Historical International Macro-Finance Data Sources

TL;DR

This content provides an overview of readily available historical data for international finance research, including trade data, capital flows, macroeconomic data, and the process of creating your own datasets.

Transcript

[MUSIC] Thanks a lot. This is super exciting to be here so I'm going to talk about historical data and I'll be covering a lot of topics. So mostly, I'll be going through readily available data. So these are data sets that you can pretty much plug and play, download, work with and I'll discuss ways you can work with them and issues that you might co... Read More

Key Insights

• 👨‍🔬 Historical data in international finance research provides valuable insights into past events, comparative advantage, and the growth of major economies.
• 💐 Available trade data includes bilateral country-level panels and industry-level datasets, while capital flow datasets cover securities prices, sovereign debt, and international banking flows.
• 😒 Researchers can access macroeconomic data, historical events, and use central bank websites as valuable resources for their research.
• 🧑‍🦽 Creating your own datasets requires manual digitization for quantitative data and OCR with additional processing for textual data.

Questions & Answers

Q: What are the advantages of studying historical data in international finance research?

Studying historical data allows researchers to test theories, understand important events, and gain insights into the shifting nature of comparative advantage, import competition, and the growth of major exporting powers. It provides inspiration for developing and testing hypotheses in international finance.

Q: What types of trade data are easily accessible for researchers?

Researchers can access bilateral country-level aggregate trade panels, which provide complete bilateral flows between countries in terms of exports and imports. There are also industry-level trade datasets available for more detailed analysis. Original publications and statistical abstracts are recommended as sources of additional unexplored and undigitized data.

Q: Are there datasets available for studying capital flows in international finance?

Yes, there are datasets available for studying capital flows, including securities price data from major international financial centers, sovereign debt data for foreign currency bonds traded in London and New York, and historical data on international banking flows. These datasets are well-documented and can provide insights into historical capital flows.

Q: How can researchers create their own datasets using historical sources?

Creating your own datasets involves accessing archives and libraries for quantitative and textual data. For quantitative data, manual digitization of tables is recommended, while OCR can be used for textual data. There are open-source tools available to improve the accuracy of OCR text, and outsourcing manual digitization is suggested for efficiency.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The content discusses the importance of studying historical data as a source of inspiration and understanding for testing theories of how systems work in international finance.

• It provides detailed information on readily available data sets, such as bilateral country-level aggregate trade panels and industry-level trade data, and highlights the advantages and challenges of working with these data.

• The content also explores datasets for capital flows, including securities price data, sovereign debt data, and international banking data.

• Additionally, it mentions the availability of macroeconomic data and resources for accessing historical events, such as financial crises and major disasters.

• The content concludes with an explanation of the process of creating your own datasets, including digitization of tables and OCR for textual data.