supply of goods and services. This results in a rise in the general price level as measured against a standard level of purchasing power.
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An economic report that measures changes in output for the industrial sector of the economy. The industrial sector includes manufacturing, mining, and utilities. Although these sectors contribute only a small portion of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), they are highly sensitive to interest
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Bankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organizations to pay their creditors. Creditors may file a bankruptcy petition against a debtor ("involuntary bankruptcy") in an effort to recoup a portion of what they are owed.
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gross domestic product, or GDP, is one of the ways for measuring the size of its economy. The GDP of a country is defined as the total market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period of time (usually a calendar year).
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Retailing consists of the sale of goods or merchandise, from a fixed location such as a department store or kiosk, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser.[1] Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery.
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A stock market is a market for the trading of company stock, and derivatives of same; both of these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.
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worldwide view of the subject.
* Its tone or style may not be appropriate for Wikipedia.

Please help [ improve the article] or discuss these issues on the talk page.
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Macroeconomics is a branch of economics that deals with the performance, structure, and behavior of a national economy as a whole.[1] Macroeconomists seek to understand the determinants of aggregate trends in an economy with particular focus on national income,
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The business cycle or economic cycle refers to the fluctuations of economic activity about its long term growth trend. The involves shifts over time between periods of relatively rapid growth of output (recovery and prosperity), and periods of relative stagnation or decline
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Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is a "private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization" dedicated to studying the science and empirics of economics, especially the American economy.
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), a unit of the United States Department of Labor, is the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics.
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A lagging indicator is an economic indicator that reacts slowly to economic changes, and therefore has little predictive value. Generally these types of indicators follow an event; they are historical in nature.
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correlation, also called correlation coefficient, indicates the strength and direction of a linear relationship between two random variables. In general statistical usage, correlation or co-relation refers to the departure of two variables from independence.
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gross domestic product, or GDP, is one of the ways for measuring the size of its economy. The GDP of a country is defined as the total market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period of time (usually a calendar year).
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The Index of Leading Indicators is an American economic index intended to estimate future economic activity. It is calculated by The Conference Board, a non-governmental organization, which determines the value of the index from the values of ten key variables.
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Gross National Happiness (GNH) is an attempt to define quality of life in more holistic and psychological terms than Gross National Product.

The term was coined by Bhutan's King Jigme Singye Wangchuck in 1972.
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population is the collection of people or organisms of a particular species living in a given geographic area or mortality, and migration, though the field encompasses many dimensions of population change including the family (marriage and divorce), public health, work and the
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Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as: "A person in the service of another under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, where the employer has
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worldwide view.
Unemployment is the state in which a worker wants, but is unable, to work. The unemployment rate is the number of unemployed workers divided by the total civilian labor force.
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The balance of payments, (or BOP) measures the payments that flow between any individual country and all other countries. It is used to summarize all international economic transactions for that country during a specific time period, usually a year.
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This article is about the macroeconomic current account. For the day to day bank account, see current account (banking).
The current account
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balance of trade (or net exports, sometimes symbolized as NX) is the difference between the monetary value of exports and imports in an economy over a certain period of time.
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Capacity Utilization measures the rate at which a firm makes use of their capital productive capacities, such as factories and machinery. Capacity Utilization generally rises when the economy is healthy and falls when demand softens.
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