jump to content of this page Bized logo linked to homepage
You are here: Home > Data > Key Economic Data

Data
Bookmark and Share

Advanced

Key Economic Data

Economists make a great deal of use of models to help express relationships between different variables. Such models can be used to help analyse what happens in reality and to aid policy making. For students, the use of models is an important part of developing critical analysis skills.

Take the Business Cycle. This model suggests that there are variations in the rate of economic growth over a period of years. Such variations are associated with changes in key economic variables - variables that may be the subject of government targets.

The Bank of England

Image: The Bank of England - where analysis of economic data is carried out every day.

Think about the following assertion:

Strong economic growth (GDP) is associated with rising inflationary pressure and a rise in inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

This is an example of what we would term a 'positive statement' - it is a hypothesis that can be tested with recourse to the facts. To get those facts we need to refer to data and in doing so we can see if there is any relationship between the two and what the extent of that relationship may be.

This resource enables you to do just that by encouraging you to look at some basic data on key economic variables and analyse the extent of the relationship between them.

The aim of the resource is to provide a simple introduction to data analysis but there are plenty of opportunities to make the analysis more complex if you wish. The TimeWeb and Penn World data sections on the site will enable you to delve more deeply into this important skill.

What do I do?

You are given two options:

  1. Select an option from one of our pre-selected choices in the 'Most commonly requested data' area below. Select the 'Submit' box and the choices selected will be presented in graphical and tabular form. You will be given supporting information and a guide to analysing the information.
  2. Go to the 'Data Request Form' area where you will be presented with a table of data sets. This form allows you to select up to three choices. If you choose to select two, the form will automatically graph the data for you.

What do I do with the information?

The aim of this resource is to encourage you to develop your analysis and evaluation skills when using economic data. The guide below gives you some clues as to how to approach these important skills:

Analysis Guide:

  • Your hypothesis: What do you expect the relationship between the two variables to be?
  • State what is happening to each variable - is it rising, falling, stable, volatile?
  • How quickly (or slowly) is it rising, falling (etc.)?
  • What appears to be the nature of the relationship between the variables? Is the relationship positive, (they both rise or fall together) or negative or inverse (they move in opposite directions)?
  • How strong is the relationship (if any)? Do the variables appear to be very closely related or does it appear that the relationship is not very close at all? (Remember the influence of time lags)
  • Does the evidence support your initial hypothesis?

See our Guide to Analysis for further details on using the data

Most commonly requested data

Use the dropdown list below to access some of the more commonly requested data in the KED section.

 

Data request

If you want to restrict output to a particular time frame or request a different graph, etc. then please use the link below to access the custom data request form.

Updated data was collated by Moustafa Mouchaber, a student at William Morris Sixth Form in Hammersmith