Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) is a database maintained by the Research division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis that has more than 816,000 economic time series from various sources.[1] They cover banking, business/fiscal, consumer price indexes, employment and population, exchange rates, gross domestic product, interest rates, monetary aggregates, producer price indexes, reserves and monetary base, U.S. trade and international transactions, and U.S. financial data. The time series are compiled by the Federal Reserve and many are collected from government agencies such as the U.S. Census and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.[2]
Services
editALRED (Archival Reserve Economic Data) lets users retrieve vintage versions of economic data that were available on specific dates in history. The ALRED website states that “In general, economic data for past observation periods are revised as more accurate estimates become available. As a result, previous vintages of data can be superseded and may no longer be available from various data sources." It also says that "Vintage or real-time economic data allows academics to reproduce others’ research, build more accurate forecasting models and analyze economic policy decisions using the data available at the time.”[3]
GeoFRED is a data-mapping tool that displays FRED data series in color-coded form on the state, metropolitan statistical areas and county levels.[4]
CASSIDI is a data service that provides nationwide data on banking market structures and definitions, as well as banking markets for individual depository institutions.[5]
FRASER (The Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research) is a digital archive begun in 2004 to safeguard, preserve and provide easy access to the United States’ economic history—particularly the history of the Federal Reserve System—through digitization of documents related to the U.S. financial system.[6] Digitized documents include:
- Publications of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
- Publications of each of the Federal Reserve banks
- Statements, speeches and archival materials of Federal Reserve policymakers
- Government data publications
- Statistical releases
- Congressional hearings
- Books
- Reports by various organizations
To create and maintain FRASER, the St. Louis Fed collaborated with the United States Government Printing Office, Federal Depository Library Program libraries and several university and public libraries.[7][8]
St. Louis Fed Research also hosts IDEAS,[9] a bibliographic database drawn from Research Papers in Economics (RePEc),[10] which consists of economic research from more than one million academic articles and papers. As of September 2024, the IDEAS site states it has more 4,700,000 items of research that can be browsed or searched, and more than 4,300,000 that can be downloaded in full text.
Usage
editThe economic data published on FRED are widely reported in the media and play a key role in financial markets. In a 2012 Business Insider article titled "The Most Amazing Economics Website in the World", Joe Weisenthal quoted Paul Krugman as saying: "I think just about everyone doing short-order research — trying to make sense of economic issues in more or less real time — has become a FRED fanatic."[11]
FRED economic indicators (partial list)
edit| SERIES | CATEGORY | SUB-CATEGORY | INDICATOR | PERIOD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TREAST | Finance | Monetary Data | US Treasuries Held by the Fed | W |
| WSHOMCB | Finance | Monetary Data | Mortgage Backed Sec Held by the Fed | W |
| WALCL | Banking | Monetary Factors | All Fed Reserve Banks - Total Assets | W |
| TLAAC | Banking | Monetary Factors | All Commercial Banks - Total Assets | W |
| BOPBCA (discontinued) | Banking | Conditions | Number of US Banks | Q |
| USNUM (discontinued) | Banking | Conditions | Number of US Commercial Banks | Q |
| EQTA (discontinued) | Banking | Conditions | Equity/Asset Ratio | Q |
| TOTBKCR | Banking | Commercial Credit | Bank Credit of All Commercial Banks | W |
| TOTALSEC | Banking | Commercial Credit | Securitized Total Consumer Loans | M |
| TOTALSL | Banking | Commercial Credit | Total Consumer Credit Outstanding | M |
| INVEST | Banking | Investment | Total Investments All Commercial Banks | M |
| USGSEC | Banking | Investment | US Treasury and Agency Securities
at All Commercial Banks |
M |
| CONSUMER | Banking | Loans | Total Consumer Loans | M |
| BUSLOANS | Banking | Loans | Total Commercial/Industrial Loans | M |
| DALLCACBEP | Banking | Delinquencies | Delinquencies On All Loans And Leases | M |
| T10Y2Y | Banking | Interest Rates | US 10-YR / 2-YR Spread | W |
| TB3MS | Banking | Interest Rates | 3-Month T-Bill: Secondary Market Rate | W |
| DGS10 | Banking | Interest Rates | 10-Yr Treasury Const. Maturity Rate | W |
| GFDEBTN | Business/Fiscal | Federal Government | Federal Government Debt (Public) | Y |
| FYOINT | Business/Fiscal | Federal Government | Interest on National Debt | Y |
| FYONET | Business/Fiscal | Federal Government | Federal Spending | Y |
| FYFR | Business/Fiscal | Federal Government | Federal Receipts | Y |
| FYFSD | Business/Fiscal | Federal Government | Budget Deficit/Surplus | Y |
| CDSP | Business/Fiscal | Household Sector | Consumer Debt/Income Ratio | Q |
| PERMIT | Business/Fiscal | Household Sector | New Home Permits | M |
| HSN1F | Business/Fiscal | Household Sector | New Home Sales | M |
| CMDEBT | Business/Fiscal | Household Sector | Outstanding Mortgage Debt | Q |
| DGORDER | Business/Fiscal | Ind. Production | Manufacturers' New Orders | M |
| TCU | Business/Fiscal | Ind. Production | Capacity Utilization: Total Industry | M |
| TTLCONS | Business/Fiscal | Construction | Total Construction Spending | M |
| BUSINV | Business/Fiscal | Other | Total Business Inventories | M |
| ALTSALES | Business/Fiscal | Other | Light Weight Vehicle Sales | M |
| UMCSENT | Business/Fiscal | Other | Univ of Michigan: Consumer Sentiment | M |
| STLFSI | Business/Fiscal | Other | St. Louis Financial Stress Index | W |
| OILPRICE | Business/Fiscal | Other | Spot Oil Price - West Texas Intermediate | M |
| CPIAUCSL | Consumer Prices | CPI | Consumer Price Index: Seasonally Adj. | M |
| UNRATE | Empl & Population | Household Survey | Civilian Total Unemployment Rate | M |
| UEMP27OV | Empl & Population | Household Survey | Long Term Unemployment: >27 WKS | M |
| UEMPMED | Empl & Population | Household Survey | Length of Unemployment | M |
| CE16OV | Empl & Population | Household Survey | Total US Workforce | M |
| EMRATIO | Empl & Population | Household Survey | US Employment/Population Ratio | M |
| POP | Empl & Population | Population | US Population | M |
| AHEMAN | Empl & Population | Est. Survey | Avg Hourly Earnings: Manufacturing | M |
| AWHMAN | Empl & Population | Est. Survey | Avg Weekly Hours: Manufacturing | M |
| AWOTMAN | Empl & Population | Est. Survey | Avg Weekly OT Hours: Manufacturing | M |
| DEXUSUK | Exchange Rates | Daily Rates | USD/GBP Currency Exchange Rate | D |
| DEXUSEU | Exchange Rates | Daily Rates | USD/EUR Currency Exchange Rate | D |
| DEXJPUS | Exchange Rates | Daily Rates | JPN/USD Currency Exchange Rate | D |
| DEXMXUS | Exchange Rates | Daily Rates | MXP/USD Currency Exchange Rate | D |
| DEXCAUS | Exchange Rates | Daily Rates | CAD/USD Currency Exchange Rate | D |
| DEXCHUS | Exchange Rates | Daily Rates | CNY/USD Currency Exchange Rate | D |
| COMPOUT | Financial Data | Monetary | Commercial Paper Outstanding | W |
| VIXCLS | Financial Data | Volatility Inexes | CBOE Volatility Index | D |
| GDP | GDP & Components | GDP/GNP | US Gross Domestic Product | Q |
| GNP | GDP & Components | GDP/GNP | US Gross National Product | Q |
| GDI | GDP & Components | GDP/GNP | US Gross Domestic Income | Q |
| NETFI | GDP & Components | Imports & Exports | US Current Account Balance | Q |
| EXPGS | GDP & Components | Imports & Exports | US Exports Goods & Services | Q |
| IMPGS | GDP & Components | Imports & Exports | US Imports Goods & Services | Q |
| DGI | GDP & Components | Govt Accounting | Fed Govt: Defense Budget | Q |
| FGRECPT | GDP & Components | Govt Accounting | Fed Govt: Tax Receipts | Q |
| TGDEF | GDP & Components | Govt Accounting | Fed Govt: Budget Deficit | Q |
| CP | GDP & Components | Industry | Corporate Profits After Tax | Q |
| DIVIDEND | GDP & Components | Industry | Corporate Dividends | Q |
| PI | GDP & Components | Personal | Personal Income | M |
| PSAVE | GDP & Components | Savings & Inv. | Personal Savings | Q |
| PSAVERT | GDP & Components | Savings & Inv. | Personal Savings Rate | M |
| MORTGAGE30US | Interest Rates | 30yr Mortgage | 30-yr Conventional Mortgage Rate | W |
| DPCREDIT | Interest Rates | FRB Rates | Discount Rate | D |
| FEDFUNDS | Interest Rates | FRB Rates | Effective Federal Funds Rate | M |
| M1 | Monetary Aggregates | M1 | M1 Money Supply | M |
| M2 | Monetary Aggregates | M2 | M2 Money Supply | M |
| MZM (discontinued) | Monetary Aggregates | MZM | MZM Money Supply | M |
| M1V | Monetary Aggregates | M1 | Velocity of M1 Money Stock | M |
| M2V | Monetary Aggregates | M2 | Velocity of M2 Money Stock | M |
| MZMV (discontinued) | Monetary Aggregates | MZM | Velocity of MZM Money Stock | M |
| MULT (discontinued) | Monetary Aggregates | M1 | M1 Money Multiplier | M |
| PPIACO | Producer Prices | PPI | Producer Price Index: All Commodities | M |
| IMPCH | Trade | Imports | Imports from China | M |
| IMPJP | Trade | Imports | Imports from Japan | M |
| IMPMX | Trade | Imports | Imports from Mexico | M |
| IMPCA | Trade | Imports | Imports from Canada | M |
| IMPGE | Trade | Imports | Imports from Germany | M |
| IMPUK | Trade | Imports | Imports from UK | M |
| EXPCH | Trade | Exports | Exports to China | M |
| EXPJP | Trade | Exports | Exports to Japan | M |
| EXPMX | Trade | Exports | Exports to Mexico | M |
| EXPCA | Trade | Exports | Exports to Canada | M |
| EXPGE | Trade | Exports | Exports to Germany | M |
| EXPUK | Trade | Exports | Exports to UK | M |
| BOPGEXP | Trade | Exports | Exports: Goods | M |
| BOPGIMP | Trade | Imports | Imports: Goods | M |
| BOPGTB | Trade | Balance | Balance: Goods | M |
| BOPGSXP | Trade | Exports | Exports: Services | M |
| BOPSIMP | Trade | Imports | Imports: Services | M |
| BOPSTB | Trade | Balance | Balance: Services | M |
| BOPGSTB | Trade | Balance | Balance: Goods & Services | M |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "What is FRED? | Getting To Know FRED". Federal Reserve Economic Data. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
- ^ "Everybody Loves FRED: How America Fell for a Data Tool". New York Times. 2024.
- ^ "ArchivaL Federal Reserve Economic Data - ALFRED - St. Louis Fed". Alfred.stlouisfed.org. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
- ^ "GeoFRED: Geographic Federal Reserve Economic Data". Geofred.stlouisfed.org. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
- ^ "Welcome to Cassidi". Cassidi.stlouisfed.org. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
- ^ "Economic Data Publications, Historical Federal Reserve Archive, FRASER". Fraser.stlouisfed.org. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
- ^ Federal Depository Library Program[permanent dead link] partnerships. Accessed March 14, 2013.
- ^ FRASER information and collaboration. Accessed March 13, 2013.
- ^ IDEAS. Accessed March 1, 2018.
- ^ "RePEc". RePEc. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
- ^ "The Most Amazing Economics Website in the World", Joe Weisenthal, Business Insider, March 23, 2012.