LibGuides: Business & Economics Datasets: Start

This Guide

lists sources for datasets comprising long time periods, to use in your research or coursework

Data collections

Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)
data that supports economic and social science research; many varieties. CMU subscription - create an account first (in upper left corner)
Harvard Dataverse Network
repository for multidisciplinary research data that is free and open to all researchers, including numerous datasets in business and economics
Stanford Large Network Dataset Collection
Collection of large network datasets. Includes social networks, web graphs, road networks, internet networks, citation networks, collaboration networks, and communication networks.
Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS)
international and US population data - census, health, time use, harmonized data - historical through current.

Tepper Computing Datasets

Databases to Use (Subscription-Based)

International Financial Statistics This link opens in a new window
Includes this and all other databases from the International Monetary fund. Time series data used in economic analysis.
OECD iLibrary Statistics This link opens in a new window
Multiple international datasets from the OECD, covering all topics: agriculture, health, economics, patents, R&D, migration, telecommunication, etc., plus all energy industry data from the IEA.
World DataBank This link opens in a new window
5 huge databases from the World Bank with financial and demographic information on all countries. Create your own queries; generate tables, charts, and maps; and save, embed, and share them. Best to watch the tutorial first.

Mergent Online Economics
over 1000 economics datasets covering retail, housing, trade, commodities, banking, energy, industry and other indicators

Sage Data (formerly DataPlanet) This link opens in a new window
Interdisciplinary datasets with mapping, graphing, and report-generating capability. Includes tons of datasets for business, industry, labor, energy, population, income, health, politics, and more.
WRDS (Wharton Research Data Services) This link opens in a new window
a uniform web interface to current and historical datasets in finance, marketing, economics and banking, from multiple sources. Some of those are: Standard & Poor’s Compustat, ComScore, the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP,) Mergent, Dow Jones, the Federal Reserve, and the Chicago Board of Options Exchange.
Social Explorer This link opens in a new window
Visual and numerical presentation of U.S. census data and a wide range of demographic information, 1790 – present. Creates maps and reports at levels from national to block group.
PolicyMap This link opens in a new window
A U.S. national data and mapping tool and analytics platform with multidisciplinary applications. Useful for social sciences, urban studies, real estate and housing analysis, community and economic development, public administration, public health, policy and political science, education, business, economics, statistics, and geography, among others. Includes thousands of U.S. data indicators for demographic and socioeconomic analysis, from a neighborhood census block group in many cases, up to a national level.
Nielsen & Nielsen IQ Datasets This link opens in a new window
The Libraries subscribes to the NielsenIQ Consumer Panel and Retail Scanner Data and Nielsen Ad Intel Data via the Kilts Center at Chicago Booth. The data include Consumer Panel Data, PanelView Surveys, Retail Scanner Data and Ad Intel Data. Access to these datasets requires adherence to various eligibility and funding requirements and data storage procedures. Please visit the research guide to learn more about accessing and using these datasets.
Data Axle Historical Data Sets This link opens in a new window
Data Axle (formerly Infogroup) is a data analytics marketing firm that provides marketing data on millions of businesses and consumers.

CMU Libraries houses and facilitates access to two forms of Data Axle historical data:

1. Historic Business Data - address-level data on US businesses and other organizations. Data fields include: street address, phone number, number of employees, SIC codes, and more.

2. Residential Historical Data - geo-referenced data on millions of households and basic consumer profiles. Data fields include: household income, home value, years in residence and more.

Other Data Sources (Mostly FREE)

FRED - Economic Data from the Federal Reserve
816,000 economic data time series from 107 national, international, public, and private sources, along with tools for interaction, display, and dissemination.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
prices, employment, pay, productivity, etc.
Bureau of Economic Analysis
US production, consumption, investment, exports/imports, income and saving, industry input-output accounts, foreign direct investment and balance of payments, etc.
Business Dynamics Statistics (US Census)
measures of establishment openings and closings, firm startups, job creation and destruction by firm size, age, and industrial sector, and several other statistics on business dynamics, from 1976-2010.
ILOSTAT from the International Labour Organization
labor data for 200 countries, from 1969 to the present
Business and Industry Census Database
Manufacturing, retail, services, construction, and other industries - historical financial and other indicators - some monthly.
UN COMTRADE
more than 1.75 billion records of international merchandise import-export trade data starting from 1962.
Penn World Table
purchasing power parity and national income accounts converted to international prices for 189 countries/territories 1950-2019.
World Inequality Database (WID)
Most extensive available data series on the world distribution of income and wealth. Sourced by a team of economists including T. Piketty.
Total Economy Database (TED)
from the Conference Board - annual data on GDP, population, employment, hours, labor quality, capital services, labor productivity, and total factor productivity for 123 countries. Requires free account.
Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories and Orders (detailed product listing)
monthly data from 1958 on economic conditions in the domestic manufacturing sector.
Bank for International Settlements
international banking, derivatives, securities, exchange rates, debt, etc.
UNData
from the United Nations - Agriculture, Crime, Education, Employment, Energy, Environment, Health, HIV/AIDS, Human Development, Industry, Information and Communication Technology, National Accounts, Population, Refugees, Tourism, Trade, as well as the Millennium Development Goals indicators.
Commodity Markets - World Bank
historical and current data for over 70 series
Yahoo Finance
daily, weekly, monthly historical prices for stocks, funds, indexes
National Bureau for Economic Research
many historical datasets of all kinds used by the NBER, such as "the 1947-2005 quarterly job flow series for US Manufacturing."
OANDA Foreign Exchange Rates
daily rates for 164 currencies (and gold, silver and platinum) from1990 to the present.
U.S. Historical Climatology Network
daily and monthly climate observations
Kenneth French data library
(of Fama/French fame) the data made available here give historical returns for various industry, country, and index portfolios

QUANDL This link opens in a new window
A huge repository of time-series data on the internet in economics, finance, demography, society, markets, energy, health and education. A free database, and most of the data is also free with registration.

UNCTADstat
from the UN Conference on Trade and Development, data on: International trade, Economic trends, Foreign direct investment, External financial resources, Commodity prices, Population and labour force, and Maritime transport.
Links to statistical agencies for each country/region
their versions of our Census Bureau
Links to central banks for each country
which often have a statistical section for economic and financial data