Research and Course Guides: Economics Research Guide: Data

Sources of Cross-Sectional Data

General Social Survey (GSS)
The GSS is a nationally representative survey of adults in the United States conducted since 1972. It contains a standard 'core' of demographic, behavioral, and attitudinal questions, plus topics of special interest. Explore, analyze, extract, and share custom sets of data using the GSS Data Explorer.
NOTE: Users must create a free GSS account for full functionality (dataset download, etc.)
Help/guidance:

Tips for Variable Selection and Downloading a Cross-Sectional Dataset from the General Social Survey (GSS)
This document provides general guidance for students in DASC, STAT, BUAN, and OPMT courses who need to obtain a cross-sectional dataset for a project or assignment.

How to Download Data from GSS
In this video, a professor from the University of Maine provides some helpful guidance on getting data from the GSS.
Note: The GSS interface has changed a little bit since this video.

IPUMS

Provides census and survey data from around the world integrated across time and space (including from the U.S. Census and American Community Survey, see IPUMS-USA). Users can create and download a custom dataset once they have created a free IPUMS account.

Users must create a free IPUMS account for full functionality (dataset download, etc.)

Data In Brief
A multidisciplinary, open access, peer-reviewed journal, which mainly publishes short, digestible data articles that describe and provide access to research data.
SCORE Sports Data Repository
The SCORE Network Sports Data Repository curates interesting datasets across a variety of sports for use in statistics and data science education.
Carnegie Mellon Statistics and Data Science Data Repository
This repository curates interesting datasets for use in statistics and data science education. Each dataset is supported by a story describing its origin and application, and a set of interesting questions that can be answered using the data.
PLOS One
This journal publishes articles in over 200 subject areas across science, engineering, medicine and the related social sciences and humanities. Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research, negative and null results are all in scope.

PLOS journals require authors to make all data necessary to replicate their study’s findings publicly available without restriction at the time of publication. When specific legal or ethical restrictions prohibit public sharing of a data set, authors must indicate how others may obtain access to the data.
Survey of Construction Microdata
The Survey of Construction (SOC) is a national sample survey of new houses selected from building permits and a canvassing of areas not requiring permits. The purpose of the SOC is to provide current national and regional statistics on starts, completions, and characteristics of new, privately-owned single-family and multifamily housing units and on sales of new single-family houses. The data include more than 50 physical and financial characteristics of single‐family houses started, completed, and/or sold in the U.S. each year. See the "Microdata Guide" PDF for variable definitions and more. Collection of these data is partially funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Panel Study of Income Dynamics
The Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) is the longest running longitudinal household survey in the world.

The study began in 1968 with a nationally representative sample of over 18,000 individuals living in 5,000 families in the United States. Information on these individuals and their descendants has been collected continuously, including data covering employment, income, wealth, expenditures, health, marriage, childbearing, child development, philanthropy, education, and numerous other topics. Over 7,600 peer-reviewed publications have been based on the PSID.

ICPSR

Datasets from the social and behavioral sciences and specialized collections of data in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and other fields. Register for a (free, required) Researcher Passport account using your St. Thomas email address (and independent password) to download data sets. Click on "More Info" below for guidance.

To create a Researcher Passport account:
Click the Log In button at upper right, then select the "Sign in with email" option (NOT the blue "Access through your institution" button), then "Set up a new account."

Email Account Validation:
Typically, ICPSR will automatically recognize your institution and validate your account. If you're trying to download data and receive an unexpected alert that you're not from a member institution, even though you are, your account may need to be validated. To request a validation, send an email to icpsr-help@umich.edu.

Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS)
The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) is a set of large-scale surveys of families and individuals, their medical providers, and employers across the United States. MEPS is the most complete source of data on the cost and use of health care and health insurance coverage.

Sources of Time Series Data

FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)
FRED is a database of more than 55,000 economic time series maintained by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Covers banking, business/fiscal, consumer prices, employment, population, exchange rates, gross domestic product (GDP), interest rates, money supply, producer price indexes (PPI), U.S. trade and international transactions, and U.S. financial data. Compiled by the Federal Reserve and collected from federal economic agencies.

Sage Data

U.S. and international datasets sourced from governmental, commercial, and private organizations.

Subject categories include: Banking, Finance, and Insurance; Criminal Justice and Law; Education; Energy Resources and Demand; Food and Agriculture; Government and Politics; Health and Vital Statistics; Housing and Construction; Industry and Commerce; International; Labor and Employment; Natural Resources and Environment; Population and Income; Prices and Cost of Living; Stocks and Commodities; Transportation and Travel.
Passport

Analysis, reports, data, and news for U.S. and international industries, companies and brands, consumers, and economies.
Passport user guide

Bureau of Labor Statistics home page
Use the Subject Areas section menu at the top to navigate data sources on inflation and prices, consumer spending, employment and unemployment, pay and benefits, productivity, etc.
BEA home page
Portal to the BEA's economic data

S&P Capital IQ Pro

Provides detailed company financial information for US and international public and private companies and investments firms. Great for financial statement analysis, comparable analysis, sector analysis, and charting. Also includes 40+ million investment analyst research reports (some with SWOT analyses) from more than 1,800 firms including top global investment banks like Barclays, Citi, J.P. Morgan, and Wells Fargo, as well as regional providers and independent brokers.
Available data includes: capital structure, fixed income securities (including credit ratings), analyst sentiment and estimates, macroeconomic indicators, commodities and futures markets, current and historic company-level ownership, key developments, transactions, profiles of companies and people, and business relationships.
Excel Plugin (Windows computers only)
Capital IQ Pro offers a Microsoft Office plugin that can be downloaded and installed on Windows PCs.
1. Personal computers
To download the plugin on your own Windows computer, select S&P Capital IQ Pro Office Download under the Apps & Links menu.
On the resulting page, click “Install Capital IQ Pro Office” to download a .exe file, then click the downloaded file to start the installation process.
To allow the Excel plugin to connect to your Capital IQ Pro account, you will need to install a registry fix on your computer by following these steps:
1. Copy and paste the following into a text editor:
  
  Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
  [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SNL Financial\SNL Office\SAMLSettings]
  "SAMLUrl"="https://secure.signin.spglobal.com/sso/saml2/0oa1wofflflrljdbQ1d8/app/spglobaliam_sp_2/exk1mw4pskqubQAnJ1d8/sso/saml"
  "LoginHeight"=dword:00000300
  "LoginWidth"=dword:00000300
2. Save the document as a .reg file.
3. Double-click to execute the file, then restart your computer to update your registry.
4. Open Excel and select the Capital IQ Pro tab, then Sign In (under settings).
5. The plugin should prompt you to sign in using your UST credentials.
2. University-managed computers
To install the plugin on a UST-managed Windows computer, visit the Software Center and select Capital IQ Pro Office from the Applications menu. After completing the installation, follow the steps listed above to install the registry fix and sign in to the add-in.
IMF Data Portal

From the International Monetary Fund (IMF), international financial data and macroeconomic indicators including measures of money supply, exchange rates, trade/balance of payments, prices/inflation, interest rates, employment, and national income & product accounts.

Cross National Time Series (CNTS) Data Archive

Annual time series data on demographic, political, legislative, economic, and social science variables from 1815 to the present for over 200 countries.

CNTSDATA.xlsx is the main dataset file. The Events Data LINKS files are separate by year. Be sure to consult the User Manual and the Codebook for data definitions and usage tips.

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Economics Research Guide: Data

Sources of Cross-Sectional Data

Sources of Time Series Data

Excel Plugin (Windows computers only)

1. Personal computers

2. University-managed computers

Academic Services Librarian