[open-economics] Econ Factbook

Mon Aug 17 02:19:37 UTC 2015

Hi Alex,

I will have a closer look. Do you know about this one as well:
https://www.quandl.com/

It's another data aggregator.

Rodney

On Mon, Aug 17, 2015 at 3:05 AM, Alex Peek <alexpeek1 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Gustavo and Rodney,
>
> Thanks Gustavo for showing me the  Pordata <http://www.pordata.pt/> website.
> Looks like a great website that has consolidated a ton of valuable data
> about Portugal.
>
> Thank you Rodney for mentioning FRED. FRED is an awesome website also win
> a ton of valuable data. My only problem is that they do not have country
> specific pages.
>
> The inspiration for Econ Factbook <http://econfactbook.org/> was to
> organize economic statistics into format shows the circular flow of
> income model <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_flow_of_income>.
> There is a section for Households, Corporations, Government, Financial
> Institutions, the Central Bank and International Accounts. I believe that
> economic data should be organized according to the circular flow of income
> model because to enables the reader to intuitively understand the data
> easier. Structuring economic data into a format consistent with the
> circular flow of income model enables greater transparency to an economy.
> To my knowledge, no website has ever attempted to do this. I also want to
> apply the circular flow of income model to states and cities to improve
> local economic data transparency.
>
> Econ Factbook is designed for economists who want to look at all of the
> structurally important economic statistics about a location. It's far
> easier to do research about the economy of Finland
> <http://econfactbook.org/Finland.html> on Econ Factbook than by going to
> FRED <https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/release?rid=239> or the World
> Bank Indicators <http://data.worldbank.org/indicator>. It's faster and
> more effective to use Econ Factbook. Having all the data on a single page
> is very useful.
>
> The goal for Econ Factbook is be like Wikipedia in the sense that nobody
> references Wikipedia directly, but everyone uses it for fast research.
> Ideally, an international organization will want to adopt Econ Factbook to
> ensure the website is completely accurate and up to date. Until that
> happens my plan is to hire a programmer to help me automate the website and
> set up an API. Getting widespread usage of Econ Factbook is a long term
> goal but it is certainly something that needs to happen. Economic data
> needs to be more transparent.
>
> Once again, to see the full format, please check out the United States
> <http://econfactbook.org/Unitedstates.html> article. This is the
> internet's most comprehensive page showing data about the  U.S. economy.
>
> Thanks for reading my message and I would love answer any questions. It's
> very hard to explain abstract ideas like this and I hope I can spread my
> message to more people.
>
> Thank you,
>
> - Alex
>
> On 16 August 2015 at 17:47, Rodney Beard <rodney.m.beard at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Not sure, I can look into it get back to you in a couple of days.
>>
>> Rodney
>>
>> On Mon, Aug 17, 2015 at 12:25 AM, Gustavo Silva <
>> gustavosantaremsilva at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Do you know if there is a way to integrate them with this one? I am
>>> aware of these sets in Portugal. I admit I am a bit blind about
>>> international databases. Nevertheless, these seem pretty difficult to deal
>>> with.
>>>
>>> But, I'll let Alex decide what to do about this specific project.
>>>
>>> Best Regards / Obrigado e com os melhores cumprimentos,
>>> Gustavo Silva
>>>
>>>
>>> *Phonebloks <https://phonebloks.com/en>, Partnership Manager*
>>> *Lubuntu W&D <https://launchpad.net/%7Elubuntu-wiki-docs>, Team Leader*
>>>
>>> 2015-08-17 0:23 GMT+01:00 Rodney Beard <rodney.m.beard at gmail.com>:
>>>
>>>> No, they have some international data sets. I haven't looked at those
>>>> in detail. Just thought you guys should know about it. There are a few
>>>> other data sources out there as well that do something similar to what you
>>>> are proposing.
>>>>
>>>> Rodney
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Aug 17, 2015 at 12:17 AM, Gustavo Silva <
>>>> gustavosantaremsilva at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi Rodney.
>>>>>
>>>>> Well, That's a huge database. That applies to US-only, right?
>>>>>
>>>>> Best Regards / Obrigado e com os melhores cumprimentos,
>>>>> Gustavo Silva
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> *Phonebloks <https://phonebloks.com/en>, Partnership Manager*
>>>>> *Lubuntu W&D <https://launchpad.net/%7Elubuntu-wiki-docs>, Team Leader*
>>>>>
>>>>> 2015-08-16 20:11 GMT+01:00 Rodney Beard <rodney.m.beard at gmail.com>:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Hia all,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> How would this improve on Fred?
>>>>>> https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Rodney
>>>>>> p.s. Hi Gustavo.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Sun, Aug 16, 2015 at 8:05 PM, Gustavo Silva <
>>>>>> gustavosantaremsilva at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hello all,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Well, I agree that the world you benefit form better websites to
>>>>>>> access data. The problem is the credibility these things can get, which are
>>>>>>> crucial for actually being used.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> From where I see it, the problem is about automation. How will you
>>>>>>> keep the contents and databases updated? In a secondary perspective, what
>>>>>>> can you do to increase the credibility of your website? Indeed, allowing
>>>>>>> users the possibility to escalate the data for custom usages - hence, API
>>>>>>> related stuff - is a great step, but how will economists from the academic
>>>>>>> world will use and benefit from this?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> In Portugal, we have something similar called Pordata
>>>>>>> <http://www.pordata.pt/> and I know for sure that no one from the
>>>>>>> academic worlds wants his students to use data from this website. Why? They
>>>>>>> say it is not the original source, even though that entire interface is way
>>>>>>> better and more useful that Eurobarometer
>>>>>>> <http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/index_en.htm>or national banks
>>>>>>> websites/databases.
>>>>>>> This is just an example for you to consider if you want, of course
>>>>>>> :-)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Best Regards / Obrigado e com os melhores cumprimentos,
>>>>>>> Gustavo Silva
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> *Phonebloks <https://phonebloks.com/en>, Partnership Manager*
>>>>>>> *Lubuntu W&D <https://launchpad.net/%7Elubuntu-wiki-docs>, Team
>>>>>>> Leader*
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 2015-08-15 21:26 GMT+01:00 Alex Peek <alexpeek1 at gmail.com>:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Thank you Everton! That is my plan to set up an API for Econ
>>>>>>>> Factbook <http://econfactbook.org/>. I want to use this website to
>>>>>>>> create some simple and easy to use visualizations but I am not sure how
>>>>>>>> long it will take to get to that stage. Great idea tho.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Right now I am looking for a lead programmer to help me expand Econ
>>>>>>>> Factbook. If you are interested, please send me an email. This is an
>>>>>>>> opportunity to be involved in a high potential website. The lead programmer
>>>>>>>> would play a pivotal role in identifying possibilities and limitations when
>>>>>>>> developing the website.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> My idea is that the internet needs better websites to access
>>>>>>>> economic data. After years of research I have come to the conclusion that
>>>>>>>> there is not a website that structures economic data to display the
>>>>>>>> activity of an economy. That is why I created Econ Factbook to fill this
>>>>>>>> void. The goal of the website is to show all of the wealth and assets
>>>>>>>> flowing around an economy in a single model. I believe this concept can
>>>>>>>> greatly increase the transparency of economic data about the world. I know
>>>>>>>> in my heart that this is the direction the study of economics needs to go.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Here is an example of the format used in the website: South Korea
>>>>>>>> <http://econfactbook.org/Southkorea.html>. The United States
>>>>>>>> <http://econfactbook.org/Unitedstates.html> article is the best
>>>>>>>> because it shows the government budget breakdown, household wealth
>>>>>>>> breakdown and local government statistics. I hope to someday have every
>>>>>>>> country article be as complete as the United States article.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Please let me know if you want to get involved or learn more.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Thanks!
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> - Alex
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On 15 August 2015 at 05:13, Everton Zanella Alvarenga <
>>>>>>>> everton.alvarenga at okfn.org> wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Hello, Alex.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> That is cool. I believe if some developer could help you to build
>>>>>>>>> an API for this data, that could help other make graphs with interesting
>>>>>>>>> comparisons from it.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Best,
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Everton
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> 2015-06-13 14:53 GMT-03:00 Alex Peek <alexpeek1 at gmail.com>:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Hello everyone,
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> I wanted to show the community my new website at econfactbook.org.
>>>>>>>>>> Please click on one of the countries on the website to see the format.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> It's designed to be a reference tool to look up economic data. I
>>>>>>>>>> hope this website is useful and generates more ideas.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> - Alex
>>>>>>>>>>
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>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
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>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>
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