Book - Probability and Statistics - Chapter 1 - Data Sources

1.2. Data Sources

You can find a lot of interesting things in Internet site. I don´t even dare to suggest anywhere to look, as the list grows exponentially daily. Google itself has an abundance of data, and quite recently (in 2009) they published a very interesting applied working paper called “Predicting the Present with Google Trends“ (the article is available at http://ec.europa.eu/bepa/pdf/seminars/google_predicting_the_present.pdf and a presentation at http://www.frbsf.org/economics/conferences/1103/Varian-part_1.pdf). More than ever, you should explore, investigate, snoop around, and be curious!

You can find data quite easily at price comparison sites, and I bet you also use them quite often!

If you are an economist, there are wonderful databases provided by several US government agencies, and also multilateral and international agencies and institutions. You can check my blog or website for some links, but as I said before, I´m kind of discouraged about publishing links, as they evolve much faster than I can keep up with them. Just to get the conversation flowing, check the homepages of the St. Louis Fed and the Department of Energy – you’ll get LOTS of good data on these sites!

Most of the time, over the course of your professional life, you’ll be analyzing data obtained in your own company. This is a growing trend in companies of all sizes, as the collection and maintenance of data in companies becomes cheaper.

This is also a consequence of a change in manager’s mindsets, as businesspeople recognize the importance of the data stored within the company. These data are useful for: estimating the demand for current and new products, predicting and controlling inventories, payment flows and financing. In short, companies themselves often contain a substantial amount of critical data whose analysis helps increase their competitiveness (and sometimes even ensures their survival).

Some public sites with free economic information which I consider interesting (but the list is very personal) are:

Ipeadata (Brazilian Economic data):

BCB (Brazil´s Central Bank): www.bcb.gov.br

IBGE (Brazil’s Census Bureau): www.ibge.gov.br

St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank (USA):  http://www.stlouisfed.org/

Dept. of Energy (USA): http://www.eia.gov/

U.S. Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/

Yahoofinance - for free historical stock quotes: www.yahoofinance.com

Google Finance: http://www.google.com/finance