Concept:Further economic analysis needs statistical tools that go beyond mere description and allow prediction, inferential testing, and measurement of data spread.
Explanation:The mean is a reliable measure of central tendency when extreme values do not distort the data, making it useful for forecasting and computation.
The standard deviation quantifies the spread of data points around the mean, providing essential information about consistency and risk.
These two tools together support advanced techniques such as confidence intervals, correlation, and hypothesis testing, which are common in further economic analysis.
In contrast, the median and mode only locate the centre of a distribution and do not offer enough detail for such deeper analysis.
Therefore, economists use the mean together with the standard deviation for more precise and meaningful results.
Answer:C. the mean and standard deviation