Econ 173: Statistical Resources in the University of Illinois Libraries: Class Presentation

Econ 173: Statistical Resources in the University of Illinois Libraries and on the Internet

In-class Presentation to Economics 173: Economic Statistics II, Section E

Introduction

Goal: to assist you in successfully completing your project.

The Library at UIUC – in general

Some specifics about the library (see handout)

Research specific to Professor Ng’s model

Theoretical foundation – (see article databases; choose databases below from drop-down list under "Business, Law, & Government Information Databases).

ABI/Inform

Select the "Advanced Search."

Try Housing starts and Atlanta; limit the search to 1997-2000

Let's try home building and cities for the same years.

EconLit

Try the same search as above. [We get no results].
Try just housing and Atlanta. Let's look at "The Role of Occupational Achievement in Home Ownership."

The descriptors (which are subject headings) include Housing Demand. This sounds like a useful term, so let's try it.

At this point, you may want to consider revising your search. Maybe you shouldn't limit it to Atlanta, but instead find more general information about housing starts in cities.

There may be other relevant databases (depending on your topic).

If full-text articles are not available in the database you're using, search for journal titles on the online catalog to locate this publication at UIUC or another library.

Finding statistics for the independent variables in Professor Ng’s model (housing starts in Atlanta)

Average income in Atlanta

Begin at the Government Documents Library homepage http://www.library.uiuc.edu/doc/

Select Course Assignment Web Pages http://www.library.uiuc.edu/doc/guides.htm

Choose Econ 173 http://www.library.uiuc.edu/doc/classes/econ173.htm
As you can see, there's a Core List of Most Popular and Useful Titles, which is a convenient starting point. But you're certainly not limited to the resources in this list. You have an Extended List and topical links at the bottom of the page. By the way, there's also a link to this presentation at the bottom of the page.

In the Core List, let's select #7 – County and City Data Book. This is available in print at several locations, on CD-ROM, and online. http://www.census.gov/statab/www/ccdb.html

Click on "City Rankings" and find the Median Household Income Table.

Find Atlanta; note that the figures are from 1989.

A second approach is to go to the U.S. Census Bureau web site – either through the GovDocs Econ 173 Course Guide (which is item #3 in the Core List, or directly: http://www.census.gov/

Choose Income http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income.html

Select 1990 Census Lookup: Income data for various geographic levels http://venus.census.gov/cdrom/lookup/

From Choose a database to browse: 1990 Census Summary Tape File 3 (STF3) select:

STF3A: Detailed geography - county, place, tract, etc.

Then follow the page by page instructions to limit your search to Atlanta, and submit Median household income in 1989. The Census term for city or town is "place," so select "Go to level State--Place".

The smaller the geographical unit, the more difficult it is to find recent data. It's easy to find recent income data broken down by state but more difficult to find it for cities, metropolitan areas, and especially for towns. Let's search for income data for Altanta in another source.

From the GovDocs homepage

Go to Illinois and State Governments http://www.library.uiuc.edu/doc/illinois.htm

From Other State Websites select Georgia http://www.state.ga.us/

Then choose Business and Economic Development http://www.state.ga.us/index/topic_pages.cgi?topic_id=1

Choose Georgia County Snapshots http://www.dca.state.ga.us/snapshots/default.asp

Select Fulton County, and follow the links for economy to find – among other stats – average household income.

But note that the information given is from the 1989 Census.

Consumer Price Index (CPI)

Start at the GovDocs homepage

Go to the Econ 173: Guide to Statistical Resources (from the Course Assignment Web Pages)

Go to the Extended List of Titles

Under Labor and Employment Sources, choose Bureau of Labor Statistics Data homepage (item 64) http://stats.bls.gov:80/datahome.htm

Select Most Requested Series http://stats.bls.gov:80/top20.html

Choose Region IV – Atlanta http://146.142.4.24/cgi-bin/surveymost?r4

Check the box for (CPI-U) Atlanta, All items (note that 1982-84 is the base year).

Select "All Years" and retrieve the data.

There's data for 1917 to the present.

BUT – 1987 to 1996 are missing!

From the Core List

Select Statistical Abstract of the United States (item #1) for 1998 http://www.census.gov/statab/www/ go to Adobe Acrobat PDF files http://www.census.gov/prod/www/statistical-abstract-us.html

Link to Section 15. Prices http://www.census.gov/prod/3/98pubs/98statab/sasec15.pdf

In the 1998 edition (in the second column), select Table No. 774: Consumer Price Indexes (CPI-U) -- Selected Areas: 1980-1997. As you can see, the Statistical Abstract can be used to fill in blanks left in other sources. The 1998 edition has Atlanta CPI data for 1993 to 1996. To get data for 1987 to 1992, we recommend that you consult the 1993 or 1994 edition.

Population Density

Go to the U.S. Census Bureau website -- either via the GovDocs Econ 173 Course Guide (item #3 in the Core List), or directly.

Go to Subjects A to Z and select "P" (for Population) http://www.census.gov/acsd/www/sub_p.htm

Choose Density http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/density.html

Are we searching for a Metropolitan Area or a Place? See the glossary: http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/glossary.html for definitions of Place vs. Metropolitan Area

Choose Table 3. Land Area, Population, and Density for Places: 1990 http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/places.html

Select Georgia and find Atlanta in the alphabetical list. We see that Atlanta has 2,990 persons per square mile.

Note that there are many other ways to find the information cited above. Data of this type – especially census-related data – is compiled in several places in many formats. Pay attention to the limitations of census data and to terms such as "estimate," "projection," etc.

Graduation rate:

This data is not readily found on the web

But the Core List and the Extended List of resources suggest some other possibilities. The Digest of Education Statistics, 1997 (item #26 on the Core List) seems promising. http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=98015XXXXX

Graduation rates for 1996 are available, but only by State.

See Places, Towns, and Townships (Item #9 on the Core List. Table A: Housing, Education, Employment and Disability includes graduation rates for Atlanta (69.9% in 1990, p.56).

Property Price Index

Such an index (comparable to a Consumer Price Index for housing costs only) isn’t compiled and published, so this is an instance when it’s appropriate to identify another statistic that would reasonably approximate the desired data.

Median housing costs in Atlanta, for example, could be substituted.

If you’re uncertain where to find statistics on housing costs, a good starting place is the Econ 173 Course Guide.

Choose Useful Statistics Web Sites http://www.library.uiuc.edu/doc/classes/173web.htm

Then select the first link: University of Michigan Documents Center, Statistical Resources on the Web http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Documents.center/stats.html

From here, go to the quick jump for Housing http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Documents.center/stdemog.html

Choose County and City Data Book, 1988 and 1994 http://fisher.lib.Virginia.EDU/ccdb/

From the 1994 Edition, select City Data http://fisher.lib.Virginia.EDU/ccdb/city94.html

Under City Selection, choose Show ONLY Cities in these States, and choose Georgia from the list.

Select OWNER-OCCUPIED HOUSING UNITS, MEDIAN VALUE (SPECIFIED OWNER OCCUPIED) 1990 (1C) DOL

Submit the query, then choose the city of Atlanta, and Submit again.

The result (for 1990) is $71,200.

Wrap-up

We've concentrated on web-based resources, and we've searched for time-series data. But not all of the information you’ll need -- especially historical data -- will be available online. And cross-sectional data is easier to find than time-series data. Be sure to examine the Core List and Extended List for print sources that may satisfy your research requirements. I recommend that you examine sources that are rich in cross-sectional data -- especially at the state level -- such as the Book of the States, CQ's State Fact Finder, and State Rankings.

We encourage you to try to find this information on your own, but please don’t hesitate to ask us for assistance.

Start early!

Back to Econ 173 Resource Guide Main Page
Back to Professor Ng's Economics 173: Economic Statistics II, Section E;
Back to Guides by UIUC Course and Subject

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Collaborative effort between the Commerce and Government Documents Libraries April 6, 2000
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http://www.library.uiuc.edu/doc/classes/173presentation.htm
last updated 02/08/01
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