Econometrics

Econometrics, branch of economics that uses statistical methods to describe economic phenomena and thus discover how they affect each other. Econometrics came into use during the 1930s when many governments wanted to obtain empirical information to solve the problems of the Depression. Econometricians are concerned primarily with the construction of mathematical models of the economy in order to test them against reality. Such a model is basically a system of national accounts that record, from empirical data, the flow of goods and services among the various sectors of the economy.