Economic Data as Snapshots in Time

At the session called "Using National Data" the paper on "Economic data as snapshots in time" was presented by Katrina Stierholz from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. They are into names at this bank, their data is called FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data), and they have a FRASER, that is an image archive of economic statistical publications, and an ALFRED that is a machine-readable archive with access for researchers to pull real-time data. Katrina Stierholz explains in the paper that while the FRED data is a revised time-series, ALFRED and FRASER contain the historical real-time data. With FRASER and ALFRED the ability to reproduce other economists' work becomes possible. "Looking back at decisions made, it is important to be aware of what the data at the time said, not what they say now". The article describes the systems FRED, ALFRED, and FRASER and what they contain and what functionality they offer.