Statistical Terms Glossary

The rate of natural increase is the rate at which the portion of population growth (or decline) during a given year due to a surplus in birth (or deficit) in relation to deaths, and it is expressed as a ratio of the basic number of the population.

The income earned by holding an asset over a specified period.

Measures the “profitability” of an asset. Often calculated by dividing the operating surplus by the capital stock.

See resetter loan.

Evaluate securities according to their risk.

The legal act by which a country that has signed the convention agrees to be bound by its provisions; usually ratification requires that the national legislative body agrees to the convention. A certain number of country ratifications are required before a convention comes into force.

Evaluation of a corporation or of a security issued by a corporation, particularly as regards the solve-ability of the corporation. Standard and Poor's, Moody's and Fitch's are the best known rating agencies in the United States; in France the Agency française d'évaluation financière (ADEF) is the major one. Standard and Poor's and Fitch's rating for bonds ranges from AAA, AA and A for the highest quality through DDD, DD and D for the lowest quality. Moody's ranges from Aaa, Aa and A through Ccc, Cc and C and MIG1 through MIG4 for short-term municipal notes. ADEF's ranges from AAA, AA and A through D for bonds and T1 through T4 for commercial paper.

Organization that evaluates the credit rating of prospective borrowers on the securities markets. The standard French term is agence de rating but the only French rating agency calls itself Agence française d'évaluation financière.

The relationship between two quantities measured in the same unit, expressed as one value divided by another. The result has no unit.

Indicates the ratio of employment created directly by the fishing industry in a country.

An elementary index that constitutes the harmonic average counterpart to the Dutot index.

In the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the ratio of students per computer was calculated by dividing the total number of computers in each school by the total number of students enrolled in each school.

The ratio of students to teaching staff is calculated as the total number of full-time equivalent students divided by the total number of full-time equivalent educational personnel.

The trend is eliminated from the series by dividing the original series by the trend to give a ratio-to-trend since the underlying structure of most series used is multiplicative. For series whose underlying structure is additive, a difference-from-trend series is calculated.

A theory based, first, on the assumption that individuals and companies will try to maximize their own welfare -- that is, they will try to make their own economic and other circumstances as desirable as possible -- and, second, that, as individuals and companies make economic decisions in their own interest, they do so in such a way that markets move towards equilibrium, easing inflation.

Principle whereby the adoption of any management measure has to be based on the best scientific information available and on an analysis by an independent scientific body.

A Rationalization agreement is an agreement (generally approved or authorized by government) between firms in an industry to close down inefficient plants, reduce excess capacity and realign production in order to increase overall industry efficiency and performance.