Economic Data

Overview

In order to test an economic model, the model must be compared against actual data. Typically economic data is collected and compiled by government agencies and are generally free to the public.

Economic Data - Sources and Tools

In addition to the hosted data above, you can access economic data through apps on the davinci platform.

• St Louis Federal Reserve - FRED : The Saint Louis Federal Reserve Bank publishes US economic data on its site (FRED). They make that data available through a web service. The fred app creates an interface for users to query the FRED site.
• Bureau of Economic Analysis : The Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes US economic data on its site (BEA). They make that data available through a web service. The bea app creates an interface for users to query the BEA site.
• FDIC : The FDIC collects information from banks in the United States in the form of the Call Report. Call report data is published and hosted on the FDIC site for public use. The call report app allows users to query and retrieve data that has been published and shared on the FDIC site.
• SEC : The Securities and Exchange Commission collects data from public companies and publishes it in the Edgar data base. The edgar app allows you to query and retrieve that data.
• US Treasury : The United States department of the Treasury is responsible for collecting taxes and spending money for the United States government. As such, it is also responsible for United States governmental borrowings, in the form of Treasurity securities (bills and bonds).
  
  The treasury reports information on the current yields for different treasury securities on its site. The treasury app collects the published data in a database that users can query.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics :

Economic Data Types

Economic data generally falls within two categories:

• stock
• flow

A stock is an accumulated value, whereas a flow represents the change in an accumulated value. The typical way to view these types is by analogy with water in a bathtub. The amount of water in a bathtub represents a stock. The water flowing through the bathtub drain is a flow. (see Mankiw).

For information about bathtub like dynamic models, please see bathtub models.