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Research Resources at CEPA Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) The following is a brief summary of data sets for economists that are available through the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), of which the New School is a member. Its purpose is to encourage students and faculty to make extensive use of the ICPSR data for their research projects. The ICPSR offers a wide variety of data sets for the political and social sciences in general. Therefore, economists should not consider the following as the only economically relevant data sets available. Data sets that are 'directly' related to economics include Continuing Series of Consumer Surveys, Surveys of Economic Attitudes and Behavior, and Historical and Contemporary Economic Processes and Indicators. The Current Population Survey (CPS), published monthly by the Bureau of the Census, is a widely used collection of household data concentrating on demographic characteristics and labor force issues. In addition, there are seven special topic groups: January Files, Annual Demographic Files (March), March Estimates of Noncash Benefit Values, March/April Match Files, May Files, June Files, and October School Enrollment Files. In recent years, some CPS studies have been subtitled to reflect supplemental topics. For that reason, there is no sequential numbering of the CPS data sets at the ICPSR archive (please consult the ICPSR web page or the user guide to obtain the appropriate ICPSR codes). Another publication of the Bureau of the Census is the Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS), which is a subsample of the 1990 Census of Population and Housing. There are different subsamples available, namely the 1-Percent Sample (ICPSR code 9951), the 3-Percent Elderly Sample (ICPSR code 6219), the 5-Percent Sample (ICPSR code 9952), the 1/10,000 Sample (ICPSR code 6150), which is a subset of the 1-Percent PUMS, and the 1/1,000 Sample (ICPSR code 6497), which is a subset of the 5-Percent PUMS. The Consumer Surveys cover a period from the 1950's to 1991 and were conducted on a monthly basis since 1978. Their main intention is to provide measures of consumer confidence and information necessary to forecast aggregate consumer behavior. Besides, they contain consumer's appraisals of present market conditions for the purchase of durable goods including houses, evaluations and expectations about personal finances, employment, price changes, and the national business situation. (To obtain the appropriate ICPSR codes, please consult the ICPSR web page or the user guide). The Surveys of Consumer Finances were conducted annually from 1946 through 1971 and were administered again in 1977, 1983, 1986, and 1989. The focus of the surveys is toward the distribution of consumer income, assets, debt, and major transactions. The questionnaires cover ownership of assets and financial balances, source, purpose and amount of debt (including installment debt), and amount and source of current income, as well as previous year's income. Personal characteristics are also available. (To obtain the appropriate ICPSR codes, please consult the ICPSR web page or the user guide). The US Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, compiles the Consumer Price Index (CPI), available 1913-1992 (ICPSR code 8166), and the Consumer Expenditure Survey Series (CES). The CES is mainly concerned with the purchasing habits of American consumers and seeks to be representative of the total civilian, non-institutionalized population of the US from 1960 through 1992. (To obtain the appropriate ICPSR codes, please consult the ICPSR web page or the user guide). The Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) is an ongoing data collection effort begun in 1968 in an attempt to better understand the determinants of family income and its changes. The PSID traces roughly 4,800 households in the US and the topics covered deal with employment, income sources and amounts, housing, car ownership, food expenditure, transportation, do-it-yourself home maintenance and car repairs, education, disability, time use, family background, family composition changes, and residential location. Also included are questions designed to measure (changes in) attitudes and personality (ICPSR code 7439). The National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Market Experience, 1966-1991 are a collection of panel data on the labor force experience of specific age groups of Americans: Older Men aged 45-59 in 1966, Mature Women aged 30-44 in 1967, Young Men aged 14-24 in 1966, Young Women aged 14-24 in 1968, and Youth aged 14-21 in 1979 (this data set is also known as the NSLY). The NSLY cohort has been surveyed yearly since 1979, the other cohorts have been surveyed at least 12 times over the years. Topics covered in each of the cohorts include labor force participation, unemployment, job history, job mobility, education, training, health condition, family characteristics, financial characteristics, and environmental variables, i.e. size of local labor force and local unemployment rates (ICPSR code 7610). The International Monetary Fund collected Balance of Payments Statistics from 1965 to the present for 135 countries (ICPSR code 8623), Direction of Trade data from 1948 to 1978 for 180 countries (ICPSR code 7628), and International Financial Statistics for 196 countries spanning the time period from 1948 to 1991 (ICPSR code 7629). Also available are the World Debt Tables, 1970-1992 collected by the World Bank (ICPSR code 8313). The NBER's Macroeconomic Time Series for the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and France is also accessible on the ICPSR. It is a massive array of economic time series data including, e.g., production, prices, income, employment, sales, inventories, interest rates and many more (ICPSR code 7644). Again, we would like to emphasize that these are just a few of the economic data available through the ICPSR. There are many more (e.g. County Business Patterns, New Firm Surveys, several Newspaper Polls on budget agreements and deficits and the business climate in general, FDIC Data on Banks etc.) and you should feel encouraged to look through the ICPSR Guide to Resources and Services to determine which data suit your needs best. Depending on the particular project or research interest, it will prove useful to explore other fields within the ICPSR like, e.g.,
In addition, many of these categories are not restricted to US data but offer international data as well. You can also refer to ICPSR's web site at http://www.icpsr.umich.edu to get a first impression of what is available and to obtain ICPSR codes for the data sets of your interest. |
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