Quantifying the world : UN ideas and statistics / Michael Ward.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ward, Michael.

Series:

United Nations intellectual history project.

United Nations intellectual history project

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Statistical services.

Statistics.

United Nations--Statistical services.

United Nations.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xx, 329 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Bloomington, Ind. : Indiana University Press, c2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Good data, Michael Ward argues, serve to enhance a perception about life as well as to deepen an understanding of reality. This history of the UN's role in fostering international statistics in the post-war period demonstrates how statistics have shaped our understanding of the world. Drawing on well over 40 years of experience working as a statistician and economist in more than two dozen countries around the world, Ward traces the evolution of statistical ideas and how they have responded to the needs of policy while unravelling the question of why certain data were considered important and

Contents:

Prologue

Ideas and statistics : an introduction

The economic dimension

The social dimension

The environmental dimension

Other statistical dimensions

Epilogue: Success, missed opportunities, and the continuing agenda in statistics.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 281-309) and index.

ISBN:

9786612071485

1-282-07148-3

0-253-11084-X

OCLC:

475973029