INTRODUCTION to MACROECONOMICS
Economics 0115 Winter/Spring 1997
Dr. Thomas McGahagan 123 Krebs Hall

Course Materials News and Data Gov't Sites Topics Useful Links
Syllabus Data Sources Executive Labor Markets Lists
of Links
Intermediate News Congress Money Markets Macro
Classes
Assignments
and Notes
Libraries Federal
Reserve
World
Economy
UPJ Econ
Department

BEST MACRO WEB SITES
  1. Wall Street Journal articles on macroeconomics
    Articles are keyed to the macroeconomics text by Joseph Stiglitz; you will frequently visit this site to update your macroeconomic journal


    ECONOMIC DATA

    Data are vital to macroeconomics; before the Web, it was difficult to access current data. Now, it's easy. You will be expected to describe the data contained in these sites on examinations; visit them often.

    Three very useful guides for the data searcher are by

  2. Economic Statistics Briefing Room
    The White House overview of current statistics;
    has a good selection of the latest data. More extended data tables can be found in the Economic Report of the President At the Council of Economic Advisors
    the current ERP can be searched by keyword.

  3. Bureau of Labor Statistics
    Includes Consumer Price Index as well as unemployment data.

  4. Census Department
    Check especially its Economic Indicators Page to see that the Census Bureau does more than count heads.
    Another set of Economic Indicators , prepared for the Congress monthly

  5. Bureau of Economic Analysis
    is the source for the detailed National Income and Product Accounts. Graphs of the NIPA data since 1959 are available with a very impressive Web application at the University of Virginia.
    . It is harder to find comparable data before 1959. You can turn to print -- Historical Statistics of the United States , published by the Commerce Department; or the Statistical Abstract of the US , published by the Census Bureau. One Web site with some of the basics -- nominal GDP and the Consumer Price Index -- has been provided by the Chicago Fed.

  6. FRED
    the Federal Reserve Economic Database at St. Louis gives the best money supply, interest rate and financial market data.A graphical interface to this data is provided by Theodore Bos at the University of Alabama


    NEWS

  7. Washington Post
    The Washington Post has the most attractive Web site for general news;
    other good news sites include the New York Times and the N and O Times

  8. Ed Yardeni's Economic Commentary
    Ed Yardeni, an economist for Deutsche Bank, offers not only his commentary on where the economy is going, but also a unique and interesting series of macro graphs.
    Other good sites for commentary are:

  9. Financial Times
    gets my award for the best financial news, especially for international news. For US markets, the choice would have been the Wall Street Journal ; unfortunately, the service now charges for access.


    ACADEMIC SITES
    Primarily of use for intermediate and advanced students, but beginners can browse with profit.
  10. Economic Growth
    Johnathan Temple, of Nuffield College, Oxford has an extraordinarily useful list of links to sites specializing in the study of long-run economic growth.

  11. Quantitative Macroeconomics and Real Business Cycles
    Christopher Zimmerman at the University of Quebec at Montreal has a list of connections to research on business cycles; generally rather technical for beginners, but a great site.

  12. National Bureau of Economic Research
    has an index of working papers which are at the cutting edge of research and a very interesting (but difficult to use without some practice) set of long-run historical and international data.


    LABOR MARKETS

  13. Department of Labor
    One of the more attractively designed government sites. For sites which are very useful in themselves and offer excellent links to other labor sites, see:


    MONEY and CAPITAL MARKETS

  14. Wall Street Research Net
    Offers links to a US and foreign financial markets. Another good list of links is: Ohio State Financial Links

  15. Institute for Banking
    The University of Göttingen maintains a list of links to quite a number of US and world-wide banks.

  16. Central Bank Resource Guide
    Mark Bernkopf maintains links to foreign central banks as well as to the Fed.

  17. Federal Reserve Board
    The Board of Governors of the Fed is responsible for monetary policy and keeps the statistics on the money supply.
    See the Beige Book or report on current economic conditions for insight into the FOMC's evaluation of the economy.

    Each of the Fed regionals also has a website; the three best are:


    FISCAL POLICY

  18. Treasury Department
    The Treasury Department has the primary responsibility for fiscal policy.

  19. Office of Management and Budget
    Responsible for preparing The 1997 Budget
    See the Citizen's Guide to the Budget for a brief overview.


    INTERNATIONAL

  20. International Monetary Fund
    The IMF is responsible for a good deal of international lending to developed countries as well as developing countries; its work frequently involves giving macroeconomic policy advice.
  21. World Trade Organization
    Until recently known as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , it acquired expanded powers along with its new name in 1994. It is designed to provide a forum for trade negogiations and to resolve trade disputes.
  22. World Bank
    Lending by the World Bank is usually for long-term development rather than for short-run crises; the most useful section here is the " Topics in Development " which has very high-quality academic papers on long-run growth and macro topics.
  23. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
    A club of the most developed countries; maintains a database of international economic statistics, though access by the Web is limited. further study.
  24. Group of Seven
    The G-7 economic summit conferences have sometimes resulted in the international coordination of macroeconomic policy. A useful guide to the conferences is provided by the University of Toronto.
  25. European Union
    Official site of the European Community.
    LINKS

  26. Internet Resources for Economists
    by Ed Goffe is the most complete list of economic sites.
    WebEc is another list of links; it may even be easier to use than Goffe, but broken links often don't seem to get fixed quickly.
  27. Pitt-Johnstown Economics Department
    The UPJ Economics department homepage offers access to other economics links by subject, as well as to program and course descriptions and faculty member homepages.
    Send e-mail to Dr. McGahagan