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Archive-name: econ-resources-faq/part4 Aux-Header: Posting-Frequency: monthly Sci-econ-research-archive-name: econ-resources-faq/ Last-modified 1999/09/30 Version: vol. 4 no. 2 Url: http://rfe.org See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge
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 4 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.
2.2.0 Other U.S. Data
2.2.1 B&E Data Links
[ASA list of 300 useful data sites]
This site is sponsored by the Business and Economic Statistics (B&E)
Section of the American Statistical Association (ASA). It lists more
than 300 sites "of interest to economists and business statisticians.
" Sites are rated for their quality and usefulness by users (who can
also suggest sites). There are several ways to search for data here.
One way is with their search engine, and another is by viewing the
three categories they organize the data into: "Finance,"
"Macroeconomics," and "Labor and General Microeconometrics." The
sites and evaluations change in response to feedback from users.
# http://www.econ-datalinks.org/
2.2.2 Data on the Net
[surveys 400 social science sites]
This site, at the University of California San Diego, lists a very
large number of social science data sites (more than 400) on the
Internet. Many of the sites contain economic data (unfortunately,
there is little organization to the listing, so some searching will
likely be required). It also lists some 100 data archives around the
world, and another 100 searchable catalogs of data. Finally, they
list about 50 data vendors and offers 149 Social Science Gateways.
# http://odwin.ucsd.edu/idata/
2.2.3 FEDSTATS
[covers 70+ different federal agencies]
This site, run by the Federal Interagency Council on Statistical
Policy, lists detailed information and provides links to more than 70
different federal statistical agencies. Besides information on this
site, you can search for statistical information several different
ways -- these include a search engine (with data from these
agencies), a listing of data via programs (including, of course,
economic ones), and a general listing of data from A to Z. The site
also lists contacts at the various agencies, and you can both list
and search for press releases from 11 of the sites (which happens to
include most of the major economic ones).
# http://www.fedstats.gov/
2.2.4 Federal Web Locator
[directory for federal government sites]
This material is collected by the Villanova Center for Information
Law and Policy. It lists and links federal government information for
the legislative branch, the judicial branch, the executive branch
(with departments), independent agencies, quasi-official agencies,
and non-governmental federally-related sites, in several different
formats.
# http://www.law.vill.edu/fed-agency/
+ 2.2.5 Google -- Uncle Sam
+
+ [subset of well-regarded Google.com search engine]
+
+ This search engine for U.S. federal government sites is a subset of
+ Google, which has been getting good reviews for the relevance of its
+ search results. It makes very heavy use of the number of links to a
+ site to rate them. In trials for various economic data terms (both
+ obvious and non-obvious), it generally returns very useful links.
+
+ # http://www.google.com/unclesam
2.2.6 GOVBOT: Database of Government Web Sites
[search engine for federal government sites]
This search engine specializes in U.S. government and military web
sites. At last count, there were more than 842,000 pages in its
database.
# http://cobar.cs.umass.edu/ciirdemo/Govbot/
2.2.7 Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
(ICPSR)
[leading U.S. social science archive]
This organization offers a substantial amount of social science data
in machine readable form to its more than 600 colleges, universities,
and institutions (data is available to individuals whose institutions
are not members of the ICPSR). All their data is available on-line,
and soon researchers at ICPSR institutions will be able to access it
directly. Some data is available to non-ICPSR members.
In the section of the archive titled "Economic Behavior, Attitudes"
you will find the Consumer Expenditure Survey and the Survey of
Consumer Finances. Other data of possible interest (in other
sections) includes the World Bank's World Tables Of Economic And
Social Indicators, 1950-1988; the NBER's Macroeconomic Time Series
For The United States, United Kingdom, Germany, And France (which has
1.6 million entries in numerous categories including regional data;
most data is from the early part of this century, but a substantial
amount is from the 19th century; the most recent is from 1968); and
United States Microdata Samples Extract File, 1940-1980: Demographics
Of Aging (which is an extract of the Censuses of 1960, 1970, and
1980). In addition, there is a substantial amount of more specialized
data of likely interest to economists.
For economists, an especially useful collection of data is Class V,
which contains data funded by the NSF's Economics Division. This data
is in the "Publication-Related Archive" section of the archive. This
material is available to all.
The Consumer Expenditures Survey and the Current Population Survey
are available through their "FastTrack Service" (which makes data
available before their usual testing and checking). Information on
FastTrack datasets is available from their comprehensive list of
resources on their main web page. The data itself is available on
their ftp site in the "pub/FastTrack" directory. This material is
available to all.
To obtain most data from ICPSR, you generally must contact your local
representative, assuming that your university or college is a member
of the ICPSR.
# http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/
# gopher://gopher.icpsr.umich.edu:70/1/
# ftp://ftp.icpsr.umich.edu
# Information: <ICPSR_Netmail@um.cc.umich.edu>
2.2.8 National Archives Center for Electronic Records
[long-term storage of records]
The National Archives has a branch devoted to the storage of
electronic records from many federal entities, which now contains
over 30,000 files. Of interest to economists are records from the
Bureaus of the Census, Economic Analysis, and Labor Statistics, the
Civil Aeronautics Board, Department of Transportation, IRS, SEC, and
Social Security Administration. In general, records cannot be
accessed online via the Internet, however, detailed information about
them, including a listing of "data files" and ordering information
for the data files (available either on tape or CD-ROM).
# http://www.nara.gov/nara/electronic/
2.2.9 Statistical Resources on the Web (Univ. of Michigan)
[very wide-ranging]
This very wide ranging listing describes where a multitude of data
sets can be found on the Internet. While there is little additional
economic data beyond what is covered here, there is a wealth of other
data -- everything from agriculture to weather (26 categories in
all).
# http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Documents.center/stats.html
2.2.10 U.S. Census Bureau
[great wealth of information]
The Census offers a great wealth of data. It is tempting, and in fact
accurate to say, that if you think it is at all possible that the
data is produced by the Census, check here -- you're likely to find
it. The material is a mix of general interest material (I've even
used some for my principles classes) and highly detailed information.
The "News" category includes news releases, tipsheets, fact sheets,
Census briefs, and the "Census and You" monthly newsletter. It also
has a section titled "Ask the Expert," where you can ask find contact
information of different Census functions.
The "Search" category includes many different ways of searching this
site and material on it. This includes words in on-line Census
documents, searching by place that Census reports on, and searching
for Census staff members. You can even search via a map, from which
you can choose the geographical area you're interested in, and then
view summary information about that area. You can proceed to the
country level, and it provides a wealth of interesting and
easy-to-find information.
"Access Tools" includes software that works over the net, such as
"Map Stats" (which profiles information from states and counties (the
same as map searching described above); the "Tiger" map system for
generating maps on the fly; "1990 Census Lookup" (you can extract
files from a given Census); a gazetteer for the U.S. (which also
performs lookups); "FERRET" (Federal Electronic Research and Review
Tool) for extracting data; and "MABLE/Geocorr," which accesses MABLE
geographic database and generates correlation lists as reports or
files. This section also includes software you can download, and
Census access tools at other sites.
The "CenStats and "CenStore" section lists various products.
"CenStats" is an fee-based Internet service for statistical data.
"CenStore" has information on various products, such as tapes,
CD-ROMS, diskettes, publications, and maps. You can purchase all
documents generated by Census after January, 1996 in electronic form.
Most material is in the section titled "Subjects A-Z" (only 2 letters
have no entry). The slightly edited entries are:
A: Abbreviation and Acronym Glossary, Acquisition Information,
Advance Monthly Retail Sales, Advisory Committees, Age, Age Search,
Aging, Agriculture, Alaska Native, American Community Survey,
American Indian, Ancestry, Annual Research Conference, Apportionment,
Asian, and Assets.
B: Birthplace, Births, Black-Owned Businesses, Black Population,
Building Permits, and Business (Customized Tabulations, Databases,
Enterprises, General, Inventories, Owners, Totals by County, Reports,
and FAQ)
C: Calendars, Capital Assets, Capital Expenditures, CD-ROMs, Census
Briefs, Census Catalog and Guide, CenStats, CenStore, Census 2000,
Census & You, Census Bureau, Census Tract Coding Resources, Children,
Citizenship, City/County Governments, College Enrollment, Commodity
Flow, Commodity Input/Exports Related to Output, Communication
Services, Communications, Commuting, Companies, Computer Ownership
and Use, Conferences, Congressional Affairs, Congressional Districts,
Consolidated Federal Funds Report, Construction (Current Reports,
Industry Series, and Statistics), Continuous Measurement, Contracts,
County Business Patterns, County & City Data Book, County Profiles,
Crops, Current Industrial Reports (CIRs), Current Population Survey
(CPS), and Customer Liaison Office.
D: Data Capture Services Contract, Data Developments, Data Extraction
System, Deaths, Decennial Census (2000, 1990, Historical, and Report
to Congress -- The Plan for Census 2000), Demographic and Social
Characteristics, Demographic Business Characteristics, Disability,
Divorces, and Durable Goods Orders.
E: Economic Census, Economic Indicator Releases Schedule, Economic
Indicators, Economic Statistics Briefing Room, Education, Education
Finances, Elderly, Electronic Data Product Support - TechTalk:,
Elected Officials, Electronic Subscription Service,
Employee-Retirement Systems, Employment (General/Public and
Opportunities (Census Bureau)), Empowerment Contracting Resources,
Enterprises, Entrepreneurs, Establishment and Firm Size, Estimates
(1996 Estimates of the Population of Cities, Places, and MCDs Housing
Units & Households, Income, Persons, and Poverty), Expenditures,
Exports, and Extract Software for CD-ROM.
F: Families, Farms, Federal Depository Libraries, Federal
Expenditures, Federal Government Data, Federal-State Cooperative
Program, Federal Statistics Briefing Room, FEDSTATS Fellowship
Opportunities, Fertility, Finance (Insurance & Real Estate), Finances
of Governments and Schools, Fishing, Foreign Born, and Foreign Trade.
G: Gazetteer (U.S.), Genealogy, Geographic (Area Profiles, Mobility,
Services & Information), Glossary of Abbreviations and Acronyms,
Governmental Interactions Calendar, and Governments.
H: Health Insurance, Health Statistics, Hispanic Origin,
Hispanic-Owned Businesses, Homeownership, Hotels (Motels and Other
Lodging Places), Households and Families -- CPS Households and
Families Projections, Household and Housing Unit Estimates, Housing
(Characteristics, Completions, Inventory Change, Houses Sold, Housing
Starts, Press Releases Starts, and Statistics), and Hunting.
I: Immigration, Imports, Income, Indicators - Economic, Industries
Statistics, Insurance, International (Statistics and Trade),
Irrigation, Inventories (Business), and ITPlans.
J: Journey to Work.
L: Labor Force, Land, Language Use, Livestock, Living Arrangements,
Local Retirement Systems, and Lodging Places.
M: Manufacturing, Manufacturing Financial Report, Maps, Marital
Status, Market Value of Agricultural Products, Marriage, Merchandise
Line Sales, Metropolitan Areas, Migration, Mining, Minority-Owned
Businesses, Mobility/Movers, Money Income, Monthly Retail Sales,
Monthly Wholesale Trade, Motels, and Motor Freight.
N: Native American Population, Nativity, NAICS (North American
Industry Classification System), New on Site, and Nonemployer
Statistics (Retail and Services).
O: Occupation, Other Official Statistics/FedStats, Other Topics, and
Outlying Areas (Economic).
P: Pacific Islander Population, PDFPublications, Place of Birth,
Place of Work, Population (1996 Estimates of the Population of
Cities, Places, and MCDs (Characteristics, Density, Estimates, P-20,
P-23, Profile, Projections, and Topics)), Poverty, Press Releases,
Previous Residence, Prices and Inflation, Procurement Activities,
Product Profiles, Product Shipments, Program Participation, Public
Finance and Employment, Publications, and Puerto Rico.
Q: Quarterly Financial Report (Manufacturing, Mining, and Trade
Corporations).
R: Race, Radio Broadcasts, Ranches, Real Estate, Recreation,
Redistricting Data Program, References, Regional Offices of Census
Bureau, Report to Congress (revised August 1997), Residential
Construction, Residential Improvements, Retail (Monthly Retail Sales,
Retail Trade, Retail Trade for Outlying Areas, and Sales and
Inventories -- Retail), and Rural/Urban.
S: Sales and Inventories -- Retail, Sales and Inventories --
Wholesale, School (Characteristics of Students, Enrollment -
Including College, Finances, Public Education Finances, and Schools),
Service Annual Survey, Service Industries, Service Industries for
Outlying Areas, Shipments (Inventories, & Orders), SIC Codes
(Standard Industrial Classification), Small Area Income and Poverty
Estimates, Small Business, Solicitations, Sources of Receipts,
Sources of Revenue, State Data Centers, State Government, State
Profiles, State Retirement Systems, Statistical Abstract, Statistical
Agencies (Federal and International), Statistical Briefs See also:
Census Brief, Statistical Research Report Series, Subject Index to
Population Reports, Subscription Service, Survey of Income and
Program Participation (SIPP), and Surveys.
T: Taxes (Quarterly Tax Revenues (by state and local governments),
State Tax Collection, and Taxable Property Values), TechTalk
(Electronic Data Product Support), TIGER, Trade (Goods and Services,
Trade and Employment, Trade Balance, Trade Corporations Financial
Report, International, and with U.S. Possessions), Transportation,
Travel to Work, and Truck.
U: Urban/Rural, U.S. Exports and Imports, U.S. Gazetteer, U.S.
Merchandise Trade, U.S. Possessions - Trade, U.S. Trade with Puerto
Rico, and Utilities.
V: Vacancy, Value of New Construction, and Voting and Registration.
W: Warehousing, We the Americans Series, Wealth, Wholesale (Monthly
Wholesale Trade, Sales and Inventories -- Wholesale, Wholesale Trade,
and Wholesale Trade Outlying Areas), Wildlife, Women-Owned
Businesses, and Working Papers.
Y: Year 2000.
Z: ZIP Code Statistics.
Finally, several miscellaneous entries provide additional
information: "About the Bureau," "User Manual," "New on the Site,"
"Current Economic Indicators" (with recent reports), and the current
U.S. and world populations.
# http://www.census.gov
# ftp://ftp.census.gov
# Information: <pio@census.gov>
2.2.11 Integrated Public Use Microdata Sample (IPUMS)
[Census data from 1850 to 1990]
To quote from their documentation on the newest version, IPUMS-98,
"The IPUMS consists of twenty-five high-precision samples of the
American population drawn from thirteen federal censuses. Some of
these samples have existed for years, and others were created
specifically for this database. The twenty-five samples, which span
the censuses of 1850 to 1990, collectively comprise our richest
source of quantitative information on long-term changes in the
American population." The samples include censuses from 1850, 1860,
1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1940, 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980 and 1990;
many are 1 percent individual samples of that census. In all, there
are some 25 gigabytes of data on some 50 million people. On-line
documentation is available, as is an extraction engine (more useful
than downloading a complete sample, the smallest of which has an
uncompressed size of 73 megabytes). Compared to past versions,
"IPUMS-98 is a comprehensive revision of the Integrated Public Use
Microdata Series. We have expanded the documentation threefold, added
new datasets and variables, and revised dozens of variables."
# http://www.ipums.umn.edu/
# Information: <ipums@hist.umn.edu>
2.2.12 Summary U.S. Census Info at Missouri Census Data Center
[summary data for cities, towns, and counties (easy to get)]
At first glance, one would think that this site would be Missouri
specific, but they have taken data from the 1990 U.S. Census and made
it publically available in their "Basic Tables." The Center has
"organized the 100 most frequently used social and economic variables
from the 1990 Census of Population and Housing, Summary Tape File 3
into a set of 14 descriptive tables in Lotus 123 format (ver.2)" and
ASCII. Data is available for metro areas, places (which covers a very
large number of communities), all counties, and states." The
spreadsheet format covers a given geographical entity, such as all
states, all counties, etc. They also offer "Basic Trends Reports,"
which show changes from the 1980 to 1990 Census. Finally, they offer
a "profile generator," which will generate this data from your
geographical area of interest.
# http://www.oseda.missouri.edu/usinfo.html
2.2.13 General Social Survey (GSS)
[annual survey; broad, but some economic questions]
"The GSS (General Social Survey) is an almost annual 'omnibus,'
personal interview survey of U.S. households conducted by the
National Opinion Research Center." The first one was run in 1972, and
has been run almost every year since. In total, there have been some
35,000 respondents answering a very wide variety of questions of
interest to social scientists. Of interest to economists are
questions on economic policy, as well as income received.
# http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/GSS/
2.2.14 Health and Retirement Study (HRS)
The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) studies many characteristics of
those near or in their retirement years. Specifically, it is a
longitudinal national panel study. The baseline consists of
interviews in 7,600 households in 1992 (respondents aged from 51 to
61, along with their spouses), with followups every two years for 12
years. The data contains a wealth of economic, demographic and health
information, which of course are generally related to retirement
issues. The entire dataset, including errata, is available at this
site.
Besides data, this site also offers the latest information related to
this project, material from papers using this dataset, links to
related sites, and some useful software.
Robert J. Willis, of the Institute for Social Research, University of
Michigan, is the Principal Investigator for this project and "Asset
and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD).
# http://www.umich.edu/~hrswww/
2.2.15 Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD)
The Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) is an HRS
Auxiliary Study, and is also known as Aging and Health in America. It
centers on "data to address a broad range of scientific questions
focused on the interplay of resources and late life health
transitions." The initial sample consisted of 7,447 respondents aged
70+, including 2,548 aged 80 and over, plus 775 younger spouses.
There are followups every two years. Like the HRS, data, including
errata, is available on-line.
Besides data, this site also offers the latest information related to
this project, material from papers using this dataset, links to
related sites, and some useful software.
Robert J. Willis, of the Institute for Social Research, University of
Michigan, is the Principal Investigator for this and for "Health and
Retirement Study (HRS)."
# http://www.umich.edu/~hrswww/
2.2.16 National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS) Bibliography
This online version of the NLS Bibliography provides current and
retrospective entries from previous editions and supplements. Though
data itself is not available, the bibliography contains approximately
2,500 citations of NLS-based journal articles, working papers,
conference presentations, and dissertations published from 1968 to
1995. Several methods of searching can be used and detailed search
instructions are provided.
# www.chrr.ohio-state.edu/nls-bib/
2.2.17 Panel Study on Income Dynamics (PSID)
[well-known longitudinal survey of U.S. residents]
The data available here is best described by their own documentation.
To quote: "The Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) is a
longitudinal survey of a representative sample of U.S. individuals
(men, women, and children) and the families in which they reside. It
has been ongoing since 1968. Data are collected annually, and the
data files contain the full span of information collected over the
course of the study. PSID data can be used for cross-sectional,
longitudinal and intergenerational analyses, and for studying both
individuals and families.
"The general design and core content of the study have remained
largely unchanged, and considerable effort has been expended cleaning
the data. These two features greatly enhance the PSID's potential for
longitudinal analysis. Preparation and distribution of comprehensive
documentation and a User Guide also facilitate use of the PSID data."
"The study has been conducted at the Survey Research Center,
University of Michigan since its beginning in 1968, with the
Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)
data archive handling the public distribution of the data files,
documentation, and User Guide. PSID data files have been disseminated
widely throughout the United States and to numerous foreign
countries."
The site has very extensive documentation, extensive introductory
material, a newsletter, and lists of the very large number of working
papers and publications that use the data (some of this material is
in RTF (Rich Text Format), which can be read by Microsoft Word or
WordPerfect). Some material is even available in languages other than
English.
The entry "PSID Files" contains the main PSID files. There are
individual "family files" from 1968 to 1996, as well as a "24 year
individual file." When uncompressed, they become ASCII files, and SAS
and SPSS programs are available that will bring the data into those
packages. Additional datasets include (i) Active Saving Files, (ii)
Estimating Risk Tolerance, (iii)Health Care Burden File, (iv)
Marriage and Birth History Supplements, (v) Parent Health Supplement,
(vi) Relationship File, (vii) Telephone Health Questionnaire
Supplement, and (viii) Self Administered Questionnaire Supplement.
The "What's New" section shows availability of newest datasets and is
updated frequently.
# http://www.isr.umich.edu/src/psid/
2.2.18 Study of American Families, 1994
[extends GSS]
This study extends the General Social Survey (GSS) with information
on "the role of families in the transmission and maintenance of
socioeconomic inequality." To this end, they collected data on GSS
respondents' first occupation, mother's occupations when respondents
were young, and GSS respondents' first spouses (if married more than
once). GSS respondents' first spouses (if married more than once)."
Another extension to the GSS was a short test of cognitive ability.
Finally, additional information was obtained on the respondents'
siblings.
The data is available on-line, and the staff will archive datasets
onto CD-ROMs for users on or off campus (the University of
Wisconsin).
The data is available on-line.
# http://DPLS.DACC.WISC.EDU/SAF/
2.2.19 Department of the Treasury
[many areas; includes financing the federal debt, international
finance, and federal spending]
One item of particular interest is the "Treasury Bulletin," which has
three sections. The first is "Financial Operations" (with details on
federal fiscal operations, the accounts of the Treasury, the Federal
Debt, and Public Debt Operations, which deals with Treasury
financing). This section also covers the ownership of federal
securities. The second section is "International Statistics," which
covers capital movements, the stabilization fund, and the like. The
third section is "Special Reports." In all these reports, there is
great detail, as one would expect. Some of the data is in spreadsheet
format.
A second item of likely interest is the "The Monthly Treasury
Statement of Receipts and Outlays of the United States Government"
(MTS), which details Treasury operations, and thus of the Federal
Government.
There are links to agencies that report to or are part of the
Treasury: the Comptroller of the Currency, the Office of Thrift
Supervision (OTS), the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the U.S.
Customs Service, and the IRS.
There is also considerable material of "consumer" interest, such as
on Treasury securities, savings bonds, IRS forms (they can be
downloaded here), and information from the Mint. Finally, there is
information on the Treasury itself, which includes speeches and press
releases.
# http://www.ustreas.gov/
2.2.20 Energy Information Administration (EIA)
This agency, part of the U.S. Department of Energy, offers a wide
variety of information in this area, broadly defined. Indeed, it is a
veritable treasure trove of useful information on nuclear, oil,
natural gas, coal, and other forms of energy. If you are looking for
information in any way related to energy, this is a fine place to
look.
# http://www.eia.doe.gov/
2.2.21 Energy Resources Board
The ERB, part of the Department of Energy, is separate from the
Energy Information Administration. "Its purpose is to provide a
consolidated and integrated home page for the member offices: Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Energy Information Administration,
Energy Research, Fossil Energy, Nuclear Energy, and Policy." In
short, it contains a variety of useful information for economists
interested in information in this sphere of the economy.
# http://www.eia.doe.gov/energy/
2.2.22 Datazone: EPI's Labor Market Data
The Economic Policy Institute makes a considerable amount of summary
labor market data available here. It includes national, regional, and
state data on employment, unemployment, wages, wage distribution,
median hourly wages, the college -- high school wage premium, a
historical minimum wage series, etc. Much of the data starts in 1979.
# http://epinet.org/datazone/dzlocal.html
2.2.23 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
This site contains extensive statistical information on the banking
system in the U.S. of interest to economists and bankers, as well as
more general information on the FDIC and the banking system, some of
which will be of interest to the general public. There are also press
releases and speeches, as well as background information on the FDIC.
The "Data Bank" includes the "FDIC Institution Directory System,"
which "provides the latest comprehensive financial profile for every
FDIC-insured institution." The FDIC/OTS "Summary of Deposits"
provides "detailed information on over 82,000 branches of
FDIC-insured institutions. Individual office data can be obtained for
each institution or for each state and county. Aggregate data are
available at the state and county level and for metropolitan areas."
Other data sets include "FDIC Institutions," "Statistics on Banking,"
"Historical Statistics on Banking," and the "Survey of Real Estate
Trends."
# http://www.fdic.gov/
2.2.24 Government Information Sharing Project
[repacked data (regional, econ. and agric. census, exports/imports,
and federal spending by cities and counties)]
This project, run by Oregon State University, offers a number of very
useful regional demographic and economic databases. They include "USA
Counties 1996" (with data from the Census), the "1990 Census of
Population and Housing" (again with easily obtained, well-organized,
and detailed data), and "Population Estimates by Age, Sex, and Race:
1990-1997." Other databases include the "Equal Employment Opportunity
File: 1990" (which has "occupation distribution and educational
attainment data by sex, race, and Hispanic origin," the "Regional
Economic Information System: 1969-1996" from the BEA, the "1992
Economic Census" disks 1J (Census of Mineral Industries, Census of
Construction Industries, and Minority- and Women-Owned Businesses),
disk 2B (ZIP Code Statistics) and disk 4 (Nonemployer Statistics).
Finally, other databases include "US Imports/Exports (1993-1997),"
the "Consolidated Federal Funds Report 1987-1996" (which shows
federal spending and obligations on a county and city basis), "School
District Data Book Profiles: 1989-1990," the "Census of Agriculture:
1982, 1987, and 1992," and "Earnings by Occupation and Education:
1990."
# http://govinfo.kerr.orst.edu/
2.2.25 U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC)
[large number of trade-related resources (includes many links)]
This site is very useful for the academic and practicing trade
economist. It includes: weekly petitions and complaints filed with
the agency; a monthly calendar of hearings, deadline dates, and
status of investigations; five-year (Sunset) reviews; news releases;
notices from the Federal Register dealing with the USITC; numerous
reports and publications; the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the
United States; USITC Tariff Database; International Harmonization of
Customs Rules of Origin; and a bibliography of trade-related law
articles. They also have an extensive list of Internet resources by
country, industry, and region that many will find useful.
# http://www.usitc.gov/
2.2.26 Joint Economic Committee: House of Representatives
[policy papers of the majority party in Congress]
This committee is one of only four joint committees in the U.S.
Congress. While it could be argued that the material does carry some
biases of the majority party, it does provide a valuable viewpoint.
There are a large number of press releases and a smaller number of
policy papers. Some topics covered are: Federal Reserve policy and
inflation, economic growth, fiscal policy, the welfare state and the
size of government, the middle class, and tort reform.
# http://www.house.gov/jec/welcome.htm
2.2.27 Joint Economic Committee: U.S. Senate
The material supplied by this committee (one of four joint committees
in the U.S. Congress) presents valuable opinions, though it may carry
the biases of the majority party. This site provides the JEC reports,
hearings, press releases and other events. Reports are from the last
four Congresses and focus on foreign affairs, taxes, economic growth,
employment, and other items of topical interest.
# http://www.senate.gov/~jec
2.2.28 National Trade Data Bank
While probably not of much interest to academic economists, this site
pulls together a very wide range of information (more than a
gigabyte) from more than 25 U.S. government agencies that will be of
interest to firms wishing to export from the U.S. Much of the
information is fee-based. Obviously, it contains a substantial amount
of material that may be of interest to those interested in non-U.S.
countries. One can even search the entire database with "natural
language requests" (that is, you can query the database as you might
a person).
# http://www.stat-usa.gov/tradtest.nsf
2.2.29 National Transportation Statistics
This organization, part of the Department of Transportation,
generates a variety of statistics on the U.S.'s transportation
system. Besides "Transportation Statistics Annual Report " (found in
the "Transportation Studies" section), this site includes other
extensive data (in spreadsheet format) from the "National
Transportation Data Archive." This includes the "FAA Statistical
Handbook of Aviation" and the "Commodity Flow Survey," a joint
project of the DOT and Census which tracks shipments in the U.S.
There are also data sets from the FAA, the Coast Guard, the Federal
Highway Administration, and the Army Corps of Engineers. It also
contains information on the "Journal of Transportation and
Statistics," sponsored jointly be the Bureau of Transportation
Statistics and the U.S. Department of Transportation.
# http://www.bts.gov
2.2.30 Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
This site provides a great deal of information on trade issues.
Besides information on itself, this includes press releases, reports,
speeches, and testimony. Perhaps even more useful are the NAFTA and
GATT trade agreements.
# http://www.ustr.gov/
2.2.31 Social Security Administration (SSA)
[extensive data on trust funds, beneficiaries, and studies]
By its nature, this site offers a variety of material for employers,
employees, and beneficiaries. However, there is substantial
statistical information from the "Office of Research, Evaluation and
Statistics (ORES)" and the "Office of the Chief Actuary." The former
includes the "Current Operating Statistics Tables" (with everything
from the trust funds, to current benefits to black lung benefits),
income maintenance programs, economic indicators, beneficiaries by
county, and studies on disability programs. The latter includes data
on the financial aspects of the Trust Fund, and beneficiary data, as
well as other material.
# http://www.ssa.gov/
# Information: Bruce Carter <bwcarter@ssa.gov>
2.2.32 Standard Industrial Classifications (SIC)
This page, run by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety
and Health Administration (OSHA), offers two ways to find 4-digit SIC
codes: by searching for a specific codes by keywords and by browsing
the actual classifications. Note that SIC codes have been superseded
by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) on
January 1, 1997 (information on it can be found at the Census web
site).
# http://www.osha.gov/oshstats/sicser.html
2.2.33 USDA Agriculture Economic Research Service
This service is distinct from the USDA Economics and Statistics
System at Cornell University. Besides reading about the mission and
organization of the service (including e-mail addresses), you can
also read many of their publications. You can also retrieve their
data (much of it from the Cornell site). They also offer a "Special
Topics Briefing Room," where they address a variety of topical
issues. Finally, they offer an extensive catalog of their products.
# http://www.econ.ag.gov/
2.2.34 USDA Economics and Statistics System (Cornell Univ.)
This project is jointly sponsored by the Mann Library at Cornell
University, the USDA's Economic Research Service, the National
Agricultural Statistics Service, and World Agricultural Outlook
Board. It contains more than 300 reports and data sets from the
economic agencies of the USDA. By subject area, they are
# Agricultural Baseline Projections
# Farm Sector Economics
# Field Crops
# Food
# Inputs, Technology, and Weather
# International Agriculture
# Land, Water, and Conservation
# Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry
# Miscellaneous
# Rural Affairs
# Specialty Agriculture
# Trade Issues
These data sets cover a very wide range of agricultural topics, and
even include international and climate data. The are categorized in a
number of different ways. They are frequently quite detailed, and can
be viewed using a spreadsheets and occasionally with dBase.
# http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu
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