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- From: Bill.Goffe@usm.edu (Bill Goffe)
- Newsgroups: usm.test.unmoderated,sci.econ,sci.answers,news.answers
- Subject: Econ. Resources on the Internet [3 of 20]
- Supersedes: <econ-resources-faq-3-939499420@cook.cba.usm.edu>
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- Date: 10 Nov 1999 23:27:21 -0000
- Organization: American Economic Association
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- Summary: This document contains a list of resources of interest
- to economists. It should be of interest to anyone looking
- for economic and related information.
- Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu sci.econ:112408 sci.answers:10832 news.answers:170814
-
- Posted-By: auto-faq 3.3 (Perl 5.005)
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- Sci-econ-research-archive-name: econ-resources-faq/
- Last-modified 1999/09/30
- Version: vol. 4 no. 2
- Url: http://rfe.org
-
- Resources for Economists on the Internet, Vol. 4, No. 2, September, 1999
-
- Editor: Bill Goffe <Bill.Goffe@usm.edu>
- Editorial Assistant: Elise Braden <elise@econlit.org>
-
- Part 3 of 20
-
- This guide, sponsored by the American Economic Association, lists
- more than 1,000 resources on the Internet of interest to academic and
- practicing economists, and those interested in economics. Almost all
- resources are also described.
-
- Resources for Economists on the Internet (RFE) is a copyrighted work
- of the American Economic Association (the "AEA"). Permission to make
- digital, electronic or hard copies of part or all of RFE for personal
- or classroom use, Usenet distribution, or mailing lists is granted,
- provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or direct
- commercial advantage and that whole copies show the following notice:
-
- "Resources for Economists on the Internet (RFE), Copyright 1999
- American Economic Association"
-
- Otherwise the AEA owns the exclusive right to print, publish,
- distribute, reproduce, sell, prepare derivative works, transmit,
- download, or otherwise transfer copies of RFE. Copyrights of
- components of this work owned by others than the AEA must be honored
- and attributed to the rightful owner. Abstracting and short quotes
- are permitted. To copy otherwise or to republish otherwise, including
- on web pages, in whole or in part requires prior specific permission.
- Permissions may be requested from the American Economic Association,
- 2014 Broadway, Suite 305, Nashville, TN 37203, or via E-mail:
- aeainfo@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu. RFE is provided without any express
- or implied warranty.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- For distribution via Usenet, this FAQ is split into 20 parts as large
- files don't travel well on Usenet. For other locations of this guide,
- see the section titled "1.5 Where to Obtain This Guide" in part 2.
-
-
- 2.0 Data
-
- 2.1.0 U.S. Macro and Regional Data
-
- 2.1.1 Economic Indicators 104th Congress
-
- [most major releases; no graphs]
-
- This data is prepared for the Joint Economic Committee by the
- President's Council of Economic Advisors. This site offers news
- releases on the current and recent past performance of the U.S.
- economy. While material can be searched for, the "Catalog or Table of
- Contents Listing," which offers monthly reports, is probably the
- easiest way to view the material. This site is run by the University
- of California for the Government Printing Office and is updated
- monthly.
-
- # http://www.gpo.ucop.edu/info/econind.html
-
-
- + 2.1.2 Economic-Indicators.com
- +
- + [links to data and current numbers]
- +
- + This site is by R. Mark Rogers and is the on-line companion to his
- + book "The Handbook of Key Economic Indicators" (he is also at the
- + Atlanta Fed). He lists links to macro data, with some emphasis on
- + recent releases and commentary on the current state of the economy.
- + Overall, it offers very extensive coverage.
- +
- + The category "Economic Indicators, Summary Data Tables" contains the
- + latest U.S. macro data. The data is updated weekly.
- +
- + The category "Economic News and News Releases" contains (besides the
- + above):
- +
- + # Financial or Economic News Updates
- + # Current Economic Analysis
- + # Economic Calendars
- + # Economic News Releases from Agencies
- +
- + In addition, there are the following categories for data:
- +
- + # Monetary and Fiscal Policy Links
- + # Interest Rates and Currency Exchange Rates
- + # U.S. Statistical or Economic Policy Departments and Agencies
- + # Federal Reserve System and Non-U.S. Central Banks
- + # International Statistical or Economic Policy Agencies
- + # Sites for Downloading Data, Actual and Forecast Series
- +
- + Finally, technical papers on "indicator methodologies" as well as
- + information about Mark Rogers and the book are available here.
- +
- + # http://www.Economic-Indicators.Com/
-
-
- 2.1.3 Economic Statistics Briefing Room (ESBR)
-
- [handful of most important data series with graphs (White House
- site)]
-
- This part of the White House web site offers summary data and graphs
- of macroeconomic series. While the series are relatively short, it is
- convenient to have summary information in one place with links to the
- originator. Data is organized in the following categories: output;
- income; employment, unemployment, and earnings; production and
- business activity; prices; money, credit, and securities markets;
- transportation; and international statistics.
-
- # http://www.whitehouse.gov/fsbr/esbr.html
-
-
- 2.1.4 Econ Data & Links
-
- [current values and links to sites that generate them]
-
- This site, run by John A. Shaw, offers current economic data and
- links for a number of different variables. Most of the data is from
- the U.S., but there is also data from Australia; California; and
- Fresno, California; as well as links to other countries. To quote
- from the author, "Over the years I have found that I cannot always
- remember the current value of a particular economic statistic. This
- page was created to provide quick access to a variety of up-to-date
- statistics... In addition, when it was feasible the links in the
- table were chosen so the user has access to time series or data for
- other areas and to related data. Often you will have to follow the
- links or peruse a document or table to get to the particular
- statistic ..."
-
- # http://www.csufresno.edu/Economics/econ_EDL.htm
- # John Shaw <johnsh@csufresno.edu>
-
-
- 2.1.5 Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)
-
- [National Income and Produce Accounts (GDP, etc.), international and
- regional data]
-
- Perhaps the most important data on the U.S. economy is found here:
- the National Income and Products Account (NIPA): GDP and its
- components, personal income, and corporate profits. There is both
- current and historical NIPA data -- quarterly from 1946, and annual
- from 1929. They also offer extensive international data (Balance of
- Payments, Exports and Imports, Investment Position, U.S Direct
- Investment Abroad, and Foreign Direct Investment in the United
- States) from recent years in a variety of formats.
-
- On the regional side, it offers Gross State Product (GSP), State
- Personal Income (some annual data from as far back as 1929, with more
- recent quarterly data), Local Area Personal and Per Capita Personal
- Income, and Employment and Income Projections. Finally, it offers
- gross product by Industry and Tangible Wealth.
-
- In terms of reports, it offers the BEA monthly journal, "Survey of
- Current Business," which frequently explains recent data, changes in
- survey methods, and the like. This journal is offered online, free of
- charge. Finally, it offers extensive documentation on the
- methodologies of the Bureau of Economic Analysis and guides to their
- data, as well as information about themselves.
-
- # http://www.bea.doc.gov/
-
-
- 2.1.6 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
-
- [more than 250,000 long series; unemp. and price series most
- prominent]
-
- The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is perhaps best known for
- reporting the unemployment rate and CPI, but they generate a very
- extensive amount of other data as well. Their LABSTAT database is
- very extensive and detailed -- in all, it contains hundreds of
- thousands of time series.
-
- Their data consists of:
-
- # Average Price Data
- # Collective Bargaining-State and Local Government
- # Collective Bargaining-Private Sector
- # Consumer Price Index-All Urban Consumers
- # Consumer Price Index-Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers
- # Consumer Expenditure Survey
- # Employee Benefits Survey
- # Employment Cost Index
- # Employment, Hours, and Earnings-National
- # International Price Index
- # Employment Projections by Industry
- # Geographic Profile
- # Occupational Injury and Illness Rates
- # International Labor Statistics
- # Local Area Unemployment Statistics
- # Department Store Inventory Price Index
- # Major Sector Multifactor Productivity Index
- # Producer Price Index
- # Major Sector Productivity and Costs Index
- # State and Area Employment, Hours, and Earnings
- # Occupational Injury and Illness Rates
- # Work Stoppage Data
-
- For detailed access to their hundreds of thousands of series, their
- "Selective Access" section is quite useful. Experienced users can
- also directly retrieve a series with the BLS series id. The majority
- of users will be satisfied with their "Most Requested Series"
- section.
-
- Besides current and historical data, they have press releases on
- recent data releases (quite useful for tracking the economy), current
- summary data in "The Economy at a Glance" section, the Monthly Labor
- Review and details on their various programs and the BLS itself.
-
- # http://stats.bls.gov/
- # gopher://stats.bls.gov:70/1/
- # ftp://stats.bls.gov
- # Information (Internet access): <labstat.helpdesk@bls.gov>
-
-
- 2.1.7 Conference Board
-
- ["Leading Economic Indicators" and non-govt. data]
-
- This organization "is the world's leading business research and
- membership organization with 2,800 companies and other enterprises in
- 63 counties." For data, of particular note are their "Leading,
- Coincident, and Lagging Indicators," which are composite indexes of
- macro variables that lead the business cycle, coincide with it, or
- lag behind it. The most recent release is available here, as are
- their values from 1959. There is also information on how the series
- are put together.
-
- They also offer the "Business Cycle Indicators" database, which has
- some 250 macro variables "that have proven to be most useful in
- determining current conditions and predicting the future direction of
- the economy." About half the sources are private. Data is updated
- several times a month, and is in both spreadsheet and ASCII formats.
- It costs $250 a year for individuals, and site licenses and
- educational discounts are available.
-
- # http://www.tcb-indicators.org
-
-
- 2.1.8 Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
-
- [current federal spending and revenue; macro forecasts]
-
- This agency was created by Congress in 1974. Its "mission is to
- provide the Congress with objective, timely, nonpartisan analyses
- needed for economic and budget decisions and with the information and
- estimates required for the Congressional budget process." It is best
- known for its estimates of federal spending, revenue, and the
- resulting deficit, but it also generates numerous reports, studies,
- papers, and memorandums (the different names reflect different levels
- of review and how the document was requested). Every new one is
- available here, as well as Congressional testimony and cost
- estimates, and they cover the complete range of federal spending and
- taxing (both at the aggregate level and down to specific programs).
-
- Besides these reports, they offer considerable data. Their "Current
- Budget Projections" is their well-known twice-annual budget
- projections, which contain many details besides the basic federal
- revenues, expenses, and deficit. "Current Economic Projections" offer
- both short-range (18-24 month) and long-range macro forecasts (the
- latter do not include cyclical fluctuations). Their "Historical
- Budget Data" contains extensive information on not just budgetary
- data, but actual and potential GDP and the NAIRU (the
- "non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment," or the rate of
- unemployment consistent with stable inflation). "Current Status of
- Discretionary Appropriations" details this category of spending.
- Finally, their "Monthly Budget Review" summaries federal spending,
- revenue, and the deficit month-by-month.
-
- # http://www.cbo.gov/
-
-
- 2.1.9 Federal Budget for the Fiscal Year 2000
-
- [summary and very detailed federal budget info]
-
- This site offers a wealth of information on the U.S. federal budget.
- Students and others with a limited background should find "A
- Citizen's Guide to the Federal Budget" to be very useful. Besides the
- budget itself (which is in considerable detail), one can also find a
- wealth of historical and some forecasted information (some of the
- data starts in 1901). Data is available in spreadsheet format.
-
- # http://www.access.gpo.gov/omb/
-
-
- 2.1.10 Survey of Consumers from the Univ. of Michigan
-
- [well-known survey of consumer attitudes]
-
- Information about this famous survey on consumer beliefs and
- expectations (including the Index of Consumer Expectations) and the
- data itself can be found here. As one might expect, the Index has
- many components, each of which is reported here. Data, charts and
- various reports are available.
-
- # http://athena.sca.isr.umich.edu
-
-
- 2.1.11 Council of Economic Advisors (CEA)
-
- ["White Papers" on policy]
-
- Besides some information on the Council and its members, this site
- offers four things: the current "Economic Report of the President,"
- "Changing America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being by
- Race and Hispanic Origin," its white papers on policy matters, and
- "Monthly Economic Indicators." However, the latter is somewhat
- difficult to use as the only interface to it is via a search engine
- -- you must have some idea of what terms occur in the material if you
- want to read it.
-
- # http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/CEA/html/CEA.html
-
-
- 2.1.12 Economic Report of the President: 1999
-
- [President's policies and a fair number of time series]
-
- This site offers the 1999 Economic Report of the President. Besides
- the text (in ASCII and PDF), it also includes the statistical tables
- from the appendices in various formats. Text is in plain format
- (there appear to be no charts). Data is offered in spreadsheet, text,
- and PDF formats.
-
- # http://www.gpo.ucop.edu/catalog/erp99.html
-
-
- 2.1.13 Economic Reports of the President: 1996-1999
-
- [old reports]
-
- You can search some old versions of this publication here, as well as
- read the 1999 report in PDF format. The full documents and data are
- said to be available, but they do not seem to be available.
-
- # http://www.access.gpo.gov/eop/
-
-
- 2.1.14 Economic Reports of the President: 1992-94
-
- [old reports]
-
- Old versions of some issues of this publication are available here.
- Some have data and graphs, and some do not.
-
- # gopher://gopher.umsl.edu:70/11/library/govdocs/erps/
-
-
- 2.1.15 EconData
-
- [very extensive data, but requires a downloadable program]
-
- This database is collected from a variety of U.S. government agencies
- by INFORUM, a project building an inter-industry model of the U.S.
- economy. It contains a wide variety of macro data, regional, and
- international data and places it in a common format. A slightly
- abridged list of categories includes
-
- # Annual U.S. Data:
- # Annual National Income and Product Accounts
- # Annual Jobs, Hours, and Output
- # Gross Output and Product by Industry
- # SIC Shipments by Manufacturing Products
- # International Sales and Purchases of Private Services
- # County Business Patterns
- # Value of Construction Put in Place
- # Annual Survey of Manufactures
- # Annual Retail Trade
- # Service Annual Survey
- # Annual Sales of Merchant Wholesalers
-
- # Quarterly U.S. Data:
- # Quarterly National Income and Product Accounts
- # SIC Export & Import
- # Monthly National Employment, Hours, & Earnings
- # Consumer Price Indexes
- # U.S. Import Price Indexes Locality of Origin
- # BEA End Use Export and Import Indexes
- # Harmonized System Export & Import
- # SITC Export & Import Price Indices
- # Industrial Production
- # Kilowatt Hours
- # Capacity and Capacity Utilization
-
- # State & Local Data:
- # Gross State Product (regions and states)
- # State Personal Income
- # Hours and Earnings
- # Employment by State
-
- # International Data:
- # Foreign Trade by Country and Area
- # Exports and Imports by 2-digit SIC
- # U.S. Intl. Transactions & US Trade in Goods
- # Average Exchange Rates
-
- The data is accessed by programs (only for PCs) provided by this
- project and it can easily be output to ASCII or into a spreadsheet
- format. The data is also compressed with pkzip, and they provide this
- and similar programs as well.
-
- # http://inforumWeb.umd.edu/Econdata.html
-
-
- 2.1.16 Economic Information Systems
-
- [key long time series]
-
- This firm sells value-added software and consulting services, and as
- a sidelight offers a substantial amount of historical (from the
- beginning of the series) and current data in a useful format. This
- includes formatted National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA, which
- includes such variables as GDP); Flow of Funds Accounts, reserves,
- credit, interest rates, and monetary data from the Federal Reserve;
- gross state product and personal income data from the Bureau of
- Economic Analysis, and state and metro area employment by industry
- from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Such formatting makes the data
- particularly useful as it is easy to import into statistical and
- spreadsheet programs. The site also lists 4 digit SIC codes, and
- there is a concordance between SIC codes and NAICS (North American
- Industrial Classification System) codes.
-
- They also offer "Economic Insight," which provides economic analysis
- and of the U.S. economy, the states, and for metro and counties.
-
- # http://www.econ-line.com/
-
-
- 2.1.17 Economagic
-
- [excellent source of macro time series (some 100,000 series
- available)]
-
- According to Ted Bos, this site is a major overhaul, and indeed
- replaces his "Economics Time Series Page." Thus, it is a
- one-stop-shop for a variety of time series data: "This page is meant
- to be a comprehensive site of free, easily available economic time
- series data useful for economic research, in particular economic
- forecasting." In all, over 100,000 time series are available. Users
- can build charts of the series on-line without the need to download
- the data and using their own charting software. Data comes from a
- variety of sources: the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis' FRED
- database, other Federal Reserve Banks, Business Cycle Indicators
- (some 250 time series that behave consistently over the business
- cycle, but which has not been updated in several years), the BLS's
- employment and unemployment data, the BEA's national accounts data,
- and retail sales and building permits data from Census. There is even
- tax collection data from the IRS. Downloading is particularly easy
- with some 8,000 series -- you can click on a file and Excel will
- automatically start with the data (this assumes you you are running
- MS Excel and your browser is configured to call it when you click on
- an .xls file).
-
- In addition to the data offered by the "Economic Time Series Page,"
- EconoMagic adds the BLS Labor Force data. For features, it offers
- mechanical forecasts of the data for subscribers. The user can input
- their own data, or use the data from the site. Various variables can
- be used to aid the forecast, and this includes the public forecasts
- of key macro variables.
-
- # http://www.Economagic.com
-
-
- 2.1.18 FRB of St. Louis
-
- [very convenient macro data source with key (500) macro series]
-
- The major resource of this site is FRED, their macro database. In
- all, more than 500 different macro, monetary, and financial time
- series are available from a variety of different sources. Information
- in this source is current, relatively extensive, easily available,
- and easily downloaded.
-
- Data comes in the following categories:
-
- # Daily/Weekly U.S. Financial Data
- # Monthly Monetary Data
- # Monthly Interest Rates
- # Monthly Reserves Data
- # Monthly Commercial Banking Data
- # Business/Fiscal Data
- # Quarterly Gross Domestic Product and Components
- # Monthly Consumer Price Indexes
- # Monthly Producer Price Indexes
- # Monthly Employment and Population Data
- # Exchange Rate Data and Balance of Payments Data
- # Monthly Regional Data (for the 8th District)
-
- Each category consists of a large number of series (forty is not at
- all uncommon). Each series is available in an ASCII file, suitable
- for very easy downloading. Each group can also be downloaded as a
- compressed or zipped file. Most series are available for long or very
- long periods, and the most recent values are quite current. In
- addition, compressed files are available with all series in each
- category. To help users find data, information on all files is
- available in one summary file. You can also arrange for new data to
- be e-mailed to you.
-
- This site also offers information on the St. Louis Fed and the
- Federal Reserve System, banking information, community affairs,
- economic research, and educational opportunities. Articles, data, and
- programs from the St. Louis Fed "Review" since 1993 are available
- here. Copies of the "Regional Economist", "Annual Report," and the
- "Beige Book" are also available. Data publications include "Monetary
- Trends," "National Economic Trends," International Economic Trends,"
- and "U.S. Financial Data." Newsletters include "Bridges," "Inside
- the Vault," "Central Banker," and "Payments Quarterly."
-
- # http://www.stls.frb.org
-
-
- 2.1.19 Haver Analytics
-
- [emphasis on rapid delivery, quality checks, and very wide coverage
- (fee-based)]
-
- This firm provides "the most accurate and timely economic data
- available. By using time tested computer programs we are able to
- provide most of the time sensitive data within 10-25 minutes of
- release. In addition, we do extensive quality assurance checks on
- every series before it is made available to clients." In all, they
- have 60 databases with data from 100 sources. Besides the usual U.S.
- macro data, they also offer daily and weekly data, forecasts, data
- from Canada, Germany, Japan, Europe, the OECD, emerging markets, and
- energy statistics.
-
- # http://www.haver.com/
-
-
- 2.1.20 STAT-USA
-
- [broad and current coverage]
-
- This site, run by the Department of Commerce, specializes in timely
- reporting of federal government statistics. Thus, rather than going
- to Census, BLS, the Fed, and the BEA for different series and
- reports, you can go to this single site. Retrieving most of the data
- requires payment -- subscriptions (both for individuals and site
- licenses) are available, and single reports can also be purchased.
- While most (nearly all?) of the data can be found elsewhere on the
- Internet, some users might prefer the ability to go to a single
- well-organized site. For those interested in the most recent
- statistics, a particularly useful section is the "Newsstand" -- it
- has recent data, and it is where individual reports can be purchased.
-
- The "State of the Nation" contains the data. Besides daily and "hot"
- releases, its major headings are:
-
- # General Economic Indicators
- # Housing and Construction
- # Employment
- # Manufacturing and Industry
- # Monetary Statistics
- # Economic Policy
-
- # http://www.stat-usa.gov
-
-
- 2.1.21 National Income and Product Accounts (Univ. of Virginia)
-
- [graph NIPA data on-line and get data]
-
- This site at the University of Virginia allows one to graph data from
- the National Income and Product Accounts (GDP and such); Personal
- Income and Outlays; Government Receipts and Expenditures; Foreign
- Transactions; Saving and Investment; Income, Employment, and Product
- by Industry; Quantity and Price Indexes; and Supplementary Tables.
- With each, you can pick a series and plot the data.
-
- # http://www.lib.virginia.edu/socsci/nipa/
-
-
- 2.1.22 NBER's Macro-Historical Database
-
- [pre-WW II data from the U.S., U.K., France, and Germany]
-
- This database comes from the National Bureau of Economic Research's
- early history. To quote from its introduction: "During the first
- several decades of its existence, the National Bureau of Economic
- Research (NBER) assembled an extensive data set that covers all
- aspects of the pre-WWI and interwar economies, including production,
- construction, employment, money, prices, asset market transactions,
- foreign trade, and government activity. Many series are highly
- disaggregated, and many exist at the monthly or quarterly frequency.
- The data set has some coverage of the United Kingdom, France and
- Germany, although it predominantly covers the United States." In all,
- more than 3,500 series are available. More details can be found in
- "Improving the Accessibility of the NBER's Historical Data, Daniel
- Feenberg and Jeff Miron, Journal of Business and Economic Statistics,
- vol. 15 num. 3, July 1997, pp. 293-299 (also NBER Working Paper no.
- 5186). More detailed paper documentation is available from the NBER,
- and an on-line "analytical index" is available as well.
-
- Data is arranged in 16 chapters; they are
-
- # Production of Commodities
- # Construction
- # Transportation and Public Utilities
- # Prices
- # Stocks of Commodities
- # Distribution of Commodities
- # Foreign Trade
- # Income and Employment
- # Financial Status of Business
- # Savings and Investment
- # Security Markets
- # Volume of Transactions
- # Interest Rates
- # Money and Banking
- # Government and Finance
- # Leading Indicators
-
- Data are offered in Micro-TSP.db format (which is pure ASCII) and is
- supported directly by RATS, TSP, EViews, and other packages.
-
- # http://www.nber.org/databases/macrohistory/contents/index.html
-
-
- 2.1.23 USinfostore.com
-
- [buy 60,000 macro series]
-
- This firm resells some 60,000 different macro time series; they offer
- convenience by gathering series from many sources and making them
- available in one place. They focus on:
-
- # Flow of Funds
- # National Income and Product Accounts
- # Output and Productivity
- # Employment
- # Prices
- # Money, Interest Rates, and Foreign Exchange
-
- They offer a search service for their data, an on-line charting
- capability, and the ability to download the data into Excel
- spreadsheets. They have two subscription levels: the less expensive
- one is $39 a month for some 10,000 series, and the complete service
- is $99 a month. Finally, their "Top 150+" service is free -- all you
- need to do is register.
-
- # http://www.usinfostore.com/
-
-
- 2.1.24 County and City Databooks
-
- [useful extraction engine]
-
- This service takes data from the BLS's 1988 and 1994 County and City
- Databooks, and converts the data to a particularly easy to use
- format. The data available is extensive and varied; there are more
- than 200 variables, and they can be output in a variety of formats.
-
- # http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/ccdb/
-
-
- 2.1.25 EconData
-
- [very extensive data, but requires a downloadable program]
-
- This database is collected from a variety of U.S. government agencies
- by INFORUM, a project building an inter-industry model of the U.S.
- economy. It contains a wide variety of macro data, regional, and
- international data and places it in a common format. A slightly
- abridged list of categories includes
-
- # Annual U.S. Data:
- # Annual National Income and Product Accounts
- # Annual Jobs, Hours, and Output
- # Gross Output and Product by Industry
- # SIC Shipments by Manufacturing Products
- # International Sales and Purchases of Private Services
- # County Business Patterns
- # Value of Construction Put in Place
- # Annual Survey of Manufactures
- # Annual Retail Trade
- # Service Annual Survey
- # Annual Sales of Merchant Wholesalers
-
- # Quarterly U.S. Data:
- # Quarterly National Income and Product Accounts
- # SIC Export & Import
- # Monthly National Employment, Hours, & Earnings
- # Consumer Price Indexes
- # U.S. Import Price Indexes Locality of Origin
- # BEA End Use Export and Import Indexes
- # Harmonized System Export & Import
- # SITC Export & Import Price Indices
- # Industrial Production
- # Kilowatt Hours
- # Capacity and Capacity Utilization
-
- # State & Local Data:
- # Gross State Product (regions and states)
- # State Personal Income
- # Hours and Earnings
- # Employment by State
-
- # International Data:
- # Foreign Trade by Country and Area
- # Exports and Imports by 2-digit SIC
- # U.S. Intl. Transactions & US Trade in Goods
- # Average Exchange Rates
-
- The data is accessed by programs (only for PCs) provided by this
- project and it can easily be output to ASCII or into a spreadsheet
- format. The data is also compressed with pkzip, and they provide this
- and similar programs as well.
-
- # http://inforumWeb.umd.edu/Econdata.html
-
-
- 2.1.26 Regional Economic Information System
-
- [nice extraction engine for employment and earnings data]
-
- This system, sponsored by the University of Virginia's Geospatial and
- Statistical Data Center, has a very extensive collection of
- employment and earnings variables collected by the U.S. Bureau of
- Economic Analysis (BEA) from 1969 to 1995 for (i) U.S. regions, (ii)
- U.S. states and counties, (iii) U.S. MSAs, and (iv) BEA Economic
- areas. Large extractions from this database can even be placed on an
- ftp site for ease of use.
-
- # http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/reis/
-
-
- + 2.1.27 Dismal.com Economic Calendar
- +
- + [find release dates and forecasts for data]
- +
- + This section of "The Dismal Scientist" offers a very useful calendar
- + of macroeconomic data releases. It often includes the consensus
- + forecast (from Thomson Global Markets), as well as the value for the
- + last period. It also covers some data from outside the U.S.
- +
- + # http://www.Dismal.com/economy/releases/calendar.asp
-
-
- 2.1.1.0 Federal Reserve
-
- 2.1.1.1 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
-
- [broad and detailed financial and monetary data]
-
- This site offers extensive material about the Federal Reserve
- (including a listing of its regulations from A to Z), a very
- extensive list of their books, pamphlets, staff studies, periodic
- releases, press releases, and miscellaneous publications (with
- ordering information). There is a section devoted to the Federal Open
- Market Committee (FOMC), which includes meeting dates, the Beige
- Book, minutes, transcripts, and press releases. There are also press
- releases, speeches and testimony (including Humphrey-Hawkins),
- consumer information, regulatory information, and numerous reports to
- Congress. This "background" information is quite extensive.
-
- They also offer various "Surveys and Reports." This includes the
- triennial "Survey of Consumer Finances," "National Survey of Small
- Business Finances," "Senior Financial Officer Survey," "Senior Loan
- Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices," and "Survey of
- Corporate Medium Term Notes."
-
- Very extensive data is also in the "Statistics: Releases and
- Historical Data" section. This includes the following releases:
-
- # Commercial Paper
- # H.15 Selected Interest Rates
- # H.3 Aggregate Reserves of Depository Institutions and the Monetary
- Base
- # H.4.1 Factors Affecting Reserve Balances
- # H.6 Money Stock, Liquid Assets, and Debt Measures
- # H.8 Assets and Liabilities of Commercial Banks in the United States
- # H.10 Foreign Exchange Rates
- # H.15 Selected Interest Rates
- # G.5 Foreign Exchange Rates
- # G.13 Selected Interest Rates
- # G.17 Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization
- # G.19 Consumer Credit
- # G.20 Finance Companies
- # E.2 Survey of Terms of Bank Lending to Business
- # E.16 Country Exposure Lending Survey
- # Z.1 Flow of Funds Accounts of the United States
- # Corporate Medium-Term Notes
- # G.5A Foreign Exchange Rates
-
- Many of these releases include long historical time series. Some are
- of high frequency, and many series begin years ago. The frequency of
- new data varies: some are daily, some weekly, some monthly, some
- quarterly, and some annual. The breadth of many of these releases is
- quite surprising.
-
- There is also extensive information on bank and financial market
- regulation and supervision (including supervision manuals), and
- information for consumers. Some articles from the "Federal Reserve
- Bulletin" are available, as are many working papers from the staff.
- Finally, the offer a link to "Fed in Print," a database of Federal
- Reserve publications.
-
- # http://www.bog.frb.fed.us
-
-
- 2.1.1.2 FRB of Atlanta
-
- Besides information about the bank and the Federal Reserve (including
- educational information and some Treasury information), you can also
- find regional economic information for this, the 6th Federal Reserve
- District, links to other regional data, and their publication
- "Regional Update." Among publications, you'll find their "Economic
- Review," "Economics Update" and "Financial Update." Finally, they
- offer their videos, press releases, speeches, information on their
- publications, and research working papers.
-
- # http://www.frbatlanta.org/
-
-
- 2.1.1.3 FRB of Boston
-
- This Federal Reserve Bank offers information about itself, material
- for education and public service (including frequently asked
- questions of their research library), and information on financial
- services for consumers (including Treasury Direct). For regional
- data, for this, the 1st Federal Reserve District, they offer
- extensive links to information on their region's states, as well as a
- link to the "New England Electronic Economic Data Center" (NEEEDc)),
- which is run by Jim Breece of the University of Maine. The data is
- published in the "New England Economic Indicators" and the "New
- England Banking Trends." It has some 90 variables from 1969 for all
- states and some metropolitan areas and GSP data for the New England
- area from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Finally, you can read
- their publications "New England Economic Review," "New England
- Economic Indicators," "Regional Review," "Fiscal Facts," "New England
- Banking Trends," "Bank Notes," "FedFlash," and "Fedtalk." Conference
- proceedings, research reports, press releases, and working papers
- from the bank's staff are on-line as well.
-
- # http://www.bos.frb.org/
-
-
- 2.1.1.4 FRB of Chicago
-
- This site includes a number of guides to the Chicago Fed (the 7th
- Federal Reserve District), the Fed in general, and financial markets
- (including extensive information on Treasury securities). Some of
- this will be of interest to economic educators (they also have a
- large section with education specific material). Many of their
- publications are available as well; these include "Agricultural
- Letter," "Chicago Fed Letter," "Economic Perspectives," "FedWire,"
- "Detroit FedPoints," "Economic Development News & Views,"Profitwise,"
- "Midwest Economic Report," and "On Reserve." This material will be of
- interest to economists, the general public, consumers, and educators
- who have an interest in the many activities of the Fed. There is also
- some regional economic information, as well as various reports,
- working papers, working papers by their staff, and speeches.
-
- # http://www.frbchi.org/
-
-
- 2.1.1.5 FRB of Cleveland
-
- [particularly nice macro publications]
-
- This site first offers extensive information about this Federal
- Reserve Bank, which covers the 4th Federal Reserve District. In
- addition, they have various public announcements, but likely to be of
- the most interest are their publications. Under the heading of
- Economic Research there is "Economic Commentary," which analyzes
- recent events (it would be an excellent classroom supplement), and
- "Economic Trends" (which examines and plots recent economic
- statistics), and the "Economic Review" (which offers detailed
- analysis of economic issues). They also offer working papers from
- their Financial Services Research Group. Under the banking category
- they offer the "Community Reinvestment Forum," "Fourth District
- Focus: News for Depository Institutions," and "Fourth District
- Dialogue," "FedWord," and "Fourth District Operating Circulars."
-
- In addition, there are entries for functional areas of the bank:
- Banking Supervision and Regulation (BS&R), Corporate Communications
- (CC), Community Reinvestment (CR), Data Services, Economic Research,
- Electronic Payments, Marketing, and Securities. Finally, they list
- employment opportunities with the bank, and other resources on the
- Internet.
-
- # http://www.clev.frb.org/
-
-
- 2.1.1.6 FRB of Dallas
-
- This federal reserve bank offers information about itself and the
- Federal Reserve System. In addition, they offer many of their
- publications: "Southwest Economy," "Financial Industry Issues,"
- "Financial Industry Trends," "Houston Business," "Financial Industry
- Studies," "Banking and Community Perspectives," "Vista," and
- "Economic Insights" (which offers "commentary from Dallas Fed
- president, Robert D. McTeer and noted public policymakers and
- analysts on a variety of economic topics of current interest"), and
- their quarterly research journal "Economic Review". They also offer
- summary regional economic data for this, the 11th Federal Reserve
- District, numerous links to macro data (including the Conference
- Board's Leading, Lagging, and Coincident Indices). They also offer
- their exchange rate measure, (the Trade Weighted Value of the Dollar
- (TWVD)), and two regional indicators: Texas Industrial Production
- Index (TIPI), and Texas Index of Leading Indicators (TILI). Finally,
- they have information on bank supervision, and their Center For Latin
- American Economics.
-
- # http://www.dallasfed.org/
-
-
- 2.1.1.7 FRB of Kansas City
-
- This federal reserve bank offers information about itself and the
- Federal Reserve System. Additional information is offered by
- functional areas: Economic Research, Bank Supervision, Community
- Affairs, Financial Services, Public Affairs, and Consumer Affairs.
- Economic Research offers a wide range of interesting material: their
- "Economic Review," "Regional Economic Digest," "Economic Forces
- Shaping the Heartland," "Financing Rural America," and their
- symposia. For the financial sector, they offer "Financial Industry
- Perspectives," "Financial Industry Trends," and "Fed Letter." For
- regional data (this is the 10th Federal Reserve District), they offer
- their "Manufacturing Survey," and offer extensive regional data from
- their "Regional Economic Update," which includes information in the
- following areas: employment, income and taxes, business activity,
- construction, energy, agriculture, and banking. Finally, they offer
- abstracts of their working papers.
-
- # http://www.kc.frb.org/
-
-
- 2.1.1.8 FRB of Minneapolis
-
- Besides information on the Fed and itself, they offer fairly
- extensive regional (Ninth District) data: agriculture, banking,
- business, construction and real estate, exports, labor markets,
- natural resources, population, and travel and tourism. There are also
- links to macro data. They also offer their publications: "Quarterly
- Review," "Fedgazette," "The Region," their "Annual Report," and
- "Community Dividend." Papers from their economists (staff reports,
- working papers, and discussion papers) are available too. Of special
- interest is the "Economic War Between the States" section, which
- deals with development incentives that states offer on a competitive
- basis. They also offer extensive banking information. Finally, they
- provide nice educational information.
-
- # http://woodrow.mpls.frb.fed.us/
-
-
- 2.1.1.9 FRB of New York
-
- [more than the usual amount of material; includes current exchange
- rates]
-
- Besides offering extensive information on themselves (they cover the
- 2nd Federal Reserve District) and the Federal Reserve in general,
- this site has extensive information on banking (including regulatory
- issues), various news items (including news in various financial
- markets and from speeches), and same day exchange rate and interest
- rate information (see the "Statistics" section). Regarding
- publications, they offer their "Annual Report," "Current Issues in
- Economics and Finance" (which focuses on "specific public policy
- issues"), "Economic Policy Review," ("a policy-oriented research
- journal on macroeconomics, banking, and financial market topics"),
- "Research Update" (which summarizes recent research), "Staff
- Reports," and "Research Papers." There is also extensive educational
- information (some of the publications can be ordered on-line).
-
- For statistics, they offer considerable interest rate data (some from
- the early part of this century). This includes the Federal Funds
- rate, the Discount Rate, the Prime Rate and some CD data. Finally,
- there is considerable information for consumers on savings bonds and
- the Treasury Direct Program.
-
- # http://www.ny.frb.org/
-
-
- 2.1.1.10 FRB of Philadelphia
-
- [well known for surveys of macro forecasts]
-
- Besides the usual information on itself and the Fed in general
- (including press releases), they offer two surveys of macro
- forecasts: the "Livingston Survey" and the "Survey of Professional
- Forecasters." They also offer extensive regional information (they
- cover the 3rd Federal Reserve District), banking information,
- consumer information, working papers from their research department,
- and their "Business Review."
-
- # http://www.phil.frb.org/
-
-
- 2.1.1.11 FRB of Richmond
-
- Besides offering general information (including news releases and
- material for educators), this federal reserve bank (for the 5th
- Federal Reserve District), also has extensive material on banking for
- its member banks, information for consumers, and community affairs.
- There is also extensive regional information. Finally, it also
- includes the research department's working paper series, "Annual
- Report," and its "Economic Quarterly."
-
- # http://www.rich.frb.org/
-
-
- 2.1.1.12 FRB of San Francisco
-
- [offers "Fed in Print" database]
-
- This site offers information about itself and the Federal Reserve
- System as a whole (this includes extensive educational material,
- including downloadable simulators for monetary and fiscal policy). Of
- particular interest are their publications: "Economic Letters"
- (formerly the "Weekly Letter"), "Economic Review," and "Western
- Economic Developments." Of topical interest is "FedViews," which
- analyses economic events on a very frequent basis. This Federal
- Reserve Bank is home to "Fed in Print," a database of many types of
- Federal Reserve publications, including working papers.
-
- There is also extensive information for banking and financial
- services, community affairs, and consumer information.
-
- # http://www.frbsf.org/
-
-
- 2.1.1.13 FRB of St. Louis
-
- [very convenient macro data source with key (500) macro series]
-
- The major resource of this site is FRED, their macro database. In
- all, more than 500 different macro, monetary, and financial time
- series are available from a variety of different sources. Information
- in this source is current, relatively extensive, easily available,
- and easily downloaded.
-
- Data comes in the following categories:
-
- # Daily/Weekly U.S. Financial Data
- # Monthly Monetary Data
- # Monthly Interest Rates
- # Monthly Reserves Data
- # Monthly Commercial Banking Data
- # Business/Fiscal Data
- # Quarterly Gross Domestic Product and Components
- # Monthly Consumer Price Indexes
- # Monthly Producer Price Indexes
- # Monthly Employment and Population Data
- # Exchange Rate Data and Balance of Payments Data
- # Monthly Regional Data (for the 8th District)
-
- Each category consists of a large number of series (forty is not at
- all uncommon). Each series is available in an ASCII file, suitable
- for very easy downloading. Each group can also be downloaded as a
- compressed or zipped file. Most series are available for long or very
- long periods, and the most recent values are quite current. In
- addition, compressed files are available with all series in each
- category. To help users find data, information on all files is
- available in one summary file. You can also arrange for new data to
- be e-mailed to you.
-
- This site also offers information on the St. Louis Fed and the
- Federal Reserve System, banking information, community affairs,
- economic research, and educational opportunities. Articles, data, and
- programs from the St. Louis Fed "Review" since 1993 are available
- here. Copies of the "Regional Economist", "Annual Report," and the
- "Beige Book" are also available. Data publications include "Monetary
- Trends," "National Economic Trends," International Economic Trends,"
- and "U.S. Financial Data." Newsletters include "Bridges," "Inside
- the Vault," "Central Banker," and "Payments Quarterly."
-
- # http://www.stls.frb.org
-
-
-