2003 News Releases

For immediate release:
June 18, 2003

Media contact:
James Hoard
Phone: (214) 922-5307
e-mail: james.hoard@dal.frb.org

Dallas Fed Launches DataBasics

DALLAS—Today the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas launched a new online tool designed to demystify Texas economic data.

DataBasics is a collection of articles that present the numeric operations economists use to make data more meaningful. Included with the articles are data definitions. These descriptions of frequently used Texas economic variables help paint a picture of statewide economic activity.

“The purpose of the new web site is to provide a user-friendly source of information regarding basic manipulation of economic and business data, thereby bridging any gap that might exist between our regional economic analysis and the interested public,” explains Mine Yücel, vice president and director of the Dallas Fed’s Regional Research Group. “A secondary purpose is to provide one central location that contains definitions of regional economic variables.”

Articles on the site include Indexing Data to a Common Starting Point, Annualizing Data, Smoothing Data with Moving Averages, Deflating Nominal Values to Real Values, Seasonally Adjusting Data and Growth Rates Versus Levels. An article on the Mexican GDP (Easter-effect adjustment) will be released soon.

DataBasics can be found on the Dallas Fed web site at www.dallasfed.org.

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