Archive-name: econ-resources-faq/part2
Sci-econ-research-archive-name: econ-resources-faq
Last-modified 1996/10/16
Version: vol. 2 no. 2
URL: http://econwpa.wustl.edu/EconFAQ/EconFAQ.html


   Resources for Economists on the Internet, Vol. 2, No. 2 October, 1996
                     Bill Goffe <bgoffe@whale.st.usm.edu>

                                Part 2 of 10

   This document lists the many resources on the Internet of interest to
   academic and practicing economists, and those interested in economics.
   In selecting these resources, I exercise some editorial judgment and
   select items that either offer a substantial amount of information, or
   are specialized to a specific area.

   This guide is Copyright 1996 by William L. Goffe <bgoffe@whale.st.usm.edu>.
   It may be freely redistributed in whole or in part for any purpose. If
   distributed in part, it must include this copyright notice. It may not be
   sold, or placed in something else for sale, without the permission of the
   author. This guide is provided as is without any express or implied
   warranty.

   ------------------------------------------------------------------------

    For distribution via Usenet, this FAQ is split into 11 parts as large
    files don't travel well on Usenet. Part 0 shows what part each part
    contains. If you wish to retrieve a single text file, see 
    <http://wuecon.wustl.edu/EconFAQ/EconFAQ.text>.

    An html version is available as well, and it can be found at the 
    following sites (the first four contain a searchable index for the 
    entire guide)
     # http://econwpa.wustl.edu/EconFAQ/EconFAQ.html             (Missouri)
     # http://netec.mcc.ac.uk/EconFAQ.html                           (U.K.)
     # http://COBA.SHSU.edu/EconFAQ/EconFAQ.html                    (Texas)
     # http://www.econ.nyu.edu/EconFAQ/EconFAQ.html              (New York)
     # http://www.umich.edu/~ilir/r4e/EconFAQ/EconFAQ.html       (Michigan)
     # http://www.finweb.com/econfaq/EconFAQ.html                   (Texas)
     # http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/resources/infoecon/EconFAQ/EconFAQ.html 
                                                               (California)
     # http://ruby.wabash.edu/SCHOLAR.SYS/WWWW/PAGES/depart/economic/
              econFAQ/econFAQ.html                                (Indiana)
     # http://www.inform.umd.edu:8080/EdRes/Topic/Economics/EconData/.www/
              EconFAQ/EconFAQ.html                               (Maryland)
     # http://www.fred.ifas.ufl.edu/EconFAQ/EconFAQ.html          (Flordia)
     # http://www.helsinki.fi/~lsaarine/EconFAQ/EconFAQ.html      (Finland)
     # http://sosig.esrc.bris.ac.uk/Goffe/EconFAQ/EconFAQ.html       (U.K.)
     # http://www.elsevier.nl/econbase/othergophers/EconFAQ/EconFAQ.html 
                                                              (Netherlands)
     # http://www.econ3.uni-bonn.de/EconFAQ/EconFAQ.html          (Germany)
     # http://www.uwa.edu.au/EconFAQ/EconFAQ.html               (Australia)
     # http://www.ntu.ac.sg/nbs/ae/EconFAQ/EconFAQ.shtml        (Singapore)
     # http://www.unina.it/economia/EconFAQ/EconFAQ.html            (Italy)

    The section titled "WHERE TO OBTAIN THIS GUIDE" lists other methods of
    obtaining this guide.

   ------------------------------------------------------------------------

9 U.S. MACRO AND REGIONAL DATA
                                       
9.1 Economic Statistics Briefing Room (ESBR) - White House

   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
       
9.2 Economic Indicators 104th Congress

   This is another site with summary data on the current and recent past
   performance of the U.S. economy ("The Economic Indicators are prepared
   for the Joint Economic Committee by the Council of Economic advisors
   and is published monthly.") To see what it contains, search for
   "contents". All data is found via their search engine; there is no
   listing of data. Thus, the contents page is quite useful.
   
     # http://ssdc.ucsd.edu/gpo/econt.html
       
9.3 Econ Data & Links

   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 world, California, and Fresno, California
   data. 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
       
9.4 Economic Bulletin Board (EBB) U.S. Department of Commerce

   This service is an outgrowth of a dial-up bulletin board offered by
   the U.S. Department of Commerce, and is now part of their STAT-USA
   program (described separately in this guide). It contains about 4,500
   files from the Departments of Commerce, Labor, Energy, and Treasury,
   the White House, the Federal Reserve (including the New York Fed), and
   other agencies.
   
   The EBB is currently offered on the Internet in three places. The
   first is a telnet interface to the EBB at the Department of Commerce,
   and the second is at a library gopher at the University of Michigan.
   There are a few more files (about 4,500 to 3,500) at the Commerce
   Department, but Michigan does have the vast bulk of the Commerce
   Department files of interest to academic economists. Most of the
   differences consist of agricultural, budget and trade files (the
   latter two are available on other places on the Internet). In
   addition, some of the files at the Commerce Department are only kept
   in binary archive files at Michigan. However, starting October 9,
   1996, these files will no longer be udpated. The third location is the
   STAT-USA database.
   
9.5 EBB at the Commerce Department

   The current telnet interface is basically that used for the dial-up
   bulletin board. Thus, one must capture the information from the screen
   or use a bulletin board type download (such as Kermit). I have not
   tried the latter and can offer no advice. To capture all screen data
   on a Unix system, one can do "telnet ebb.stat-usa.gov | tee ebb.data"
   where tee takes the screen data and places it in the file "ebb.data"
   as well as on the screen with a plain ASCII download.
   
   Costs for this service range from $65 to $850 a year depending upon
   the time of day, dataset, and number of hours per day. Limited guest
   accounts are available; use "GUEST" as the password. Guests do not
   have access to all files.
   
   A web interface is available as well from the STAT-USA site also
   offered by the Commerce Department (it is described below). In
   general, it offers more data in a nicer interface.
   
   Gary Langer's BCI Data Manager, described below, is a Windows program
   that lets you manage the BCI and Current Business Statistics (BSDC)
   parts of this database.
   
     # telnet://ebb.stat-usa.gov
       
* 9.6 Dept. of Commerce Economic Data (Uni. of Mich)

*  As of October 9, 1996, data at this very useful site will no longer be
*  updated. The University manually downloads files daily from the EBB.
   As described above, it contains almost all of the Commerce Department
   material of interest to economists. General information about the
   system can be found in the directory "IMPORTANT!! README!!".
   Information on file formats and the system in general can be found
   under in the directories "Current Business Statistics" and "General
   Information Files". As with the Commerce Department location, data
   comes in several different forms. One can also search for files by
   their names in their first entry.
   
   One good educational use of this gopher is recent press releases
   concerning economic statistics. I frequently use it just before my
   macro class to check the most recent numbers.
   
   The directory directly above EBB at the University of Michigan
   contains a variety of useful information.
   
   Again, Gary Langer's BCI Data Manager, described below, is a Windows
   3.1 program that lets you manage data from this database.
   
   Note that Current Business Statistics Files were not updated after
   April 1, 1994.
   
   Finally, be aware that the Commerce Department does not offer support
   for users of this system.
   
     # gopher://una.hh.lib.umich.edu:70/11/ebb
     # telnet://gopher@una.hh.lib.umich.edu/Social Science
       Resources/Economics/ Dept. of Commerce Economic Data (Umich)
       
9.7 U.S. Department of Commerce (STAT-USA)

   This is the main site for information from the Department of Commerce.
   In all, they offer 300,000 different reports and statistical series.
   Besides their own data, they offer data from 50 other federal
   agencies. Access to most of this site is via subscription, however,
   their data is not copyrighted, so it is available at other places
   (many are described in this guide, including the BEA site that offers
   frequently requested data). Unlimited usage is $150 per year or $50
   per quarter for a single user. Site licenses for educational,
   government and other users are available.
   
   This site is organized in several different ways. First, they offer
   data released that day. Then they offer "Frequently Requested
   Statistical Releases," which has the following categories:
     # General Economic Releases
     # Fiscal & Monetary Releases
     # Financial Market Statistics
     # Price & Productivity Releases
     # Industry Statistics
     # Employment Statistics
     # Regional Statistics.
       
   They then offer "Information by Subject:" "Export & International
   Trade," "Domestic Economic News & Statistical Series," and "Business
   Leads & Procurement Opportunities." They also offer the following
   databases:
     # National Trade Data Bank
     # Economic Bulletin Board
     # Global Business Procurement Opportunities
     # Bureau of Economic Analysis Economic Information.
       
   Finally, they offer several publications:
     # Survey of Current Business
     # Global Trade Outlook
     # Economic Report of the President
     # Budget of The United States.
       
   The Budget of The United States is freely available; you do not need a
   subscription to access it.
   
     # http://www.stat-usa.gov
     # gopher://gopher.stat-usa.gov
       
9.8 Bureau of Economic Analysis

   This service is offered in conjunction with the Commerce Department's
   STAT-USA site. Unlike that site, material on this one is freely
   available. However, it does not offer the full range of information of
   STAT-USA; rather it contains the most requested data. Specifically, it
   has recent data (from the last few quarters) from the National Income
   and Products Account (NIPA): real GDP and its components, personal
   income, and corporate profits. There is also historical data for real
   GDP, (but no components) final sales, and several price indicies and
   deflators. In addition, they offer charts of some of their data. For
   balance of payments accounts, they offer "U.S. International
   Transactions" and "Trade in Goods and Services" data from the last few
   years. They offer various charts as well in this area. Finally, they
   offer per-capital and total personal income data for the last few
   years for states and various regions. For more detailed data, you'll
   have to either subscribe to STAT-USA, or obtain the data from someone
   who does (other parts of this guide describe various places where you
   can obtain this data; oddly enough, as U.S. government data cannot in
   general be copyrighted, this is entirely legal). Finally, they offer
   extensive documentation on their methodologies and guides to their
   data, as well as information on themselves.
   
     # http://www.bea.doc.gov/
       
9.9 EconData

   This database, collected by INFORUM, a project building an
   inter-industry model of the U.S. economy, processes a wide variety of
   macro data and places it in a common format. Data includes the
   National Income and Product Accounts, balance of payments, flow of
   funds, monthly employment surveys, CPI, PPI, Business Conditions
   Indicators, blue pages from the Survey of Current Business, industrial
   production, the Penn World Tables, and state and local data including
   employment, earnings, GSP and state personal income. International
   data from the IMF and World Bank is available, but permission must be
   obtained from them. One hopes, that with time, this will change.
   
   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.
   
   For introductory information, a brief overview is in "readme.doc",
   while more detailed information is in "Instruction/contents.doc" and
   "Instructions/guide.doc".
   
   The program that retrieves data (PDG) is relatively straightforward,
   but let me add my own experiences. First, you may need to change the
   path to the help files in the "g.cfg" file. Assuming that you're in a
   directory with one of the unzipped data files, start the program by
   typing "pdg". Then, a return will allow you to start normally. The
   command "look" allows one to survey the data in that file (additional
   commands are found on the bottom of the screen that allow you to print
   the data to the screen or graph it). One leaves the look command with
   an escape. To print the data to an external file in columns, use the
   "matty" command. After typing "matty" and the full file name you
   choose, you'll be prompted for the series names that can be obtained
   with "look". Don't separate series names with commas and be sure to
   end the command with a semicolon. The output of matty lists dates in
   the first column, but you'll need to modify the fractions used to
   denote months and quarters. Finally, you can easily plot data to the
   screen to get an approximate idea of what it looks like.
   
   The full 1992 Surveys of Consumer Finances from the Fed is now
   available in the area data dealing with consumers. It is in a SAS
   dataset. Be sure to obtain the associated codebook.
   
     # http://www.inform.umd.edu:8080/EdRes/Topic/Economics/EconData/
     # ftp://info.umd.edu/inforM/EdRes/Topic/Economics/EconData
       
9.10 Bureau of Labor Statistics (LABSTAT)

   LABSTAT is a very extensive and detailed dataset. In all, it contains
   hundreds of thousands of time series. Currently, there are two
   interfaces to it: the web and a gopher/ftp one. Material is still be
   added to the web site, but it is much easier for new users.
   
   To be specific (and quoting from their documentation), this site's
   data includes:
     # Average Price Data
     # Collective Bargaining-State & Local Gov't
     # Collective Bargaining-Private Sector
     # Consumer Price Index-All Urban Consumers
     # Consumer Price Index-Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers
     # Employee Benefits Survey
     # Employment Cost Index
     # Employment, Hours, & Earnings-National
     # International Price Index
     # Special Export Comparison Index
     # Employment Projections by Industry
     # Geographic Profile
     # Occupational Injury & Illness Rates
     # International Labor Statistics
     # Local Area Unemployment Statistics
     # Department Store Inventory Price Index
     # Major Sector Multifactor Productivity Index
     # Producer Price Index Revision-Current Series
     # Producer Price Index Revision-Discontinued Series
     # Federal Government Productivity Index
     # Industry Labor Productivity Index
     # Major Sector Productivity & Costs Index
     # State & Area Employment, Hours, & Earnings
     # Occupational Injury and Illness Rates
     # Producer Price Index
     # Work Stoppage Data
       
   Data on the gopher and ftp sites are organized by the above
   categories; the web site uses a different organization, but when
   completed, will have the same material. Data is generally quite
   disaggregated; overall, there are many megabytes of files.
   
   Besides current and historical data, press releases are available as
   well.
   
   As you'd expect, the web site is easier to use. In fact, you can
   easily select one or more time series, output in different formats,
   from their vast holdings through a convenient and easy-to-use series
   of web forms. This forms retrieval mechanism, called "selective
   access" exists not only for the general holdings, but also for
   frequently requested series (such as the CPI or the unemployment
   rate). More experienced users can directly retrieve a series with the
   BLS series id. The web site also offers news releases and a summary of
   the current state of the economy.
   
   For ftp access, all data is in the "pub" directory, which contains
   four directories: "doc", "news.release", "special requests," and
   "time.series". For a short introduction, see the "README" file in the
   "pub" directory. Information on how the files are stored is located in
   the "overview.doc" file in the "doc" directory.
   
   The "special requests" directory contains either (i) subsets of larger
   file partitions, or (ii) datasets with alternate partitioning schemes.
   They are done, as you'd expect, on request. The service is offered at
   the discretion of the BLS.
   
   In general, news releases in directory are quite useful for tracking
   current events, while the great amount of detail in the actual time
   series will be quite useful for many researchers.
   
   The gopher is organized similarly to the ftp site.
   
     # http://stats.bls.gov/blshome.html
     # gopher://stats.bls.gov:70/1/
     # ftp://stats.bls.gov
     # Information (on Internet access): labstat.helpdesk@bls.gov
     # Information (on data issues): see the contact.doc in /pub/doc
       
+ 9.11 Council of Economic Advisors
+
+  The Council currently offers three things at their site: working
+  papers, the "Economic Report of the President," and "Economic
+  Indicators." However, the later two are somewhat difficult to use as
+  the only interface to them is via a search engine - you must have some
+  idea of what terms occur in the material you're interested in reading
+  about.
+  
+    # http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/CEA/html/CEA.html
       
9.12 Economic Report of the President via the Univ. of Missouri-St. Louis

   This electronic version of the Economic Report of the President is
   from the U.S Department of Commerce's quarterly CD-ROM product, the
   National, Economic, Social, & Environmental Data Bank (NESE DB), which
   is distributed to all Government Depository Libraries. Like most U.S.
   government information, it is not copyrighted, therefore it may be
   copied for further distribution. In this case, the Univ. of Missouri
   at St. Louis has placed this information on their gopher.
   
   Besides the text of the document, it also contains graphics files of
   the graphs and Lotus spreadsheet files of the very useful data in this
   document. Apparently, a few of the spreadsheet files are corrupted,
   but this appears to stem from problems with the original CD-ROM, not
   problems with transferring the data from the CD-ROM to this gopher
   site.
   
   Currently, this site contains the reports from 1992, 1993, and 1994.
   
     # gopher://gopher.umsl.edu/11/library/govdocs/erps
       
9.13 Economic Report of the President via GPO Gateway at UCSD

   This site offers the 1996 Economic Report of the President. Besides
   the text, it also includes the statistical tables from the appendixes.
   The report can be searched via their search engine.
   
     # http://ssdc.ucsd.edu/gpo/glossary/erp.html
       
9.14 Business Cycle Indicators from Media Logic

   Media Logic sells a Windows program with a variety of U.S. aggregate
   data (specifically, all 256 series from the BEA's Survey of Current
   Business), and to demonstrate the program, they have made these series
   available in both graphical and numerical form. The graphical form is
   from their program, and the numerical form is in .wks files.
   Information on their software can be found here as well.
   
     # http://www.globalexposure.com/
       
9.15 NBER's Macro-Historical Database

   This database comes from the NBER'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.
   
   You access the data via a searchable database (even "kitchen sink"
   returns a response). Micro-TSP's .DB format (which is pure ASCII) is
   used. This format is also supported directly by RATS and TSP.
   
   Paper documentation on this database is available from the NBER.
   
     # http://nber.harvard.edu/macrohist.html
     # gopher://nber.harvard.edu:70/77/.macrohist/waistest/index
       
9.16 Regional Economic Information System

   This system is sponsored by the University of Virginia's Social
   Sciences Data Center and Gis Lab. Its very easy to use interface is a
   true advance. It has a very extensive collection of employment and
   earnings variables collected by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
   (BEA) from 1969 to 1994 for (i) U.S. regions, (ii) U.S. states and
   counties, and (iii) U.S. MSAs. In sum, most any regional economist
   will find it quite useful.
   
     # http://www.lib.virginia.edu/socsci/reis/reis1.html
     # Information: Rick Holt <fmh6h@virginia.edu>
       
+ 9.17 Economic Chart Dispenser
+
+  This service, offered by Ted Bos, graphs macro data from the Federal
+  Reserve Bank of St. Louis (they offer a very extensive set of macro
+  data). Thus, it offers a quick method of analyzing macro data. It
+  offers a number of useful options for the graphs.
+  
+    # http://bos.business.uab.edu/charts.htm
       
9.18 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

   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, and
   miscellaneous publications (with ordering information). For data, they
   offer the following statistical releases:
     # G.17 (Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization)
     # H.3 (Aggregate Reserves and the Monetary Base)
     # H.6 (Money Stock and Components)
     # H.8 (Assets and Liabilities of Insured Domestically Chartered and
       Foreign-Related Banking Institutions)
     # H.15 (Interest Rates and Bond Yields)
       
   Finally, they have info on several acts of Congress they enforce.
   
     # http://www.bog.frb.fed.us
       
9.19 Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

   Besides information about the bank, you can read about the definition
   of bank market definitions in this market, their conferences, summary
   information on their dollar and manufacturing indices. They also have
   press releases, speeches, and information on their publications (which
   includes some abstracts and tables of contents).
   
     # http://www.frbatlanta.org/
       
9.20 Federal Reserve Bank of Boston - New England Electronic Economic Data
Center (NEEEDc)

   This database, the bulletin board of the Federal Reserve Bank of
   Boston, specializes in data on the New England economy. It carries all
   historical data published in the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's New
   England Economic Indicators (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. Most of the data is in .PRN
   format (some is in .WK1), so it can be read directly by Lotus or
   Quattro. In addition, some is compressed in .ZIP files.
   
     # gopher://neeedc.umesbs.maine.edu/
     # ftp://neeedc.umesbs.maine.edu/access
     # Information: Jim Breece <breece@maine.maine.edu>
       
9.21 Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

   This site includes a number of guides to the Chicago Fed, the Fed in
   general, and financial markets, including many of their publications
   such as "Agricultural Letter," "Chicago Fed Letter," "Council of Great
   Lakes Industries Publications," "Economic Perspectives," "FedWire,"
   "News & Views," "On Reserve," and "Profitwise." 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.
   
   For data, they offer rather extensive interest rate and foreign
   exchange rate data, much of which is daily and very current. For macro
   data, they offer a nice selection of commonly used variables in a
   particularly easy to use format. One looking for long CPI, GDP and
   similar series would do well to look here.
   
     # http://www.frbchi.org/
       
9.22 Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

   This site first offers extensive information about themselves
   (including contact phone numbers). In addition, they have various
   public announcements, but likely to be of the most interest are their
   publications. The first set is about banking with the "Community
   Reinvestment Forum, "Fourth District Focus: News for Depository
   Institutions," and "Fourth District Dialogue." Under the heading of
   Economic Research there is the "Fed in Print" (an index of articles,
   etc. published by Fed research departments), the "Beige Book,"
   "Economic Commentary," which analyzes recent events, and "Economic
   Trends" (which examines and plots recent economic statistics).
   
   In addition, there are entries for functional areas of the bank:
   supervision, corporate communications, community reinvestment, and
   economic research. Finally, they list employment opportunities with
   the bank, and finally other resources on the Internet.
   
     # http://www.clev.frb.org/
       
9.23 Federal Reserve Bank 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, Houston
   Business, Baking and Community Perspectives, and Economic Insights.
   They also offer summary economic data, 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/
       
9.24 Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

   This federal reserve bank offers information about itself and the
   Federal Reserve System. Additional information if offered by
   functional areas: Economic Research, Bank Supervision, Community
   Affairs, Financial Services, and Public Affairs. Economic Research
   offers a wide range of interesting material: full text on-line
   versions (with Adobe Acrobat pdf) of their Economic Review and
   Regional Economic Digest as well as their most recent symposium:
   "Budget Deficits and Debts: Issues and Options." They also offer
   extensive regional data.
   
     # http://www.frbkc.org/
       
9.25 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis

   Woodrow offers information about the Federal Reserve and the economy,
   including the entire Beige Book and FOMC minutes. They offer fairly
   extensive regional (Ninth District) data: agricultural credit
   conditions, bank directories, data by industry, economic forecasts,
   economic summary, manufactured exports, and a poll of business
   leaders. They also offer Board statistical releases. Additional
   material is available from their many publications: "Fedgazette," "The
   Region," their "Annual Report," and "Quarterly Review." In addition,
   papers from their staff (from the "Quarterly Review," "Staff Reports,"
   "Working Papers," and "Discussion Papers") are available as well, and
   you can search them via keyword.
   
   They also offer the text of publications: Fedgazette, Region, and
   Annual Report, and extensive educational material. Finally, they have
   a link to their Research Department, and information about bank
   supervision and regulation. You can also subscribe to Minneapolis Fed
   publications.
   
     # http://woodrow.mpls.frb.fed.us/
       
9.26 Federal Reserve Bank of New York

   Besides offering extensive information on themselves, (including their
   organizational structure), this site also offers very timely exchange
   rate and interest rate information. In addition, their press releases
   cover numerous subjects, and their on-line publications cover a
   substantial amount of general interest material about the Fed and the
   Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In the research area, they offer
   recent papers from their "Economic Policy Review," "Current Issues in
   Economics and Finance," "Staff Reports," and "Research Papers." They
   also have the Beige Book. Finally, there is considerable information
   for consumers on savings bonds and the Treasury Direct Program.
   
     # http://www.ny.frb.org/
       
9.27 Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

   This site offers regional information, including the Beige Book for
   the area this Bank covers (the Third Federal Reserve District),
   abstracts from newsletters and the Business Review, abstracts of
   working papers by staff economists, their publication "Fed in Print"
   and the Livingston Survey.
   
     # http://www.libertynet.org/~fedresrv/fedpage.html
       
9.28 Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

   This site offers information about itself and the Federal Reserve
   System as a whole. Of particular interest are their research
   department's publications: Economic Letters (formerly the Weekly
   Letter), Economic Review, and Western Economic Developments. They also
   offer a educational material.
   
     # http://www.frbsf.org/
       
9.29 Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

   The major resource of this site is FRED, their publicly accessible
   database. One component is the most recent Federal Reserve Board
   Statistical Releases. More important are their data files; they have
   the following categories:
     # Daily/Weekly U.S. Financial Data
     # Monthly Monetary Data
     # Monthly Interest Rates
     # Monthly Reserves
     # Monthly Commercial Banking Data
     # Quarterly Business/Fiscal Data
     # Quarterly Gross Domestic Product and Components
     # Monthly Consumer Price Indexes
     # Monthly Producer Price Indexes
     # Monthly Employment and Population Data
     # Monthly Exchange Rate Data
     # Monthly Regional Data (for the 8th District)
     # Divisia Monetary Aggregates
     # Federal Reserve Board Data on OCD Sweep Account Programs
       
   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. Most series are available for long or very long
   periods (but, the most recent values are quite current). In fact,
   shorter series with just the most recent data are available for
   convenience. 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.
   
   It is an excellent place to go to find current, yet lengthy, macro and
   financial market data.
   
   You will also find information on the St. Louis Fed, the Federal
   Reserve System, and job offerings at the bank on this server.
   
   Articles, data, and programs from the St. Louis Fed "Review" since
   1993 are available here. In addition, copies of the "Regional
   Economist" are available as well. Other material from their research
   department is available as well.
   
     # http://www.stls.frb.org
       
9.30 Data of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York

   Rather than an actual Federal Reserve site, this is a pointer to
   information from the New York Fed on the Economic Bulletin Board at
   the University of Michigan. Since information can be a bit hard to
   find there, this link provides a valuable service.
   
   It contains current daily exchange rate data, recent summary exchange
   rate data, and extensive monetary and financial market information.
   
     # gopher://gopher1.uwsa.edu/11/vpacad/cie/currency
       
10 OTHER U.S. DATA
                                       
10.1 Statistical Agencies on the Internet

   This site, compiled by Dan Rope, both lists and briefly describes
   various statistical agencies (both U.S. and non-U.S.) that maintain
   sites on the Internet. It is a useful place to check if you don't find
   what you're looking for in this guide (which focuses on sites most
   likely to be useful to economists).
   
     # http://www.science.gmu.edu/csi779/drope/govstats.html
     # Information: Rope_D@bls.gov
       
10.2 FedWorld

   This site is an entry-way to many U.S. Federal Government Internet
   sites and Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) that one usually contacts via a
   phone and modem at (703) 321-8020. While there is relatively little
   material directly related to economics that cannot be obtained more
   directly, it is still useful.
   
     # http://www.fedworld.gov
     # telnet://fedworld.gov
     # ftp://ftp.fedworld.gov
       
10.3 National Archives Center for Electronic Records

   The National Archives has a branch devoted to the storage of
   electronic records from many federal entities. 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. While the records are not available over the Internet
   (at least not yet), detailed information about them, including a
   listing of "data files" and ordering information for the data files
   (generally available only on 9-track tape reels or 3480 tape
   cartridges) are available. Currently, some 8,000 data files out of
   more than 18,000 available are listed in a rapidly growing list. Some
   of the data files are old, while some are relatively recent. Some
   entities have only a small selection of data, while for others, the
   listings are more complete. Unfortunately, the tapes are relatively
   expensive at either $80.75 or $90.00 (depending upon the medium), with
   additional tapes at $24.50. One can hope that a less expensive on-line
   database is not too far in the future. Since a comprehensive list of
   files here is impossible, the interested researcher should examine
   them. Much more information about this service can be found in the
   directory listed below.
   
     # ftp://ftp.cu.nih.gov/NARA_ELECTRONIC (press the return key for the
       password)
       
10.4 Social Security Administration (OSS-IS)

   This site offers a variety of material. Besides extensive information
   for beneficiaries, there is substantial statistical material,
   basically annual and current operating tables. Since these tables are
   in different formats, be sure to read the appropriate descriptions of
   them. For ftp access, see the file "pub/statistics/README.FIRST". For
   gopher access, in the "K-Statistical Data and Abstracts" directory,
   read the file "A-ORS Master Index (Please Read First)".
   
     # http://www.ssa.gov/
     # gopher://gopher.ssa.gov
     # ftp://ftp.ssa.gov
     # Information: Bruce Carter <bwcarter@ssa.gov>
       
10.5 Missouri State Census Data Center - Summary U.S. Census Info

   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 available. Specifically, they have "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.
   
     # gopher://gopher.coin.missouri.edu:70/11/reference/census/us
       
* 10.6 U.S. Census Bureau

*  This entry has once again been entirely rewritten and reorganized. New
   and or changed material from the last issue is thus not marked.
   
   The Census offers a great wealth of data. It is tempting, and in fact
   accurate to say, that if you think it 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 press releases and tipsheets, the current
   economic indicators and statistical briefs, and various other items of
   interest.
   
   The "Search" category includes many different ways of searching this
   site. This even including 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
   "DataMap" (which profiles information from states and counties), "1990
   Census Lookup" (you can extract files from that Census), a gazetteer
   for the U.S., the Tiger map system for generating maps on the fly, and
   links to three systems for extracting data: "Census CD-ROM's at
   University of California," "FERRET" (Federal Electronic Research and
   Review Tool) for extracting data (currently, only from the Current
   Population Survey), and the "Data Extraction System," which extracts
   data from a number of different datasets (including the Current
   Population Survey, the Survey of Income and Program Participation,
   American Housing Survey, and others). This section also includes
   software you can download, and Census access tools at other sites.
   
   The "Market Place" section lists different products you can buy from
   Census, such as tapes, CD-ROMS, diskettes, etc. You can even purchase
   all documents generated by Census after January, 1996 in electronic
   form.
   
   Most material is in the section titled "Subjects A-Z" (only 5 letters
   have no entry). The entries are
   
     # A: Advisory Committees, Aging, Agriculture, Apportionment, and
       Assets.
     # B: Birthplace, Births, Building Permits, and Business - General -
       Totals by County - Owners - Databases - Customized Tabulations.
     # C: Census: - 1990 - 2000, Census & You, CenStats, Child Care,
       Children, Citizenship, City/County Governments (Large), College
       Enrollment, Communications, Commodity Flows, Companies, Computer
       Ownership and Use, Commuting, Construction, Contacts at the Census
       Bureau, Continuous Measurement, County Business Patterns, County &
       City Data Book, County Profiles, Crops, and Current Industrial
       Reports.
     # D: Data Capture, Imaging for Census 2000, Data Extraction System,
       Deaths, Demographic Business Characteristics, Divorces, Decennial
       Census - 1990 - 2000, and Durable Goods Orders.
     # E: Economy, Economic Census, Economic Statistics Briefing Room,
       Education, Electronic Subscription Service, Employment
       Opportunities, Employment (Public), Enterprises, Entrepreneurs,
       Estimates: - Housing Units & Households - Income - Persons -
       Poverty, Expenditures, Exports, and Extract CD-ROM Software.
     # F: Families, Farms, Federal Depository Libraries, Federal
       Expenditures, Federal Government Data, Federal-State Cooperative
       Program, Federal Statistics Briefing Room, Fertility, Finance,
       Insurance & Real Estate, Finances of Governments and Schools,
       Financial report, Foreign Born, and Foreign Trade.
     # G: Genealogy, Geographic: - Area Profiles - Services &
       Information, and Governments.
     # H: Health Insurance, Hispanic Origin, Homeownership, Household
       Economic Statistics, Households and Families, Housing Statistics,
       and Housing Starts.
     # I: Immigration, Imports, Income, Indicators (Economic), Insurance,
       International Statistics, International Trade, and Irrigation.
     # J: Journey to Work.
     # L: Labor Force, Land Ownership, Land in Farms, Language Use,
       Livestock, and Living Arrangements.
     # M: Manufacturing, Maps, Marital Status, Market Value of
       Agricultural Products, Marriage, Metropolitan Areas, Migration,
       Mining, Minority-Owned Businesses, and Mobility/Movers.
     # N: National Census Information Centers, and Nativity.
     # O: Online Roundtables: Provide public commentary, and Other
       Topics.
     # P: Place of Birth, Place of Work, Population Topics, Poverty,
       Press Releases, Previous Residence, Prices and Inflation, Product
       Profiles, Program Participation, Population: - Estimates -
       Projections, and Public Finance and Employment.
     # Q: Quarterly Financial Report.
     # R: Race: - Minority Business Ownership - Persons, Radio
       Broadcasts, Real Estate, References, Regional Offices, Economic
       Research, and Retail.
     # S: Schools, School Enrollment, School Finances, Service
       Industries, Small Area Estimates, Small Business, State Data
       Centers, State Profiles, Statistical Abstract, Statistical Briefs,
       and Subscription Service,
     # T: Taxes: - Quarterly Tax Revenues - State Tax Collection, Travel
       to Work, TIGER, TIGER Mapping Service, Trade Balance,
       Transportation, and Truck Use.
     # U: Urban/Rural, and Utilities.
     # V: Vacancy, and Voting and Registration.
     # W: Wealth, Wholesal, and Women-Owned Businesses.
       
   Finally, several miscellaneous entries provide additional information:
   "About the Bureau," "User Manual," "New on the Site," "Current
   Economic Indicators" (with recently reports), and the current U.S. and
   world populations.
   
     # http://www.census.gov
     # gopher://gopher.census.gov:70/1/
     # ftp://ftp.census.gov
     # Information Overview: access@census.gov (no subject or message
       needed)
     # Information: pio@census.gov
       
10.7 U.S. Department of the Treasury

   While this site has little economic data, it is a useful overview of
   the Department, its function, and its leaders. For some, the most
   useful part might be its collection of IRS forms (you may never have
   to search or stand in line again).
   
     # http://www.ustreas.gov/
       
10.8 The Office of the United States 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/
       
10.9 United States International Trade Commission (USITC)

   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, 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/
       
10.10 USDA Economics and Statistics System (Cornell University)

   This project is jointly sponsored by the Mann Library at Cornell
   University and the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of
   Agriculture. It contains more than 250 data sets, and more are due to
   be added. These data sets cover a very wide range of agricultural
   topics, and even include international and climate data. They are
   frequently quite detailed, and are mostly in Lotus 1-2-3 .WK1 format.
   
     # http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda
     # gopher://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu:70/11/
     # telnet://usda@usda.mannlib.cornell.edu
     # ftp://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda
     # Information: Oya Y. Rieger <oyr1@cornell.edu>
       
10.11 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 email addresses), you can also
   read their catalog of publications. You can retrieve their data (much
   of it from the Cornell site). However, they also offer "U.S. State
   Fact Sheets" and "U.S. County Economic Types" which offer extensive
   information on agriculture by counties and states.
   
     # http://www.econ.ag.gov/
       
10.12 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," this site includes
   extensive data (in spreadsheet format) from "National Transportation
   Statistics." In addition, they have 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.
   
     # http://www.bts.gov
       
10.13 Energy Information Administration

   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/
       
10.14 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

   This site contains extensive statistical information on the banking
   system in the U.S., as well as more general information on the FDIC
   and the banking system, some of which will be of interest to the
   general public. The latter includes publications from the FDIC's
   Corporate Library, the Division of Research and Statistics Banking
   Review, and specific information for consumers. There are also press
   releases (which are also available via a mailing list; see that
   section of this guide).
   
   There are several types of statistical information. They include
   "Statistics on Banking," "Historical Statistics on Banking,"
   "Quarterly Banking Profile," and the "FDIC Institution Report."
   
   Some of this material is on their gopher, but there are direct links
   to it from their web site.
   
     # http://www.fdic.gov/
     # gopher://gopher.fdic.gov
     # ftp://ftp.fdic.gov
       
10.15 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. 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.
   
     # http://www.stat-usa.gov/BEN/Services/ntdbhome.html
       
10.16 Integrated Public Use Microdata Sample (IPUMS)

   To quote from their announcement, "The Integrated Public Use Microdata
   Sample (IPUMS), created at the Social History Research Laboratory of
   the University of Minnesota, is now available. The IPUMS consists of
   23 samples of the U.S. Census. Together they comprise our richest
   source of quantitative information on long-term changes in the
   American population. The IPUMS combines these high-precision samples
   of the U.S. population into a single database spanning eleven census
   years from 1850 to 1990. The database includes over 15 million person
   records (soon to be over 50 million). Most of the census samples have
   existed for several years, but because the original samples were coded
   and formatted differently, they have been very difficult to use in
   combination. The IPUMS assigns uniform codes across census years and
   integrates the documentation into a coherent form."
   
   The 800 page user guide can be downloaded from their site, or you can
   order it for $30. The actual data is available from their site as
   well. It varies in size, as you'd expect. The 1850 Census sample
   (compressed) is 6.9 meg in size, while the 1% 1990 sample (again
   compressed) is 163 meg in size.
   
   A revised version is expected in the Fall of 1996.
   
     # http://www.hist.umn.edu/~ipums
     # Information: ipums@atlas.socsci.umn.edu
       
10.17 Panel Study on Income Dynamics

   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 study emphasizes the dynamic aspects of economic and
   demographic behavior, but it contains a wide range of measures,
   including sociological and psychological ones. Between 1968 and 1988,
   the PSID collected information regarding approximately 37,500
   individuals and spanning as much as 21 years of their lives."
   
   "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 different languages.
   
   The entry "PSID Dataset Information" contains the main PSID files.
   There are individual "family files" from 1968 to 1994, 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) Marriage and Birth
   History Supplements, (ii) Parent Health Supplement, (iii) Telephone
   Health Questionnaire Supplement, and (iv) Self Administered
   Questionnaire Supplement.
   
     # http://www.umich.edu/~psid
       
* 10.18 Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)

   This organization offers a substantial amount of social science data
   in machine readable form to its 370 member colleges and universities.
*  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. Data is also available to individuals whose institutions
   are not members 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
       
10.19 The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and Asset and Health Dynamics
      Among the Oldest Old (AHEAD)

   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 on at this
   site.
   
   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." It consists of "8,224 respondents aged 70+, including
   about 2,560 aged 80 and over." 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
   these projects, material from papers using these datasets, links to
   related sites, and some useful software.
   
   Thomas Juster, of the Institute for Social Research, University of
   Michigan, is the Principal Investigator for both of these projects.
   
     # http://www.umich.edu/~hrswww/
       
10.20 CRSP Data Access and Analysis

   This site doesn't offer CRSP data, but it does offer a number of
   guides and links to using it. The sponsor of this site, Don Cram, has
   also written a paper on accessing this dataset.
   
     # http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~doncram/crsp.html
       
10.21 Thomas Publishing - FOMC Minutes and Beige Book

   This company distributes via email the minutes of FOMC meetings, and
   the Fed's Beige Book Summary, when they become public. The service
   costs $49 for six months, and $86 for one year (with a subscription,
   you also receive an overview of the Fed). Most of the buyers are
   financial market participants.
   
     # Information: Jim Thomas <76072.1640@compuserve.com>
       
