Measuring the Past: Free Digitized Sources of Historical International Economic Information

Abstract

Although international economic statistics from the 1950s to the present are freely available, finding historical international economic statistics (e.g., statistics prior to World War II) can be challenging. This article discusses the development of international economic statistics, traditional sources of historical data, and the availability of free, historical economic statistics from selected international sources, government agencies, digitization projects, and Web portals. This article includes examples of two hypothetical cases for historical economic statistics—trade statistics for Argentina and prewar statistics for the metal industries of Sub-Saharan Africa.

KEYWORDS:

• international statistics
• historical statistics
• statistical yearbooks
• League of Nations
• United Nations
• Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
• government agencies
• digitization
• macroeconomic data sets
• economic statistics