[open-economics] Econ Factbook

Alex Peek alexpeek1 at gmail.com
Mon Aug 17 02:44:02 UTC 2015 

Thanks Rodney.

I have looked at Quandl. It is a very good website with an enormous amount
of data. My problem with the website is that they do not have a good
country specific page to view economic data. Here is their country specific
page for the United States
<https://www.quandl.com/collections/usa/usa-economy-data>. This page has
too many statistics to easily analyze the economy of the United States.
It's overloaded with numbers and it's hard to follow.

Having a concise format is very important in my opinion for intuitively
analyzing an economy in my opinion.

- Alex


On 16 August 2015 at 19:19, Rodney Beard <rodney.m.beard at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>
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