Sources and Applications for Open Economic Data

Renaine Julian, Data Research Librarian

Overview

• Finding and Using open data sets

• Sources: • Government Data• Private/Non-Profit Data

• Types of Data:• Aggregate• Microdata

Bureau of Labor Statistics• Part of the U.S. Department of Labor

• Principle Federal agency responsible for measuring:• Labor market activity• Working conditions• Price changes in the economy

• Mission: “to collect, analyze, and disseminate essential economic information to support public and private decision-making”

Source: http://www.bls.gov/bls/infohome.htm

Activity #1: Economies at a Glance

Bureau of Labor Statistics Homepage: www.bls.gov

Activity #2: Finding and Downloading Unemployment Rate Data

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Databases Tables and Calculators by Subject: http://www.bls.gov/data/

National Bureau of Economic Research

• Since 1920

• Private, nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization

• “the nation's leading nonprofit economic research organization”

• Collection of Working Papers

Activity #3: Finding Occupational Wages Around the World

• National Bureau of Economic Research Homepage: http://www.nber.org/

• NBER Public Use Data Archive: http://www.nber.org/data/

Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED)

• Database maintained by Research division of Federal Reserve Bank (St. Louis)

• Over 236,000 economic time series

• Over 68 data sources

• Also, look at working papers

• ALFRED – Vintage economic data

Source: https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/

Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED)• Topics:

• Business/fiscal• Banking• Consumer price indexes• Employment and population• Exchange rates• Gross domestic product (GDP)• Interest rates• Monetary aggregates• Producer price indexes (PPI)• Reserves and monetary base• U.S. trade and international transactions• US Financial Data

Activity #4: Locating FRED data by categories and source

• Federal Reserve Economic Data: https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/

Current Population Survey History

• Originally called “Monthly Report of Unemployment” and administered by the Works Progress Administration

• 1942 Name changed to Monthly Report on the Labor Force and taken over by Census Bureau

• 1948 name changed again to Current Population Survey to account for expanding role for demographic, social and economic characteristics.

Source: http://www.census.gov/cps/about/

Current Population Survey Methodology

• n = ~60,000 occupied households

• Survey administered once per month

• Questions refer to activities during the prior week

• 4-8-4 Sampling Scheme

Source: http://www.census.gov/cps/methodology/

IPUMS USA• Integrated Public Use Microdata Series

• University of Minnesota

• Over 50 samples of American Population from:• American Community Survey• Current Population Survey

• Microdata: Actual survey respondents. • Does not contain summary statistics or tables

https://usa.ipums.org/usa/

World Bank

• United Nations international financial institution

• Loans and grants for developing nations (capital projects)

• Goal to reduce poverty

• Open Data Catalog: http://data.worldbank.org/

Source: worldbank.org

http://www.worldbank.org/

Data Resources at the Libraries

• iPOLL Databank • From Roper Center for Public Opinion and

Research• Over 500,000 questions from national

public opinion surveys since 1935• Updated Daily

Source: http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/CFIDE/cf/action/ipoll/index.cfm

Data Resources at the Libraries

• ICPSR: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research• Mission Statement: ICPSR advances and expands

social and behavioral research, acting as a global leader in data stewardship and providing rich data resources and responsive educational opportunities for present and future generations.

• Over 700 academic institutions and research organizations

• Mix of public use and restricted use datasets

Source: www.icpsr.umich.edu/content/membership/about.html

Final Thoughts

• Data Everywhere!!!

• The Value of Codebooks and Data Documentation

• Aggregate vs. Microdata Samples

• Research Consultations: email me @ rjulian@fsu.edu