Figure 2-3 A Cross-Sectional Graph of Average House Prices for 10
Canadian Provinces, 2018
Graphing Economic Data
A single economic variable, such as unemployment, national income, or
the average price of a house, can come in two basic forms.
Cross-Sectional and Time-Series Data
The first is called cross-sectional data , which means a number of
different observations on one variable all taken in different places at the
same point in time. Figure 2-3 shows an example. The variable in the
figure is the average selling price of a house in each of the 10 Canadian
provinces in March 2018. The second type of data is called time-series
data. It refers to observations of one variable at successive points in
time. The data in Figure 2-4 show the unemployment rate for Canada
from 1978 to 2018. Note in Figures 2-3 and 2-4 that in each case the
figure is showing the behaviour of a single economic variable.