Working with economic indicators : interpretation and sources / Donald N. Stengel and Priscilla Chaffe-Stengel.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 135-146) and index.

Introduction to economic indicators -- Fundamentals for interpreting economic indicators -- Indicators of economic activity -- Indicators of income -- Indicators of price levels -- Indicators of interest rates -- Indicators of resource utilization -- Indicators of international exchange -- Indicators of fiscal and monetary policy -- Sources of economic indicator data -- Notes.

"Executives and managers hear or read headlines about recent economic data nearly every business day. Most important economic statistics are the products of programs designed to collect and analyze data to report summary results at regular intervals. Properly interpreted, these economic indicators provide useful barometers for different aspects of the economy and identify trends that aid better planning decisions. Economic indicators are available at the national level, state level, and even the regional and municipal levels. This text focuses on economic indicators for the overall U.S. economy, identifying major categories of economic indicators and describing the key indicators in each of the categories. Most key economic indicators are reported promptly on the Internet and are provided as formatted time series that can be readily downloaded and analyzed. This text will include links to the sources for key economic indicators, as well as websites that maintain calendars of upcoming announcements and consensus forecasts of the indicators shortly prior to a formal announcement"--Abstract.