[Book Cover Spine]

Data

The data files available here were used to compute the examples in the book. They are all fixed format ASCII files that can be loaded easily into a wide variety of programs. We used MATLAB and some of our code is available in the computer programs section of this web site.

All of the files listed below are contained in a zipped file.

  • WAGE DATA:   Please see the appendix to Chapter 1 for a description of the data which is an extract from the March, 1995 Current Population Survey of the U. S. Census Bureau. You can make your own extract using the Data Extraction System (DES) on their internet site.

    The file contains 1289 records with 8 numbers in each record.

  • UNEMPLOYMENT DATA:   The unemployment rate series that we examine in Chapter 3, Partitioned Regression, is the Bureau of Labor Statistics series LFU21000000. This is the seasonally unadjusted (indicated by the "U" in the label) unemployment rate of the civilian labor force ("LF" stands for labor force) for people aged 16 years and older. One can obtain all years of this series from the Bureau of Labor Statistics web site under "Series Report."

    The file contains 311 records with 3 numbers in each record.

  • NAIRU DATA:   The analysis of the natural rate of unemployment in Chapters 19, 20, and 25 uses data provided by Mark Watson. This is the data that Staiger, Stock, and Watson used in the study first described in Chapter 19. Watson provides the original data set along with data for other work on his website.

    Our data consists of 480 records with 6 numbers in each record.

  • RANDOM WALK HYPOTHESIS DATA:   In Chapter 21 we introduce the generalized method of moments with Hall's "random walk" hypothesis: that the marginal utility of consumption is a first-order autoregressive process and that lagged values of such variables as disposable income and consumption do not have additional predictive power for the marginal utility of consumption. Campbell and Mankiw used data similar to these for re-examining Hall's original analysis.

  • PORTER'S SHIPPING CARTEL DATA:   Our chapter on simultaneous equations uses Rob Porter's study of railway transportation by a cartel of railroads shipping from Chicago to the Atlantic seaboard in the 1880's. These are Porter's original data of 328 weekly observations with the critical 21 variables.