Alternative Hypothesis An alternative used to test the null hypothesis.

Biased A biased estimator that does not, on average, equal its true value and/or has a systematic error. [See Unbiased]

Chi-squared distribution is frequently employed in statistical analysis and is characterised by a single parameter. Written as c2.

Consistent A consistent estimator tends to the true value as the sample size increases.

Dummy Variables are used in regression models to represent qualitative effects, e.g. season of the year, male/female. A dummy variable is binary, taking the value 1 if the qualitative effect it is intended to reflect is present, and taking the value zero otherwise.

F Form PcGive's test output, based on the F distribution, which is used for testing hypotheses.

Lagged Dependent Variables A variable which is dependent, at least in part, upon values in previous time periods.

Lags Lagged Dependent Variables

Null Hypothesis Some hypothesis about a parameter which will be believed unless sufficient contrary evidence is produced. [See Alternative Hypothesis]

OLS Ordinary Least Squares

Ordinary Least Squares Process of choosing estimators to get the "best fit" by minimising the squared distance between estimates and actual points.

Standard Deviation The square root of the variance, which measures the spread of a distribution.

Standard Error The standard deviation of a sample mean.

Unbiased An estimator is said to be unbiased if and only if the bias is equal to zero. That is, the estimator, on average, gets the correct value, and there is no systematic tendency away from the true value. [See Biased]

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