Journal Article Recent Books on Mathematical and Statistical Method Get access W. L. Crum W. L. Crum Harvard University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 39, Issue 2, February 1925, Pages 313–319, https://doi.org/10.2307/1884877 Published: 01 February 1925

Journal Article Mills's Statistical Methods Get access W. L. Crum W. L. Crum Harvard University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 39, Issue 3, May 1925, Pages 469–472, https://doi.org/10.2307/1882437 Published: 01 May 1925

T HIS discussion aims to indicate the implications, concerning the major consequences of the N.R.A., of selected broad statistical measurements of various factors in the business situation. Even under ordinary circumstances one cannot with assurance outline the causal connections between particular economic events or policies and the concurrent or subsequent course of business as revealed in statistics. In attempting to interpret these statistics, therefore, we must bear constantly in mind that some of the observed movements may be due to causes, natural or official, quite unrelated to the N.R.A. The main outlines are, however, so distinct that it seems safe to present tentative conclusions concerning certain chief consequences of the N.R.A. The discussion will be confined to fairly general aspects of the situation. Even if it were desirable to study the detailed effects of the N.R.A. upon numerous small or local industrial operations, significant statistics would not be available. As a matter of fact, it is clear that there is now in high places a realization, somewhat belated but very welcome, that the N.R.A. procedure, whatever the chance of its success for large industries operating on a national scale, encounters insuperable obstacles when applied to local enterprises.