Bobray Bordelon Princeton University IASSIST 2005

1. Session A1 : Cross-national Socio-Economic Data: Boundaries of Evidence. Cross national & intergovernmental data: paying for one stop shopping Bobray Bordelon Princeton University IASSIST 2005

2. Native Interface, Design Own or Use Aggregator? (1) • Combine sources? Logical? • Native interface good enough? Easy to combine data from various sources? • Data provided in easily extractable format?

3. Native Interface, Design Own or Use Aggregator? (2) • Data alteration allowed? • Staff & expertise to design & maintain own interface? Expertise to match changing data elements over time? • Commercial service that does what you want? ST & LT costs? • Documentation?

4. Major Elements to Consider when Selecting an Aggregator • Variety • Source specified? • Fixed beginning date or Rolling Period? • Start Date • Frequency • Update frequency • Downloading capabilities

5. Major Elements to Consider when Selecting an Aggregator • Documentation • Interface/Ease in finding data • Medium of storage and delivery • Cost • Customer Help • Lease or Purchase?

6. Major Aggregators • Datastream International • Global Insight • EIU World Data • Global Financial Database

7. Individual Country Data – yes Sub-national data – no IMF – DOTS – yes IMF – BOPS – no IMF – GFS – no IMF – IFS - yes OECD – yes Forecasts – yes Exchange rates – yes Interest rates – yes Platform – client based Documentation – Limited extranet Datastream

8. Individual Country Data – Limited Sub-national data – for USA IMF – DOTS – yes IMF – BOPS – yes IMF – GFS – Premium IMF – IFS – yes OECD – yes Forecasts – Premium Exchange rates – yes Interest rates – yes Platform – client based Global Insight (1)

9. Global Insight (2) • Documentation – Limited extranet for actual series plus more from source for select others (equivalent of a codebook)

10. Individual Country Data – yes Sub-national data – limited IMF – DOTS – limited IMF – BOPS – no IMF – GFS – no IMF – IFS - limited OECD – limited Forecasts – yes Exchange rates – yes Interest rates – yes Platform – WEB Documentation – Incorporated EIU World Data

11. Individual Country Data – yes Sub-national data – no IMF – DOTS – no IMF – BOPS – no IMF – GFS – no IMF – IFS - no OECD – no Forecasts – no Exchange rates – yes Interest rates – yes Platform – WEB Documentation – Data encyclopedia Global Financial Database

12. Datastream Metadata

13. Global Insight Metadata

14. EIU Metadata (note: units are denoted next to the actual data)

15. Global Financial Database CONSUMER PRICES Unless otherwise stated, consumer prices are monthly and based upon official governmental data. Only a few governments (such as Australia) still report consumer prices on a quarterly rather than a monthly basis. There are several cases where breaks in the series occur. For example, many countries have breaks in their CPI indices during World War II, though where possible we have tried to fill in these gaps with annual data, and even where no data were available during the war, most governments were able to compare prices before and after the war to provide a continuous series. Also, most of the former Communist countries stopped collecting CPI data after World War II, but have begun collecting data again, now that capitalism has returned. Any gaps of this nature are explained in each file listing below. More and more government statistical offices and central banks are publishing their price indices on the Internet allowing us to make the data available in a more timely fashion. The EEC has introduced its Harmoized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) in order to coordinate the measurment of consumer prices throughout Europe. The HICP indices differ from CPI indices primarily in excluding mortgage costs for private homes.

16. Global Financial Database (USA – CPI) • Country: United States of America • Begins: January 1820 • Base: 1982/84 = 100 • Source: U.S. Government, Statistical Abstract of the United States (1820-1874), Carl Snyder, "A New Index of the General Price Level from 1875," Journal of the American Statistical Association (June 1924); Bureau of Labor Statistics (1913-) • Notes: This index is based a combination of three indices. From 1820 through 1874, the annual cost-of-living index calculated by the Federal Reserve Bank is used. From 1875 until 1912, it uses a monthly Index of General Prices calculated by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which was weighted between wholesale commodity prices (20%) Wage payments (35%), the Cost of Living (35%) and Rents (10%). From 1913 on, the Bureau of Labor's Consumer Price Index is used. For information on how the prices of individual goods have changed, see Scott Derks, ed., The Value of a Dollar, Lakeville, CT: Grey House Publishing, 1999.

17. Global Financial Database (Canada – CPI) • Country: Canada • Begins: January 1910 • Base: 1992 = 100 • Source: Dominion Bureau of Statistics, Canada Yearbook, Ottawa: Dominion Bureau of Statistics (1915-1930), League of Nations (1931-1945); Statistics Canada, Canadian Statistical Review (1946-) • Notes: Data are annual for 1910-1914, and quarterly for 1918. All other data are monthly.

18. Global Financial Database (USA – Wholesale Prices) • Country: United States of America • Begins: February 1720 • Base: 1982 = 100 • Notes: This is a combination of several indices. Data from 1720 through 1747 are taken from Anne Bezanson, Wholesale prices in Philadelphia, A series of relative monthly prices. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1936-1937 and 1954. From 1748 until 1912, the index of U.S. Commodity Prices collected by George F. Warren and Frank A. Pearson, Prices, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1933, pp. 11-13 is used. This index used eleven groups of commodities including farm products (25-35 items), foods (25-27 items, hides and leather (4-5 items), textiles (8-10 items), fuel and lighting (.5 to 1), house furnishings (1), spirits (3-5), miscellaneous (1.5-3 items). The full index is available in CMWPCPIM. • Beginning in 1913, the Bureau of Labor Statistics' all-commodity price index is used and is continued through 1947. For 1926 and later years the index was based on 784 commodities. See United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics mimeograph release No. 4313, January 1932. The current index has a base of 1982 = 100 and uses the All commodities Producer Commodity Price Index. The All-Industrial Producer Price Index, which begins in 1913, can be found in WPUSAICM. • The Producer Price Index (PPI) is a family of indexes that measures the average change over time in selling prices received by domestic producers of goods and services. PPIs measure price change from the perspective of the seller. This contrasts with other measures, such as the Consumer Price Index (CPI), that measure price change from the purchaser's perspective. Sellers' and purchasers' prices may differ due to government subsidies, sales and excise taxes, and distribution costs. There are three main PPI publication structures: Industry-based. The PPI publishes over 500 industry price indexes in combination with over 10,000 specific product line and product category sub-indexes. Commodity-based. The PPI publishes over 3,200 commodity price indexes organized by type of product and end use. Stage-of-processing based. The PPI publishes aggregate price indexes organized by commodity-based processing stage. The three stages of processing include Finished Goods; Intermediate Materials, Supplies, and Components; and Crude Materials for Further Processing.

19. What is missing? • Actual definitions. • International Financial Statistics. Country Notes • Balance of Payments Manual • Government Finance Statistics Manual • Guide to Direction of Trade Statistics

20. What do we call an item? (according to IMF – 14a) • How much money is in actual circulation (outside of banks)? • Japan, UK, Brazil, Canada = Reserve money of which currency outside DMBs (Deposit Money Banks) • USA = Reserve money of which currency outside banks • Euro nations, Switzerland, Sweden = currency issued • Denmark = Reserve Money of which outside BIs

21. What do we call an item? • According to Datastream’s IMF “currency in circulation” or “currency outside banks”. • According to Global Insight’s IMF “currency in circulation outside DMB”, “currency outside banks”, “currency outside banking institutions”, “currency in circulation”.

22. What is a DMB? • Qatar = locally owned commercial banks (including Islamic banks) and branches of foreign banks. • Canada = chartered banks • Georgia = commercial banks • Comoros = Banque pour l’industrie et le commerce-Comores

23. EIU screen

24. CPI Food – Sri Lanka - Datastream • LKCPIFODF

25. CPI Food – UK - Datastream • UKCHVW..

26. What documentation should be provided? (1) • Start date • Frequency • Update Schedule • Formats available for downloading • Unit of measure • Scale • Adjustment factors (if any) • Active/Discontinued

27. How we can help the researcher • Talk to vendors • Use the collective power of groups • Provide guides • Provide training • Have the actual documentation available at a common reference point

28. What documentation should be provided? (2) • Conversion Method (if applicable) • Source • Name of analyst for forecast • Definition • Links to old data if discontinued when adjustment factors if appropriate • Comparability charts