Using Web Page Data
 
 

Listed below are sites that you may find useful in locating data for your research. Some sites supply data that has already been cleaned and aggregated to a state or national level. Other sites contain "raw data" that has been formatted for use in a statistical package like Stata.  Your literature review should also give you ideas for where to find data. 

If you would like to discuss your data needs, in addition to your professor, and the Peer Mentors, John Tombarge, Leyburn Library's liaison for Economics, and Carol Karsch, the library's Data and Statistical Research Specialist, are available for consultation. Drop by or make a research appointment.

(Also See Evaluating Sources)

 

Comprehensive Sources With Links by Topic Area

  • American Economic Association (AEA) -- Data Resources for Economists
    Great list of links geared toward data for economic research.
    Contains links for U.S. & international data and financial markets.
     

  • Internet Resources for Economists
    One stop site for all things dealing with economics.  
     

  • University of Michigan Library Document Center
    The University of Michigan Library Document Center provides a huge, easy to search site of statistical sources. Topics are arranged by categories.  Links are annotated. This could be a good place to browse around if you are still trying to think of a thesis. There is a thorough index on the left side of the main page in addition to the categorical groupings.
     

  • W&L: Economics Resources -- The Statistics and Data section is towards the bottom of the page.
     

U.S. Data
  • American FactFinder
    Produced by the U.S. Census Bureau. Go to this site for demographic, housing, economic and geographic data gathered by the U.S. Census, American Community and Business Surveys.
     
  • CenStats Databases
    Good site for business data. Produced by the U.S. Census Bureau, the site contains links for the following databases: County Business Patterns (SIC & NAICS), Zip Code Business Patterns, Metro Business Patterns, Building Permits data,  Detailed Occupation by Race, Hispanic Origin and Sex data, International Trade Data (SITC and NAICS) and Population and Housing Public Law 94-171 data by Age by Race and Hispanic Origin.
     
  • Economic Data - FRED from the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank (FRED)
    Good source for macro level U.S. economic time series data. Includes categories such as: banking, business/financial, transactions, etc.  Download data in Excel or text formats.
     
  • FedStats
    Provides access to a wealth of U.S. government summary statistics by Topics A to Z, Program/Subject areas, Agencies, and geographic area. The site directs users to the appropriate agency automatically. Great starting point for your search if you're not sure which agency produces the data you need.
     
  • NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research)
    Working Papers cover Macro, Industry, and U.S. Import & Export Trade Data. Some data sets are in Stata format.
     
  • Statistical Abstract of the United States
    Another useful site produced by the U.S. Census Bureau. Provides data in Excel format by topic area.
     

  • W&L: U.S. Federal Government -- Statistical Agencies
    List of most frequently used links to Federal Agencies that produce statistics. Also has a link to a comprehensive list of government statistical agencies.

International Data

Additional Sites

These sites have links to other sites. Some sites supply aggregated data. Others give you access to "raw data." Some contain national and international data.

  • Andrew K. Rose's Recent Research
    Excellent source for national & international trade data, including Gravity Models and Bilateral Trade.
     

  • Inter-University Consortium for Political & Social Research (ICPSR)
    W&L belongs to the Consortium, so faculty and students can download data, however you'll need to create a user log in before doing so. This is a vast source of national and international microdata which is usually stored in Stata, SPSS or SAS formats. Data can be converted between different formats, though variable labels may be lost, depending upon the conversion. Contact the library's Data & Statistical Support Specialist for assistance with this process. 

    The site contains a tutorial for finding and accessing the data. This is especially useful if your download contains "setup" files. It also has a searchable database of over 41,000 documents that used ICPSR data in the analysis.
     

  • Minnesota Population Center - Integrated Public Use Microdata Series USA (IPUMS)
    Site for integrated historical and current population data. The USA site contains harmonized data from the 1850 to 2005 censuses. The integrated nature of the documentation and datasets facilitates comparisons across years.
     

  • National Archive of Criminal Justice Data
    Great source of data related to crime in the U.S. The site contains over 700 datasets related to criminal justice. This is one of the research areas covered by ICPSR.
     

  • Scholars' Lab at the University of Virginia Library -- Especially strong site for locating Virginia data.

     
© Copyright 2009 Washington & Lee University
This website is provided by the Leyburn Library and University Computing
Website design by Jack Jeong , Class of 2007  Page maintained by Carol Karsch