Trade

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CenStats (U.S. Bureau of the Census)

The Censtats collection of menu-based data extractors from the U.S. Census Bureau includes the following:

• Building permit statistics on new residential and nonresidential construction for individual municipalities. Updated monthly.
• County Business Patterns: Employment and earnings by 4-digit Standard Industrial Classification by state and county (1993-1997) and ZIP code (1994-1997) and by North American Industry Classification System (beginning 1998) by state and county, metropolitan statistical area and ZIP code. Updated annually.
• International Trade Data: Exports and imports by Standard International Trade Classification. Updated monthly.
• Census of Population and Housing Public Law 94-171 Data, Age by Race and Hispanic Origin, for 1990 and 2000.
• Census Tract Street Locator
• Detailed Occupation by Race, Hispanic Origin and Sex, from the 1990 Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) File.
• USA Counties: demographic and economic data for States and counties. Updated every two years.

Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade -- Tracking U.S. Trade (Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade)
Provides online access to data for U.S. trade in the Western hemisphere on a monthly basis from 1996 to 1999 in HTML table format. Note that, according to the web site as of February 2007, "Please be aware that many of the links on the site no longer function, the activities listed on the site are no longer undertaken, and much of the information is outdated."

DataZone (Economic Policy Institute (EPI))
The DataZone provides access to tables of United States historical labor market and income data, mostly on the national level but some at state & regional levels, that can either be viewed in PDF or downloaded in Excel. Though last updated in 2006, the historical statistics go back into the 1970s and earlier. The larger EPI site is kept current with analysis and briefing papers.

Export.gov (U.S. International Trade Administration et al.)
Export.gov is the U.S. government online portal to exporting and trade services, a collaboration of multiple agencies. The portal is aimed at those in the business of exporting, and includes articles and a lot of how-to information. The trade statistics section of the site, at http://www.export.gov/tradestatistics.html, includes the tool Export Statistics Express, which provides export statistics on a state-by-state basis. The interface generates color-coded maps, HTML tables, and downloadable data in CSV format. The data are from the Department of Commerce’s Exporter Location series, tracing exports to the point of sale rather than to the point of manufacture.

FAOSTAT (United Nations. Food and Agricultural Organization)
"FAOSTAT provides access to over 3 million time-series and cross sectional data relating to food and agriculture. FAOSTAT contains data for 200 countries and more than 200 primary products and inputs, just in its core." The FAOSTAT system was overhauled in 2006, with new features released gradually over the course of the year. The updated site relies on a core database which both integrates and serves as a gateway to complementary thematic databases.

Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) (Purdue University, Center for Global Trade Analysis)
The Global Trade Analysis Project provides data, a standard model and software, and training for multi-country computable general equilibrium (CGE) analysis. This page provides access to many of these resources. The GTAP data base contains detailed bilateral trade, transport and protection data characterizing economic linkages among regions, linked together with individual country input-output data bases which account for intersectoral linkages among the 37 sectors within each region. The GTAP data package is available for purchase.

Market Access Database (European Commission)
The Market Access Database is meant to help reduce trade obstacles faced by European exporters. As such, some sections of the site are restricted to visitors from EU member states, but unrestricted areas of the site include a "Statistical Database" which provides overview numbers (HTML table or Excel) on trade flows between the EU and non-EU countries; and, text reports on Sectoral and Trade Barriers covering 62 countries.

NAID Center (University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA))
The North American Integration and Development (NAID) Center website carries a database of North American Free Trade Agreement - Transitional Adjustment Assistance (NAFTA-TAA), Unemployment, and Eligibility numbers by county. The site also contains links to other information about NAFTA and border issues.

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Online Economic Data (National Bureau of Economic Research)
The NBER is a major nonprofit and non-partisan economic research organization. NBER's researchers include over 600 professors of economics and business. The research at NBER concentrates on four types of empirical research: developing new statistical measurements, estimating quantitative models of economic behavior, assessing the effects of public policies on the U.S. economy, and projecting the effects of alternative policy proposals. Data files linked from the NBER data page are organized into the categories of: macro data, industry data, international trade data, individual data, hospital data, patent data and other data. Included may be compressed data files, electronic documentation, and selected SAS, SPSS or STATA data statements. Some of the links are to archives hosted by NBER, while others are to outside archives. Some interesting ones are

• Occupational Wages Around the World
• NBER Macro History Database (lots of time series)
• Manufacturing Industry Productivity Database
• School District Databook
• Consumer Expenditure Survey Family Level Extracts

Office of Trade and Economic Analysis (OTEA) (Department of Commerce. International Trade Administration)
Lots of data tables under the categories of U.S. Industry and Trade Outlook, U.S. Foreign Trade Highlights, U.S. Foreign Trade Update, Foreign Trade Reference Room, and Trade Policy Information System. Also, this site provides access to State Export Data, as well as Metropolitan Area Exports.

STAT-USA (WWW fee-based version)
The Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration's subscription-based access to the National Trade Data Bank (NTDB), the National Economic, Social and Environmental Data Bank (NESE-DB), and the Economic Bulletin Board (Lite version). Note: If you are in Madison, Wisconsin, you may use a workstation at the State Historical Library to access STAT-USA, or visit the Reference Desk at Memorial Library or the Law Library.

Trade Data OnLine (Industry Canada)
Trade Data OnLine is part of the web site of Industry Canada, a Canadian governmental department. It provides Canadian and U.S. trade statistics primarily for the benefit of the Canadian business community, including information on the value of imports and domestic exports from/to over 200 countries for over 5,000 commodities (by HS6 codes) and over 500 industries (by Canadian and U.S. SIC codes). The information is presented in report and/or graphic format, and tables can be downloaded as CSV files. A built- in thesaurus helps locate pertinent HS and SIC/NAICS codes.

UNdata (United Nations)
The United Nations is undertaking to bring together many of its various statistical databases under a single interface, at UNdata. As of February 2008, UNdata carries 14 databases containing over 55 million data points, covering a range of topics including population, industry, energy, trade and national accounts. The databases are accessible either by keyword searching from a single search page, or through a menu of databases. UNdata will be replacing the UN Common Database, which is slated to be discontinued in the summer of 2008. Indicators formerly offered through the UN Common Database will be listed under Key Global Indicators, and will be searchable through the main interface as well. However, the trade information in UNdata will not be replacing UN Comtrade, which will continue to cover a deeper and more fully-featured set of merchandise statistics.

United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database (UN Comtrade) (United Nations Statistics Division)
The UN Comtrade database collects annual international trade statistics from about 140 reporting countries per year, covering over 90% of world trade. Statistics are detailed by commodity and partner country, converted into US dollars and metric units, and stored in multiple classification schemes. For many countries the data coverage starts as far back as 1962 and goes up to the most recent completed year. Note: UW-Madison no longer subscribes to UN Comtrade, as of July 2008. Data searching is free and guest users may browse up to 1000 records, but the download feature is by subscription only.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development)
Available in English, Spanish or French, this site provides information on events and meetings, technical cooperation, press releases and reference services, and a whole host of related WWW sites.

United Nations Scholars' Workstation (Yale University)
"The United Nations Scholars' Workstation is a collection of texts, finding aids, data sets, maps, and pointers to print and electronic information. Subject coverage includes disarmament, economic and social development, environment, human rights, international relations, international trade, peacekeeping, and population and demography." See also Yale's excellent Related Resources on the Internet for links to other International Studies-related sites.

US Trade Internet System (U.S. Forest and Agricultural Service)
The Forest and Agricultural Service's Internet Trade System site was introduced to the public in April 2002. The U.S. Trade Internet System features information regarding "United States Exports, Imports and Re-Exports of Agricultural, Fish, Forest, and Textile Products throughout the world." The site includes a search function for those looking for particular statistics. Information is provided in HTML table and Excel format.

USITC Trade DataWeb (United States International Trade Commission)
This site carries searchable databases for U.S. imports and exports (free registration required), and tariff tables back to 1997. The USITC also maintains links to trade-related sites of interest to economists as well as policy-makers.

World Trade Organization (WTO) Statistics (World Trade Organization)
The WTO statistics page carries annual international trade statistics in PDF and Excel formats, along with historical time series: aggregated merchandise and commercial services trade by region and selected economies back to 1980, and aggregated worldwide merchandise exports, production and gross domestic product back to 1950.

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