duPont Library: Economics 120: Principles of Economics: Data Sources

Statistical Abstract of the US

The Statistical Abstract of the United States is often the best place to begin when searching for data on nearly any topic pertaining to or within the US. It can be used to find data and it can be used as an index to identify sources of data to explore further. The link above will direct you to the Statistical Abstract series (discontinued after 2012).

Data Sources

S&P Capital IQ Pro This link opens in a new window
S&P Capital IQ Pro is a market intelligence platform that provides data, news, and analytics for financial institutions and corporations. News data and analysis cover financial, real estate, insurance, energy, media, consumer and industrial industries. The robust platform combines vast market data and deep sector analysis. When you login, you’ll find news and research, interactive analytics tools like an Excel add-in and Screener to tailor your analysis, and ever-expanding content and functionality such as ESG, private company data, and real-time dashboards. Users must register for an individual account using their sewanee.edu email address. SEE NEW LOGIN INSTRUCTIONS HERE.
Statista This link opens in a new window
Statista is a platform of data and statistics on media, business, finance, politics, and a wide variety of other areas of interest or markets. Statista gathers data from a wide variety of government and commercial sources and presents it in an easy to search interface. Data can be exported to Excel and charts can be exported as picture files or directly into PowerPoint. Data sources are categorized into industries, broad topics, countries, and digital markets.
World Development Indicators This link opens in a new window
Contains statistical data for over 800 development indicators and time series data from 1960, for over 200 countries and 18 country groups. Data include social, economic, financial, natural resources, and environmental indicators. Offers many useful features: results can be scaled, mapped, and charted; the mapping function allows users to see the results in a world map that can be resized and zoomed to the country level; data can be exported in standard formats such as Excel. 1960 to present.
Information is gathered by the Development Data Group of the World Bank. Information about their methods of data collection can be found here: http://go.worldbank.org/K2XOMZ5DC0

World Bank Open Data
Find data from the World Bank member countries, including coverage of World Development Indicators from 1960 to the present. A good source for GDP data.
Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED)
Economic data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
United States Small Business Administration (SBA) data
Provides a selection of data sources that small business owners can use for market research (very similar to this page of links, except for business owners instead of college students).
Data Sources from the AEA
The American Economic Association provides links to a number of data sources in three categories: U.S. macroeconomic data, other U.S. data, and world and non-U.S. data
OECD Data
Statistics from the Organisation for Co-Operation and Development (OECD). Click on the "Development" link located on the left-side navigation for relevant data points.
UN Data
Find data collected and provided by the UN and its suborganizations.
IPUMS
An individual-level population database. IPUMS provides census and survey data from around the world integrated across time and space. IPUMS integration and documentation makes it easy to study change, conduct comparative research, merge information across data types, and analyze individuals within family and community contexts. Data and services available free of charge. From the American Community Survey. A good source for gender and race data.
American Community Survey
The American Community Survey (ACS) is an ongoing survey that provides vital information on a yearly basis. A source for detailed population and housing information about the United States. This survey gathers information such as ancestry, citizenship, educational attainment, income, language proficiency, migration, disability, employment, and housing characteristics.
Human Development Indicators
The human development data are sourced from international data agencies with the mandate, resources, and expertise to collect national data on specific indicators unless otherwise noted.
The data are presented in two sections of the website:
‘Data’ page – provides downloads of over 150 global indicators and composite indices for over 190 countries in CSV and PDF. This page also provides documentation and methodologies, FAQ’s, API access, and other key information.
‘Country profiles’ page – presents HDI values and ranks, data visualizations/trends for the HDI and other composite indices, country explanatory notes, and over 150 other indicators.
Datasets include definitions of indicators and sources for original data components at the end of each table, with full source details in the Statistical references.
ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research)
Among other things, the ICPSR "maintains a data archive of more than 500,000 files of research in the social sciences. It hosts 16 specialized collections of data in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and other fields." In many cases the files contain raw data that require a statistical tool for use.

U.S. Government Data

Data.gov
A website from the U.S. General Services Administration providing datasets, information, and tools from the federal government.
Data and Statistics about the U.S.
Find statistics and data about the federal government, state and local governments, along with information about the Census and maps of the U.S. showing demographic, environmental, agricultural, and weather information.
Bureau of Economic Analysis
Find state-level data related to the GDP here. From the About page: "BEA's economists produce some of the world's most closely watched statistics, including U.S. gross domestic product, better known as GDP. We do state and local numbers, too, plus foreign trade and investment stats and industry data."
Bureau of Labor Statistics
This key government statistical resource collects and provides data about labor economics and statistics.
U.S. Census Bureau Data
Find data, maps, and visualizations from the U.S. Census.
Economic Indicators
This monthly publication from the Council of Economic Advisers for the Joint Economic Committee provides economic information on gross domestic product, income, employment, production, business activity, prices, money, credit, security markets, Federal finance, and international statistics. (description provided by the source) This is a great place to find U.S. economic data by month.
Bureau of Justice Statistics
Violent crime includes murder, rape and sexual assault, robbery, and assault. Information about murder is obtained on a yearly basis from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports. There are two measures for nonfatal violence—the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). The NCVS measures rape or sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated and simple assault.
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the U.S. and other nations. Includes data on public and private schools and colleges.
FBI Crime Data Explorer
The FBI's Crime Data Explorer (CDE) provides data on crime and law enforcement. Use the CDE to discover available data through visualizations, download data in .csv format, and other large data files.

Historical Data

Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research (FRASER)
The Federal Reserve's archive of historical statistical publications. Data available back to 1914 (for some sets), in searchable PDF files.

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(description from Georgetown Economic Data libguide: https://guides.library.georgetown.edu/econdata/domestic)
Archival Federal Reserve Economic Data (ALFRED)
Builds upon FRED and offers uncorrected historical economic data. Use ALFRED to grab snapshots of data as it was released to economists and policymakers.

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(description from Georgetown Economic Data libguide: https://guides.library.georgetown.edu/econdata/domestic)
Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970
This publication from 1975 "includes more than 12,500 time series, mostly annual, providing a statistical history of U.S. social, economic, political, and geographic development during periods from 1610 to 1970."

Jessie Ball duPont Library

Economics 120: Principles of Economics

Statistical Abstract of the US

Data Sources

U.S. Government Data

Historical Data