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Economics: Statistics and Data

These are the databases for statistics and data available through the Laurier Library. Click on each section which will drop down a list of relevant databases. Microdata and aggregated data are available for each category. 

Canadian Data Sources

Microdata:

  • ODESI - Contains microdata from Statistics Canada, Elections Canada, as well as polling data. Click on Browse at the top right of the homepage ->Browse the categories and select a resource that you are interested in to explore. You can select variables and subsets from a survey and download data files in Stata or SPSS formats.

Aggregated data:

  • Statistics Canada - Contains thousands of tables and reports from all fields and provides fast access to a large range of the latest statistics available in Canada. Enter keywords into the search box. Filter by subject, geography or survey if applicable before running a search. To use a data table, click on the title and use "Add/Remove Data" tab to get customized data. Tutorial: How to use the data tables.
  • Census @Statistics Canada - Statistics Canada's gateway to census information. 2016 census information is featured, and datasets from 1991 to 2011 are located at the bottom.
  • Bank of Canada - Find banking and financial market statistics, surveys (e.g.) as well as policy papers.
  • CANSIM @CHASS - Gives you access to socio-economic time-series data. Click on "CANSIM Multidimensional View" -> continue in English ->click on "CANSIM Multidimensional @ CHASS Main Menu" -> Locate tables/series using text search or browsing.
  • Canadian Census Analyzer - Provides access to census variables for most levels of geography, and to public use microdata files.
United States Data Sources

Microdata:

  • IPUMS
    • Housed at the Minnesota Population Center, an interdisciplinary research center at the University of Minnesota, IPUMS is the world's largest individual-level population database. IPUMS consists of microdata samples from United States (IPUMS-USA) and international (IPUMS-International) census records. Additional databases include the North Atlantic Population Project (NAPP), the National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS), the Integrated Health Interview Series (IHIS), Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), American Time Use data and High Ed data. While all data are available free over the internet, users must register before extracting data from the website.
  • ICPSR
    • ICPSR maintains more than 500,000 US and international data files of research in the social sciences including education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and other fields. ICPSR datasets may be downloaded in formats for a variety of statistical analysis programs, such as SPSS, Stata, and SAS. Users will be required to create a free ICPSR account in order to download data.

Aggregated data:

  • The Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United States. It is comprised of regional banks which together make available a multitude of information and data.
    • Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis - FRED: Economic Data -Provides historical U.S. economic and financial data, including daily U.S. interest rates, monetary and business indicators, exchange rates, balance of payments and regional economic data.
    • Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago - Offers a variety of research papers as well as diffusion indices (e.g. National Activity Index).
    • Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia - The real-time data set consists of vintages, or snapshots, of time series of major macroeconomic variables. New vintages are added shortly after the 15th day of the middle month of each quarter. Click the links in Historical Data section to download the full-time series of historical values.
    • Federal Reserve, Board of Governors - Provides monetary policy discussion papers, surveys (e.g. Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey, flow of funds), data (e.g. Flow of Funds Accounts) as well as research papers commissioned by the Bank or written by the Bank's officers and economists.
  • Bureau of Economic Analysis - Gives you access to national and state and industry economic data (e.g. gross domestic product).
  • Bureau of Labor Statistics - Provides analysis as well as data for the labor economy as a whole, as well as by region, state, city and industry.
  • Census Bureau - Makes available socio-demographic analysis and data for people and households as well as business industry.
  • Data.gov - Easily find, download, and use datasets that are generated and held by the Federal Government.
  • Statistical Abstract of the United States - A comprehensive collection of statistics in tabular format. Includes basic statistics for a wide range of economic indicators. The U.S. Census Bureau terminated this publication in 2011. Earlier editions (1878-2012) are available online via the census website. ProQuest has taken on responsibility for updating and releasing this publication, and Laurier has a copy in print in the Reference Collection: REF HA 202 2015.
  • ​Survey of Current Business - Provides data on U.S. business on the regional, national, and international levels. Among statistical series covered are personal income, inventories and sales, national income and product accounts, FDI in the U.S., U.S. direct investment abroad, international transactions, and gross state product.
International Data Sources
  • EIKON and Datastream
    • Eikon is a financial economic data source. You can use it to find information on markets, stocks and stock indices, historical financial data, company, economic information and more. Datastream can be accessed remotely through Excel add-in with Eikon, and provides remote access to international macroeconomic and financial time series for around 175 countries (includes IMF and OECD data). We have a number of login IDs for booking. You may check User ID availability, email librarians at libbusiness@wlu.ca to book a time, get login credentials and instructions for using them.
  • IMF Data
    • Includes data on government finance, international financial statistics, balance of payments, and much more. Major economic and financial indicators may be available on annual, quarterly or monthly data. Click on the Data Topics tab and then select one database, e.g. International Financial Statistics.
  • OECD iLibrary
    • A wide variety of socio-economic indicators at the annual, quarterly and monthly frequencies for OECD member countries. Click on the Statistics tab, and search statistics by keyword, country, indicator or select a database.
  • World Development Indicators
    • The primary World Bank collection of global development indicators, compiled from officially-recognized international sources. Select countries, series and time, then click the Apply Changes button. Data are available on an annual basis only.
  • UNdata
    • Statistics from all the major UN sources. Click Datamarts tab. On the Explorer page, select Datasets and click the +sign in front of the database name to find the datasets of your interest; or select Sources or Topics to search for data.
  • UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics
    • From United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
  • Pacific Data Service
    • High frequency foreign exchange rates
  • Penn World Tables
    • Lists purchasing power parity and national income accounts for countries worldwide, 1950-2007
  • ILO statistics (ILOSTAT)
    • Access to data and metadata for over 200 countries or territories from ILOSTAT, a leading source of labour statistics operated by the Department of Statistics of International Labour Organization. It includes data on labour market indicators, employment, population, Unemployment and labour underutilization. Start search by clicking the Data tab at the top of the ILOSTAT homepage.
  • International Trade Centre
    • It is a joint agency of WTO and UN. Trade statistics data are based on UN Comtrade data, but with a very easy-to-use interface. They provide statistics by product /service or by country.
  • International Trade Organization
    • The WTO provides quantitative information in relation to economic and trade policy issues. Its databases and publications provide access to data on trade flows, tariffs, non-tariff measures (NTMs) and trade in value added.
  • Bank of International Settlements (BIS)
    • BIS statistics, compiled in cooperation with central banks and other national authorities, provides statistics on CPI, credit, debt securities, exchange rates, policy rates, property prices, derivatives and other indicators. Data are daily to annual.
  • Jordà-Schularick-Taylor Macrohistory Database
    • In one place it brings together macroeconomic data that previously had been dispersed across a variety of sources, covering 17 advanced economies since 1870 on an annual basis. It comprises 25 real and nominal variables including GDP, CPI, exchange rates, government revenues and expenditures, imports and exports, loans, house price index and more.
Other International Data Sources by Region