MARIO RAFAEL SILVA

Resources

Here I group an eclectic group of resources that is relevant to conceptual issues and the practice of economics research. I include writing and computational tools that are useful for practitioners, students, and inquisitive vistors.

 On Writing

Linking the model to data

A guide to specifying the observation equations by Johannes Pfeifer

Mathematical typesetting


Generating figures

  • Scalar Vector Graphics graphics software like Inkscape
  • Creating graphical elements in LateX through TikZ

Some key economic data sources

  • FRED: major repository of domestic and some international economic data
  • Current Population Survey (CPS): primary force of labor force statistics in the United States. Administered by the Census under the supervision of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  • Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP): short panel on employment status, earnings, income, and key demographic information that includes monthly data.
  • Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX): continuous flow of information on the purchasing habits of American consumers. Conists of a quarterly interview panel survey and diary.
  • Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF): three-year household survey covering balance sheet, pension, income, and other demographic characteristics. Sponsored by the Federal Reserve Board in cooperation with the Treasury.
  • Compustat: balance sheet variables on publicly traded firms, available through Wharton Research  Data Services and requires a subscription.
  • American Time Use Survey: nationally representative U.S. time diary survey. Extract builder available from IPUMS.
  • Utilization-adjusted total factor productivity: real-time, quarterly series on total factor productivity with utilization adjusted as in Basu, Fernald, and Kimball (2006)
  • A composite help-wanted index developed by Regis Barnichon. 
  • Euro Area, EU, and European Statistical Data
  • Business Dynamics Statistics Database: annual data series, starting in 1976. Derived from the Longitudinal Business Database (LBD), covering virtually all U.S. private non-farm sector employees with robust year-over-year linking. Establishments are the primary unit of analysis and linked to parent firms. Establishment-level gross job gains and losses are aggregated to provide comprehensive measures of gross and net job creation.
  • Business Formation Statistics: monthly frequency, from July 2004. Based on administrative data from Employment Identification number (EIN) and payroll tax filings. Facilitates real-time monitoring of business formation activities. Several variables available, including Business Formation within 4 Quarters (BF4Q), which quantities new employer businesses emerging from applications within four quarter of initial filing.
  • Stock market, home prices, and other data from Robert Shiller's webpage


Programming/computational tools for economists




Useful Julia resources