Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Software Requirements and Opening a Macro-Enhanced Workbook
- Introduction:Why Simulation and Excel?
- 1 Charting in Excel
- 1.1 Introduction
- 1.2 Simple Scatterplot and Double Y Charts: HowToChart.xls
- 1.3 The Shaded (Recession) Chart: RecessionChart.xls and EconChart.xla
- 1.4 Summary
- 2 Economic Growth Literacy
- 3 The Solow Model
- 4 Macro Data with FRED in Excel
- 5 The Keynesian Model
- References
1.4 - Summary
from 1 - Charting in Excel
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2016
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Software Requirements and Opening a Macro-Enhanced Workbook
- Introduction:Why Simulation and Excel?
- 1 Charting in Excel
- 1.1 Introduction
- 1.2 Simple Scatterplot and Double Y Charts: HowToChart.xls
- 1.3 The Shaded (Recession) Chart: RecessionChart.xls and EconChart.xla
- 1.4 Summary
- 2 Economic Growth Literacy
- 3 The Solow Model
- 4 Macro Data with FRED in Excel
- 5 The Keynesian Model
- References
Summary
New in Microsoft Excel 2010, a sparkline is a tiny chart in a worksheet cell that provides a visual representation of data.
– Office DocumentationThis chapter manages to be both originally expansive and incredibly constrained. Economics professors do not bother to say anything about how to make a graph, so the slightest move in this direction is a radical departure, but there really is a vast world beyond the basic charts presented here. A course in macroeconomics is not the place to correct the graphing inadequacies of the typical undergraduate; however, it seems reasonable to insist on a properly labeled and titled time series chart. Naturally, because we are starting from zero, marginal returns are incredibly high, so anything we say about best practice graphing is bound to be valuable. In addition, the fundamental principles (especially minimizing chartjunk) do not change as we climb the ladder of data visualization techniques and methods.
For those interested in more advanced graphical techniques, here are three advanced tools for charting in Excel:
1. The Econ Chart Enhancer add-in, used to demonstrate recession shading, also has a variety of additional options, as shown in Figure 1.4.1. Any chart can be animated, and exponential growth curves can be fitted with growth rates displayed. These features, though reasonably self-evident, are demonstrated in the MaddisonData.xls workbook and Chapter 2. The add-in also has a zoom control (click the Zoomer button) that enables magnification of a portion of a chart. See the screencast at http://vimeo.com/econexcel/moneymsi for an illustration of how it works.
2. The Histogram Excel add-in, written by Frank Howland, is part of the suite of add-ins created for Barreto and Howland (2010). Excel's own histogram maker (included in the Analysis ToolPak add-in), putting the cart before the horse, requires the user to set up bins before making the histogram. The Histogram Excel add-in, shown in Figure 1.4.2, eliminates all of these gymnastics. The user simply selects the data (one or two variables), and the add-in does the rest. It is freely available at http://www.wabash.edu/econometrics.
3. New in Excel 2013, the Office Store (in the Apps tab) offers a wide range of powerful mapping apps. The free Bing Maps app allows associating data with geographical locations and supports dynamic visualization (displaying data based on user input).
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- Teaching Macroeconomics with Microsoft Excel® , pp. 25 - 28Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2016