The purpose of this course is to help students understand key indicators of the state of the economy, such as GDP growth, inflation rates, and unemployment rates, and to learn to interpret these indicators and assess their implications for public policy. Government departments publish key economic indicators on a regular basis, but it can be difficult to understand what these indicators are telling us about the economy and about impacts of economic changes. Policy analysts are often asked to use economic statistics such as GDP, household income measures, poverty measures, and measures of both personal and national wealth for analysis purposes. To make the best use of these data, however, it is important to understand how these measures are derived and how the measurement methods used to compile the data affect their appropriate uses and interpretation. This course aims to clarify the policy purposes of such measures and to explain why different measures are needed for different purposes. It will also give students practice in using these measures to explore policy issues through specific writing assignments.