Students in both the natural and social sciences often seek regression models to explain the frequency of events, such as visits to a doctor, auto accidents or job hiring. This analysis provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date account of models and methods to interpret such data. The authors combine theory and practice to make sophisticated methods of analysis accessible to practitioners working with widely different types of data and software. The treatment will be useful to researchers in areas such as applied statistics, econometrics, operations research, actuarial studies, demography, biostatistics, and quantitatively-oriented sociology and political science. The book may be used as a reference work on count models or by students seeking an authoritative overview. The analysis is complemented by template programs available on the Internet through the authors' homepages. (view table of contents)