Managerial Economics 13th Edition by James McGuigan,Charles Moyer,Frederick Harris

Exercise 1

Cruise Ship Arrivals in Alaska
The summer months bring warm weather, mega fauna (bears), and tourists to the coastal towns of Alaska. Skagway at the top of the Inland Passage was, in the nineteenth century, the entrance to the Yukon. Today this town attracts multiple cruise ships per day; literally thousands of passengers disembark into a town of 800 for a taste of the Alaskan frontier experience between 10 A.M. and 5 P.M. Some ride steam trains into the mountains while others wander the town spending money in galleries, restaurants, and souvenir shops. The Skagway Chamber of Commerce is trying to decide which transportation mode in the table of visitor arrival statistics should receive the highest priority in the tourist promotions for next season.
Logarithms are especially useful for comparing series with two divergent scales since 10 percent growth always looks the same, regardless of the starting level. When absolute levels matter, the raw data are more appropriate, but when growth rates are what's important, log scales are better.