Data gathering is a crucial part of a wide range of activities, including commerce, government, climate change, and social equity. Economists and statisticians are the people in charge of accordance with the act. Because they work together and data analysis is a fundamental role in both, these 2 may simply be swapped out for one another. These are, nevertheless, unlike in several respects.
Both the terms are sometimes used interchangeably but they have a ton of differences and this article highlights the describing points about an economist and a statistician. Also, a descriptive table with comparable points is mentioned for ease of understanding the functions each of the roles performed.
Economist vs Statistician
The main difference between an economist and a statistician is that an economist is a guy who works primarily in the analysis of the information in a variety of fields, including engineering, industry, geology, and even administration whereas, a statistician is someone who helps in data collection procedures efficiently by adopting various methods and strategies universally for an individual or an organization.
Trade data may be analyzed by economists for several industries, including miners, industrial services, software, and tech-based industries, and governmental organizations. Price of procurement planning, employment numbers, and customer demand for certain products are among the types of data gathered.
Economists analyze economic data to forecast trends, explain how legislation may influence the economy and offer profit suggestions to businesses. The federal government uses economists’ studies to determine the general health of the US economy and set interest rates.
Talking about statisticians, at their most basic level, statisticians are experts who use empirical and quantitative methodological approaches and models to solve real-world issues. They collect, analyze, and evaluate data to help with a variety of business decisions.
They collect, analyze, and evaluate data to help with a variety of business decisions. Statisticians are in high demand across a variety of industries, with positions in organizations, healthcare, administration are the most common areas of their profession.
Comparison Table Between Economist and Statistician
| Parameters of Comparison | Economist | Statistician |
| Definition | An economist is a person who examines how people make choices and is engaged in using statistics to maximize profits, improve government policies. | A person who comes up with various strategies and tactics to collect data. |
| Task | Studying and tabulating the statistical data into usable forms as well as implementing usable methods accordingly. | To develop new strategies for improving data collection and data mining as well. |
| Utility | Understands and studies based on market and trade trends. | Responsible for improvement in data collection methods more effectively. |
| Scope of Work | Financial decisions, analysis, implementation of new decisions. | Creativity, innovation and crucial developmental skills, tactician and good strategy builder. |
| Salary | 5.5-9.5 LPA in India. | 5.6- 8.2 LPA in India. |
What is an Economist?
An economist is a person who examines how people make choices and is engaged in using statistics to maximize profits, improve government policies or the way they are conducted, or policy research. Economists are used by a wide range of organizations, from community mobilization offices to banking institutions to the Reserve Banks of various countries, to assist them to make information-driven choices.
Economists utilize market data to forecast trends, explain how legislation may impact growth and offer profit suggestions to businesses. The federal reserve provides economists’ studies to determine the general health of the US GDP and raise or lower interest rates accordingly.
An economist’s responsibilities are diverse: doing economic analysis, collecting information, and gathering data on trade and financial differences; analyzing data using statistical formulas, analysis tools, and software; and presenting research findings in reports, tables, and graphs.
There are two major criteria for working as an economist or economic analyst. To begin with, economists usually have professional degrees such as a Ph.D. or a master’s degree. An economist’s average entry-level training is a master’s degree. Secondly, economists usually create a field of expertise in which they concentrate their groundbreaking and strategic research.
What is a Statistician?
Statisticians apply the quantitative disciplines of statistical mechanics to come up with successful data collection methods. As a result, the role entails ensuring that data is correctly collected practically, and efficiently.
He also improves the file’s validity by reliably analyzing and recovering the errors in it. He then offers recommendations on how the data may be used in a study. Poll results, climate change rates, sports statistics, and wildlife populations assessments are all typical applications of statistical data.
A statistician has to ensure that the data gathering techniques correctly represent the community being sampled and that the data is legitimate, regardless of the motivation for the data gathering. Also, the data must not be influenced by external factors.
Businesses will gather a rising quantity of data from an ever-increasing variety of sources, which will account for a large portion of the expected rise. Companies and organizations will have to recruit more individuals who are specially trained in data analysis and interpretation to evaluate and understand this data.
A statistician’s post-analytical report provides information that qualifies the data gathered generating higher differences identified and the particular conditions under which the data may be used. Data tests may be used for anything from sabermetrics and opinion polls to threatened species surveys and levels of pollution. These examples reflect the real-life projects that statisticians usually work for.
Main Differences Between Economist and Statistician
- An economist helps in examining policies and taking financial decisions whereas a statistician helps in creating new strategies for data collection.
- Understanding and predicting economic trends and downfalls is a must for an economist whereas tactics and strategic planning are a must-have skill set for new statisticians.
- An economist’s salary ranges from 5.5 to 9.5 LPA in India whereas the salary of a statistician ranges from 5.6 to 8.2 LPA in India.
- An economist is responsible for financial strategies whereas a statistician is responsible for data mining and public policy strategies.
- Economists focus on data trends in the marketing world whereas statisticians focus on data mining and strategies for data collection improvements.
Conclusion
While both economists and statisticians are responsible for data interpretation, processing, and analysis they may play multiple parts in the process. For example, in a project, an economist may generate questions concerning a changing market and then write a report depending on the trend’s economic implications. A statistician, on the other hand, creates the survey for data collecting and verifies the correctness of the data obtained. Hence, both the roles go hand-in-hand maintaining and balancing the entire organization’s financial and crisis periods too.
References
- https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/statistician
- https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu/economics/about/what-is-economics.html