Due to the Great Recession (2007-09) and the accompanying financial crisis, the premium on effective economic analysis, especially the two aspects of that analysis and accurate forecasting of economic and financial variables, has significantly increased. Our book provides a comprehensive practical approach to quantifying and accurate forecasting of key variables. This book discusses the importance of select economic and financial variables that provide special insights into economic performance and provides empirical evidence in support of their vital role to the economy/financial world and guidance for decision-makers; highlights simple data description and econometric techniques which can be used to characterize these variables; discusses the application of SAS software (provides SAS-code and explains SAS-output in simple and meaningful way); identifies key econometric issues in a practical setting and solution to those problems; provides a practical forecasting framework for important everyday applications; discusses issues related with the data (e.