The main aim is to endow students with the following abilities: ability to collect and process data, ability to interpret findings and to communicate results useful not only to formulate critical judgments on the economic, social and political issues behind the working of a real economic system; but also to communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialists and non-specialists audiences. These abilities match the Dublin Descriptors especially no. 3 independent ability of judging: to gather and interpret relevant data usually within their field of study to inform judgments that include reflection on relevant social, scientific or ethical issues; no. 4 communicative skills: to communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialist and non-specialist audiences. At the end of the course, the students will be able to apply basic statistical tools to analyze real-world economic data, also by means of statistical software and advanced spreadsheet (EXCEL, GRETL, .). The course also develops digital competences as of EU DIGCOMP 2.1 (Competence area 1: Information and data literacy; Competence area 2: Communication and collaboration; Competence area 3: Digital content creation). Moreover, midway through the academic year, students take an advanced Excel test based on the AICA “Advanced Spreadsheets” syllabus, which leads to the awarding of a badge.

Knowledge and understanding: knowledge of data sources, data types and related univariate analysis techniques (cycle-trend decomposition, graphical representations, measures of dispersion), linear regression model. Applied knowledge and understanding: ability to select appropriate measures of data synthesis and analysis of the relationship between variables in economics, finance and business. Making judgments: ability to collect, process and critically interpret quantitative and qualitative data related to economic, financial and business phenomena. Communication skills: ability to effectively communicate data analysis. ability to present data in an effective way to different kinds of audience actively handling the most important tools available for data presentation of results, such as tables, charts in a static and dynamic web-based environment, data warehouses, advanced visual graphics, etc. Learning skills: ability to learn autonomously data analysis techniques, in professional activities or subsequent studies.

Empirical lectures The teaching method is interactive because implies the simultaneous use of a pc by the teacher and students to manage data in excel and in other statistical/econometrics packages. The lesson scheme foresees an input that is to say an assertion about an economic phenomenon inspired by the topical economic issues drawn from a media, tv and radio broadcasting, newspaper or on line official press release from any organization committed to provide statistics. The range of themes covered by the course aims at explaining: the way in which the whole economic system functions through the analysis of all economic operators (households, enterprises, government, private institutions) and their corresponding functions (consumption, production of goods and services, investment, international trade). The lesson scheme foresees also an output consisting of the following steps: 1st step – problem formulation for the phenomenon of interest; 2nd step – data searching; 3rd step – data gathering through access to databases; 4th step – data extraction; 5th step – data analysis and depiction with tables/graphs; 6th step – interpretation and description of the results. The teacher and the students carry out jointly each step and in case of difficulty the teacher will assist the student until he/she will be able to manage the task independently. Practices are designed to develop the students’ ability in collecting and analyzing real data in economics and in analyzing them also by means of statistical software (EXCEL, GRET; ability in using functions such as those associated with logical, statistical, financial and mathematical operations; ability in creating charts and apply advanced chart formatting features; filter and sort data; ability in enhancing productivity by working with named cell ranges, macros and pivot tables. The methodological approach consists of empirical analysis based on real data at a national (regional and provincial) and international level, drawn from official databases (ISTAT, EUROSTAT, OECD, IMF, WTO, World Bank, etc.) and processed in order to carry out both spatial benchmarking and time series analysis.

RAPPORTO ANNUALE 2020 - LA SITUAZIONE DEL PAESE https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/245216 RAPPORTO SULLA COMPETITIVITÀ DEI SETTORI PRODUTTIVI - EDIZIONE 2021 https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/255558 Istat http://dati.istat.it/ Eurostat https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Beginners:Statistics_4_beginners http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database Commissione europea https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/indicators-statistics/economic-databases/business-and-consumer-surveys/download-business-and-consumer-survey-data/time-series_en OCSE http://stats.oecd.org/ FMI http://www.imf.org/en/data Banca Mondiale http://data.worldbank.org/

Lectures Interactive visualization Exercises Empirical exercises with EXCEL/GRETL Analysis on real data Data from official statistical sources

Practical test with tasks to be performed individually by each student on a PC in order to check the acquisition of knowledge and understanding, applied knowledge and understanding, making judgments. The students are requested: 1. to gather data; 2. to process data using statistical or logical functions; 3. to represent the findings of the elaboration by means of charts and tables; 4. to interpret and comment the main findings. 2. Project Work. Report on the statistical analysis of empirical data to be carried out in groups of a maximum of three students with the aid of the advanced spreadsheet (EXCEL) and GRETL. Verification of the acquisition of Making judgments, Communication Skills, Learning Skills. Digital skills (1, 2, 3), working in groups, time management, developing new solutions to problems. The final report in word and the workbook in excel containing the raw data, the elaborations and the results have to be sent to the teacher by e-mail. The deadline for the final report is one week before the exam session chosen. The system sends a communication with the results to the students enrolled in the call. To be admitted to the final exam, students must have previously passed the Excel Advanced test administered midway through the course. Students who have not passed the test will be required to take it on the day of the final exam as a condition for admission to the examination.

The final dissertation concerns applications of statistical methods in business and economics. The topic is agreed with the lecturer.