Beginner ~15 hours
Economic Data Literacy: Read the Numbers
Headlines quote GDP growth, inflation, and unemployment daily — but few readers know what those numbers actually measure. This path makes you fluent: reading charts without being fooled, converting between real and nominal, understanding indexes like the CPI, and distinguishing correlation from causation. No advanced math required. By the end you will read an economic news article the way an economist does — asking what is measured, how, and what is missing.
Steps
Step 1: Reading Economic Charts
Time series, cross-sections, and scatter plots: what each chart type can and cannot tell you.
Step 2: Percentages and Growth Rates
The language of economic change: percentage points versus percent, and compounding over time.
Step 3: Index Numbers: CPI and Beyond
How baskets of goods become a single number, and what index numbers hide as well as reveal.
Step 4: Real vs. Nominal
Adjusting for price changes so you compare purchasing power, not just sticker numbers.
Step 5: Averages and Distributions
Means can mislead: medians, distributions, and why inequality statistics need both.
Step 6: Correlation Is Not Causation
Two trends moving together proves nothing about cause — the most abused idea in economic commentary.
Step 7: Spotting Misleading Graphs
Truncated axes, cherry-picked dates, and missing context: a field guide to chart manipulation.
Step 8: Working With Real Data
Put it together: read a real economic release, check the definitions, and ask what is missing.