The St. Louis Fed

The St. Louis Fed (stlouisfed.org) covers the 8th Federal Reserve District, consisting of all of Arkansas and portions of six other states: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee. This article was inspired by one of the products of the St. Louis Fed. The Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research (fraser.stlouisfed.org), commonly known as FRASER, started in 2004 as a data preservation and accessibility project of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. FRASER’s mission is to safeguard and provide easy access to economic history—particularly the history of the Federal Reserve System.

But this Fed District has created several more websites to provide the general public or the economic specialist with economic information. I only have room to mention them here. FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data; research.stlouisfed.org/fred2) allows you to download, graph, and track 385,000 U.S. and international time series from 80 sources. Econ Lowdown (stlouisfed.org/education) provides free classroom resources for kindergarten through college-level educators. GeoFRED (geofred.stlouisfed.org) provides geographical mapping of economic data with the most amazing and colorful graphs and charts. Since these products are used extensively by economists within the Federal Reserve System, the cost for providing them to the public is not an added burden for the taxpayer. These are all worthy of additional articles themselves. I’ll leave it to the reader to explore them.

Talking With the St. Louis Fed’s Katrina Stierholz

I was fortunate to be able to interview Katrina Stierholz, VP and chief librarian, research division, at the St. Louis Fed, about how these great products came to see the light of day. FRED was the first “modern” product and turned 25 years old on April 4, 2016. Ms. Stierholz was kind enough to send me some blog posts, and here is one that provides some interesting FAQs: fredblog.stlouisfed.org/2016/04/fred-turns-25-today. FRED actually started as a phone service, allowing the general public to dial a number and get the latest interest rates, much as you used to get the time and weather by calling an automated phone service!

An article written by Ms. Stierholz in 2014 (“FRED, the St. Louis Fed’s Force of Data”; Second Quarter 2014, p. 195; research.stlouisfed.org/publications/review/2014/q2/stierholz.pdf) provides extensive background on the creation of FRED and includes a talk given by William Poole, president of the St. Louis Fed from 1998 to 2008. The article explains that FRED was inspired by Homer Jones, the research director at the St. Louis Fed from 1958–1971, who believed in “making economic data widely available not just to policymakers but also to the general public, to allow them to judge for themselves the state of the economy and the outcome of policy …”

The 2007 talk by Mr. Poole, included in the article, shares the underlying reason for all the information provided by every Federal Reserve bank, as discussed in my article. In order to ensure sound economic policy both for those who make this policy and the general public who are affected by this policy, all need to have access to the same information. The transparency of the basic data allows the public to understand why policy is made and have influence on that policy.

The Best of the Rest

Every Federal Reserve District Bank has a wealth of information relating to the overall categories of banking, economic research and data, community development, and education. The education sections in particular are worth exploring for adults, children, and educators. There are lesson plans, games, and other learning opportunities and easily accessible explanations for all those who need to know about how they can manage their own money and contribute to their economic well-being as well as the nation’s.

Each District has a distinct website and a distinctly regional focus. These sites are in-depth snapshots of what is going on throughout the country in terms of economic activity in all sectors and at all levels. Be sure to at least take a look at the regions that include where you live, work, or in which you have particular interest.

Bibliography

Lacroix L., “FRED and FRASER: A Tourist’s Guide,” Online Searcher , July/August 2015, Vol. 39, No.4, pp. 2–25.

Weisenthal, J., “The Most Amazing Economics Website in the World,” Business Insider, March 23, 2012; businessinsider.com/fred-2012-3.

My thanks to Katrina Stierholz and Laura Girresch, senior me dia relations specialist, public affairs, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, for invaluable insight into the creation and maintenance of the St. Louis Fed products.