The Baltic Dry Index

This book provides the knowledge and skills needed to analyze the Baltic Dry Index (BDI), its development, patterns, models, etc., from a statistical perspective. The BDI is one of the leading indicators of the maritime transport sector incorporating aspects of the future of the world economic activity. The core themes of the book deal with issues such as stationary and non-stationary time series; regression models; volatility of the BDI; cluster analysis; Markov models, etc. Moreover, the book demonstrates the practical implications than can be drawn from the statistical analysis of BDI for the shipping industry and other exporting industries, covering statistical forecasting, calculation of investment risks, hedging strategies and other tools to help the shipping industry to make sound business and investment decisions. The book places great emphasis on a practical statistical approach to analyze the Baltic Dry Index using the free software Rstudio. Every chapter contains numerous examples of the application of the statistical methods and techniques analyzed, including the R commands, so that a reader can retrace the steps of the practical implementation of these methods and techniques to a particular subject. The book is of interest to graduate students and scholars in economics, as well as brokers, managers, and professionals, etc., who wish to gain a deeper understanding of the BDI and its statistical implications for sound investment decisions.