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Headings: !!Resources for Economy and Society Courses !!!!Hot Topics !!!!Data !!!!Using Data in the Classroom !!!!*Previous Syllabi*

Resources for Economy and Society Courses ^

Hot Topics ^

• Personal taxes on earnings are two-and-a-half-times greater than personal taxes on investment income according to this report by Citizens for Tax Justice .

• Citizens for Tax Justice released an analysis of President Bush's tax return for 2003. They show that the President's tax cuts lowered Bush's tax bill by $30,858 in 2003.

Data ^

• Current Economic Data and Links: A very useful compendium of data on topics including poverty, labor force, income distribution, etc. Includes some international and California data and lots of links for further info. Maintained by Dr. John Shaw of CSU Fresno.

• World Bank data on Poverty Provides links to international data on poverty. For example:
  • Levels of poverty for all countries in the world.
  • Gini coefficients and income distribution data for all countries.

• Information Economy Data A comprehensive collection of links to data on internet usage and the information economy.

• Panel Study of Income Dynamics A national panel study of 8,000 U.S. families. PSID data on employment, income, wealth, housing, and food expenditures, transfer income, and marital and fertility behavior have been collected annually since 1968 for the same families. Sophisticated users can create custom data tables by selecting variables of interest.

• Bureau of Economic Analysis is the source for US government statistics on the economy. There is an enormous amount of detailed data, making it somewhat difficult to find general stats on the state of the economy. Check out the Overview of the Economy and the selected list of national income tables.

• Bureau of Labor Statistics maintains data on the US labor force. The site has a vast array of data and the homepage has links to a long list of topics. See At a Glance Tables for a quick snapshot of the US Economy, State and Metro Regions and Industries.

• Poverty in the United States-2002. A comprehensive report from the Census Bureau. Includes detailed data and graphs including:
  • Poverty Rate in the US, 1959-2002
  • Poverty Rates by Age, 1959-2002
  • Percent of People in Poverty by State, 2000-02

• Economic Statistics Briefing Room (U.S. White House) Easy access to current Federal economic indicators with links to the statistical units of several Federal agencies. Useful for a current snapshot of the economy; less useful if you need time series data (you can click through to the source agency if you want more detailed statistics). Topics include:
  • Employment statistics, including Unemployment Rate for the last ten years
  • Income including links to Income 2002 Report (U.S. Census) and Median Household Income by State Table
  • National Output including Current and Real GDP (Bureau of Economic Analysis) from 1929 to 2003.

• Wage and Compensation Trends (Economic Policy Institute) A collection of excellent time series data tables available in Excel and PDF format. Includes:
  • Wage Premium for College and HS Graduates 1973-2001
  • Growth of Average Hourly Wages 1948-2001
  • State Data at a Glance

• Economic Time Series Chart Generator (Economagic.com) Allows users to create up-to-date time series graphs or data tables of leading economic indicators (Click on "Chart" link to access the generator). Charts are highly customizable and multiple series can be plotted on the same chart. For example:
  • Unemployment Rate 1948-2004

• Small Business Reports, Studies, and Statistics (U.S. Small Business Administration) An extensive collection of data and analysis of small businesses in the US. Small business provide approximately 75% of net new jobs to the economy and employ half the private work force. They also account for 99.7% of all employers.
  • Minorities in Business 2001
  • Women in Business 2001
  • Small Business State Profiles

• Federal Reserve Board Economic Research and Data Offers detailed data on financial and economic trends in the U.S.
  • Flow of Funds Accounts
  • Survey of Consumer Finances is a survey conducted tri-annually by NORC and Federal Reserve Board collecting information on the financial circumstances of U.S. households. Data covers information about assets and liabilities, employment histories, pensions, and income and demographic characteristics. The last file available for download is from the 2001 survey. A wealth of documentation including a codebook, summary of the program, and the actual interviewing procedures are also available.

• OECD has a very rich archive of international statistics including economic, demographic, educational, environmental, and social welfare data. Some of it covers also non-member states.
  • Labor Statistics
  • Social and Welfare Statistics
  • Health
  • Demography and Population
  • Development

Using Data in the Classroom ^

• SSDAN exercise modules:
  • Effect of Education and Occupation on Earnings How are earnings determined? Why do some people earn more than others? Does a better job necessarily mean a better salary? In this module, students will examine factors such as education and occupation in terms of the role they play in determining earnings. Can a person with higher education expect to earn more? Students will also look at the effects of race, gender, and age on earnings. Includes downloadable data modules for the StudentCHIP software platform.
  • Current and Historic Patterns in the Distribution of Income - this exercise examines income stratification and economic inequality using contemporary and historical Census data.
  • Income Inequality In the United States - this assignment examines the impact of gender and race on the earnings of workers in 2000. Uses StudentCHIP at an introductory level.

• Are Income Levels in Different Regions Converging or Diverging? (SSRIC Exercise Module) Using metropolitan statistical area (MSA) and California county data, this exercise walks students through correlations of income and industry, calculation of confidence intervals and means, calculation of annual growth rates of income, and basic regressions. Exercise requires SPSS. Some of the questions are at an advanced undergraduate level. Data and codebook available on the SSRIC Downloads page.

• Texas Border Socio-Economics (Russell Long, Delmar College). Using data from the US Census, this exercise asks students to look at per capita income, poverty, and unemployment rate data and create tables and graphs that illustrate key socio-economic features of poor counties along the Texas border.

Previous Syllabi ^

• Light, "Economy and Society", s04
• Holohan, "Economy and Society", summer03
• Holohan, "Economy and Society", f03
• Emigh, "Economy and Society", w00

• Light, "Entrepreneurship" w04
• Light, "Entrepreneurship", w03
• Light, "Entrepreneurship", w02

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