Selected Resources for ECON 341 (Business & Government)
Emory's Electronic Data Center
General Social Science Data Resources
States and Markets Data Sources
U.S./Domestic and International Economic Data Sources
CD-ROM/Non-Web Databases
Emory's Electronic Data Center (217 Woodruff Library)
http://einstein.library.emory.edu - The Data Center home page
http://einstein.library.emory.edu/links.shtml - The Data Freeway, a thematically-organized collection of links to on-line data sources
http://einstein.library.emory.edu/help_index.shtml - Help Pages for databases and data management
http://einstein.library.emory.edu/citation_guide.html - Guide for citation of electronic data sources
http://einstein.library.emory.edu/contact.shtml - Data Center contact information and hours
GENERAL SOCIAL SCIENCE DATA RESOURCES
ICPSR (Inter-University
Consortium for Political and Social Research)
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/
The ICPSR is the largest collection of Social Science Data in the world. Topics included in the archive
include: economics, government, health care, crime, education, etc. This resource is also available via
Databases at Emory. The Data Center
also maintains an archive of ready-to-use ICPSR datasets which are accessible via the search engine on the Data
Center home page.
Fedstats
http://www.fedstats.gov/
Fedstats is a good starting place for data on the United States and contains
links statistical resources produced by the U.S. government.
Lexis-Nexis Statistical
Lexis-Nexis Statistical, which is available via Databases at Emory, allows patrons to
search for statistics from the U.S. government and other sources and download them directly into Microsoft
Excel.
STATES AND MARKETS DATA SOURCES
Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice
http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/
The Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice is encharged with enforcing U.S. antitrust laws. The site
includes a compilation of case files since
1994 and a collection of public documents
that includes statistical summaries of the Division's activites and a link to
antitrust sites in other countries.
Database of Political Institutions
http://go.worldbank.org/2EAGGLRZ40
This database was put together in part by Phillip Keefer at the World Bank and provides data on the political
institutions and structures of different countries in the world from 1975 to 2006 and is relevant for studies of
"determinants of democratic consolidation, the political conditions for economic reform, the political and
institutional roots of corruption, and the elements of appropriate and institutionally sensitive design of
economic policy." Additional documentation are also available
here. Please note the authors' preferred format for citing
their data.
European Commission on Competition
http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/index_en.html
The European Commission on Competition is encharged with enforcing EU laws ans policies against anti-competitive behavior. This
site contains information on topics such as mergers, antitrust, and state aid and includes reports and statiatical
information.
Fraser Institute - Economic Freedom of the World Network
http://www.freetheworld.com/index.html
This site publishes various reports on the levels of rankings of countries in terms of "economic freedom," as
measured by indicators such as levels of government spending, restrictions on international trade, protection of
property rights, and various other regulations. The site includes a nice collection of
downloadable data that are available
free of charge.
NBER U.S. Patents Citations Data File
http://www.nber.org/patents/
The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) hosts a
large collection of data that, to quote the NBER, "comprise detail information on almost 3 million U.S. patents
granted between January 1963 and December 1999, all citations made to these patents between 1975 and 1999 (
over 16 million), and a reasonably broad match of patents to Compustat (the data set of all firms traded in the
U.S. stock market)." Note that the data here are in extremely large files that may not be readable in a
spreadsheet program such as Excel.
Political Constraint Index (POLCON) Dataset
http://www-management.wharton.upenn.edu/henisz/
The POLCON dataset is managed by Professor Witold Henisz at the Wharton School of Management. The dataset
measures political constraints on the executive in the form of multiple political actors (e.g. legislative
chambers, courts) with veto or constraining power on the executive's behavior. Such constraints in turn affect
the capacity of the state to intervene in markets and, as Henisz puts it, "redistribute investor returns to the
broader polity." The dataset and codebook are downloadable upon provision of contact details.
Political Risk Services (PRS) Group Data
http://einstein.library.emory.edu/Risk-Data.html
The Data Center's holdings include data resources from the
PRS Group and other sources that measure
"risk" in the form of political (in)stability and institutional quality (e.g. levels of corruption) that can
affect the functioning of markets and profitability of investments within countries.
Transparency International
http://www.transparency.org/
Transparency International ranks countries based on perceived levels of corruption and publishes those rankings
in annual reports. The reports also include rankings on the propensity of firms in different
industrialized countries to bribe officals in developing countries. The reports are in
.pdf format and go back to 1995. Transparency International's data are also accessible via the
Internet Center for Corruption Research.
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
http://www.uspto.gov/index.html
The USPTO furthers the protection of intellectual property rights within the United States by through the
issuing of patents and registering of trademarks. The USPTO site contains an extensive collection of
statistical resources
available for viewing and downloading.
World Bank Goverance Data
http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/governance/data
The World Bank hosts a website devoted to data on governance and institutional quality and their relevance for
economic development and performance. The
World Business Environment Surveys and the
Business Environment and Enterprise Performance
Survey may be of particular interest. In addition to the main data page, the Bank also has a
web inventory of data pertaining to institutional quality.
World Bank Research Group
http://econ.worldbank.org/
The World Bank Research Group's site contains both papers and associated datasets from scholars affilated with
the World Bank. The Research Group includes projects on topics such as
investment climate (with firm-level survey datasets from
developing countries) and
finance research (with datasets on topics such as deposit
insurance and banking regulations).
World Bank Trade Research
http://www.worldbank.org/trade
The World Bank's resources on international trade include multiple
data sources that provide various measures of trade policy. The
Trade and Production Database may be of particular interest
due to its detailed industry-level production, trade, and tariff data. The
Trade Restrictiveness Indicies, the
WTO Dispute Settlment Database, and the
Global Antidumpting Database are also worth noting.
The Bank's Research Group also hosts a Trade Research site.
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
http://www.wipo.int/index.html.en
The WIPO is an international organization devoted to the monitoring and protection of intellectual property
rights throughout the world. The WIPO includes an extensive collection of statistics on patent and trademark filings that provides various geographic
and industry breakdowns.
U.S./DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC DATA SOURCES
Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)
http://www.bea.gov/
The BEA is an excellent source for economic data at both the national and subnational (state/local) level.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
http://www.bls.gov
The BLS contains much data on employment, wages, and prices, at both the national and sub-national levels. Be
warned that the website is not always easy to navigate.
Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED II)
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/
FRED II includes time-series data for variables such as GDP, interest rates, exchange rates, consumer prices, and
banking. Most of the data are from the 1950's onwards, though some series extend back prior to WWII.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) International Financial Statistics
http://www.imfstatistics.org/imf/imfbrowser.aspx?branch=ROOT
The IFS is a standard source of statistics on various aspects of international
and domestic finance. Please note that this site is restricted to the
Emory community. This resource is also available via
Databases at Emory. There is also a
CD-ROM version of the IFS available in the Data Center.
International Labour Organization
http://www.ilo.org
The ILO is the main international labor-rights advocacy group in the world
and has brought together a variety of information about labor rights and
working conditions internationally. You can access their databases directly
at
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/support/lib/dblist.htm.
Penn World Tables
PWT is a good starting point for basic world economic data
during the period 1950-2004. The most recent version of the PWT is available
at http://pwt.econ.upenn.edu/.
An older version with coverage from 1950-1992 (and some variables not
yet available in the newest version) can be found at http://datacentre.chass.utoronto.ca/pwt/.
PovertyNet: Data on Poverty
http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/data/index.htm
PovertyNet has brought together a variety of datasets pertaining to the study of poverty, along with other resources
relevant for international development and economics. Be warned - the World Bank tends to change addresses for
websites without warning.
SourceOECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)
http://new.sourceoecd.org/
SourceOECD is an online service
that provides full-text access to OECD studies, periodicals, and statistics
from 1998 forward. Included are annuals, outlooks, policy reviews, conference
proceedings, analytical reports, guidelines, working papers, all periodicals,
and 27 statistical databases. This resource is also available via
Databases at Emory.
United Nations Commodity Statistics Trade Database (Comtrade)
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/comtrade/
The UN's Comtrade database is a good source for commodity-specific bilateral trade data. Users can create their
own extracts of data for both value and quantity of trade using different industrial classification codes and
download those extracts for later use. This resource is also available via the
library's Information Gateway.
World Bank Topics in Development
http://www.worldbank.org/html/extdr/thematic.htm
This site is a thematically-organized portal for data and bibliographic resources available at the World Bank's
website. The Bank has another such site here.
World Bank World Development Indicators
http://devdata.worldbank.org/dataonline/
The World Development Indicators Website provides
convenient access to nearly 600 indicators on over 200 countries. Data is
generally available from 1960 forward. This resource is also available via
Databases at Emory. There is also
a CD version of the WDI available in the Data Center.
CD-ROM/NON-WEB DATABASES
Datastream Advance
Datastream Advance is a very good source for data on exchange rates, interest rates, prices, stocks, and various
macroeconomic data. It is available on workstations in both the EDC and the Goizueta Business Library.
Eurostat Statistics DVD
The Eurostat Statistics DVD is a very comprehensive source for economic and social data for EU members at both
the national and sub-national/regional level. Some of its databases also include data for countries in Central
and Eastern Europe. In addition to the DVD in the Data Center, there is also an
on-line interface. More recent
data from this database are also now available directly from the
Eurostat website. The Eurostat interface does not cover as many
years as does the DVD, but it will allow users to download data into spreadsheet formats. Please note that none of the
interfaces is entirely user-friendly.
UNIDO Industry Demand-Supply Balance (IDSB) Database
The IDSB Database is produced by the United
Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and has time-series industry-level data for multiple
developed and developing countries. The database classifies industries using the International Standard
Industrial Classification (ISIC) codes. The industry-level variables include consumption, output, exports, and
imports. Users can create subsets of data and export them directly into spreadsheets.
UNIDO Industrial Statistics (INDSTAT) Databases
The INDSTAT databases are produced by the United
Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and have time-series industry-level data for multiple
developed and developing countries. The databases classify industries using the International Standard
Industrial Classification (ISIC) codes. The industry-level variables include numbers of establishments and
employees, output, value-added, and capital formation. There are two INDSTAT databases - one at the
three-digit ISIC level and one at the four-digit ISIC level.
World Bank Africa Database (WBAD)
The WBAD is similar to the World Development Indicators (see above), but with a more intensive focus on
African countries. The WBAD contains over 1100 indicators, with time-series coverage extending back to 1965
depending on the country and variable.
A complete list of the Data Center's non-web databases is available here. The databases are accessible via the Data Center's public workstations.
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