With the healthcare sector accounting for a sizeable proportion of national expenditures, the pursuit of efficiency has become a central objective of policymakers within most health systems. However, the analysis and measurement of efficiency is a complex undertaking, not least due to the multiple objectives of health care organizations and the many gaps in information systems. In response to this complexity, research in organizational efficiency analysis has flourished. This 2006 book exa...

This is the first book to show the capabilities of Microsoft Excel to teach human resource management statistics effectively. It is a step-by-step exercise-driven guide for students and practitioners who need to master Excel to solve practical human resource management problems. If understanding statistics isn’t your strongest suit, you are not especially mathematically-inclined, or if you are wary of computers, this is the right book for you.Excel, a widely available computer prog...

This accessible, practice-oriented and compact text provides a hands-on introduction to market research. Using the market research process as a framework, it explains how to collect and describe data and presents the most important and frequently used quantitative analysis techniques, such as ANOVA, regression analysis, factor analysis and cluster analysis.The book describes the theoretical choices a market researcher has to make with regard to each technique, discusses how these a...

This book arose from our conviction that the NNS-DSGE approach to the analysis of aggregate market outcomes is fundamentally flawed. The practice of overcoming the SMD result by recurring to a fictitious RA leads to insurmountable methodological problems and lies at the root of DSGE models’ failure to satisfactorily explain real world features, like exchange rate and banking crises, bubbles and herding in financial markets, swings in the sentiment of consumers and entrepreneurs, asymmetrie...

Designing and Conducting Business Surveys provides a coherent overview of the business survey process, from start to finish. It uniquely integrates an understanding of how businesses operate, a total survey error approach to data quality that focuses specifically on business surveys, and sound project management principles. The book brings together what is currently known about planning, designing, and conducting business surveys, with producing and disseminating statistics or oth...

Quickly and Easily Write Dynamic DocumentsSuitable for both beginners and advanced users, Dynamic Documents with R and knitr, Second Edition makes writing statistical reports easier by integrating computing directly with reporting. Reports range from homework, projects, exams, books, blogs, and web pages to virtually any documents related to statistical graphics, computing, and data analysis. The book covers basic applications for beginners while guiding p...

Why does the World Need—Excel Data Analysis, Modeling, and Simulation? When spreadsheets ?rst became widely available in the early 1980s, it spawned a revolution in teaching. What previously could only be done with arcane software and large scale computing was now available to the common-man, on a desktop. Also, before spreadsheets, most substantial analytical work was done outside the classroom where the tools were; spreadsheets and personal computers moved the work into the classroom. No...

This book offers a detailed analysis of the key sectors in the Italian economy, with the focus especially on areas in which the economy excels, such as the automatic packaging machinery sector, pharmaceutical production, the food and wine industry, and tourism. The book explains how, contrary to widespread opinion, Italy is one of the world’s most competitive countries in foreign trade, as confirmed by a new index compiled by Fondazione Edison that highlights its strengths and top traded p...

This book describes the classical axiomatic theories of decision under uncertainty, as well as critiques thereof and alternative theories. It focuses on the meaning of probability, discussing some definitions and surveying their scope of applicability. The behavioral definition of subjective probability serves as a way to present the classical theories, culminating in Savage's theorem. The limitations of this result as a definition of probability lead to two directions - first, similar beh...

The book covers a wide range of topics, yet essential, in Computational Finance (CF), understood as a mix of Finance, Computational Statistics, and Mathematics of Finance. In that regard it is unique in its kind, for it touches upon the basic principles of all three main components of CF, with hands-on examples for programming models in R. Thus, the first chapter gives an introduction to the Principles of Corporate Finance: the markets of stock and options, valuation and economic theory, f...

In a world in which we are constantly surrounded by data, figures, and statistics, it is imperative to understand and to be able to use quantitative methods. Statistical models and methods are among the most important tools in economic analysis, decision-making and business planning. This textbook, “Exploratory Data Analysis in Business and Economics”, aims to familiarise students of economics and business as well as practitioners in firms with the basic principles, techniques, and applica...