CFS Historical Financial Statistics has just added a substantial amount of new data. Annual data points now total about 150,000, while high-frequency data points exceed 2 million. Coverage extends to 150 countries, though the depth of coverage varies widely.
In the five years since Historical Financial Statistics went online, computers have become faster and have gained memory, so we have consolidated many formerly separate files into a small number of often quite large files, which make data easier to find and use. We have also streamlined the Web format of Historical Financial Statistics so that everything is now accessible from one page.
New data include the following:
- Extensive financial statistics on Austria-Hungary and the Balkans from the 1800s to World War II, by scholars in the South-East European Monetary History Network (whose impressive work I previously discussed here).
- Three centuries of British data, by Sally Hills, Ryland Thomas, and Nicholas Dimsdale.
- Balance sheet data from many currency boards around the world from the mid 1800s to the present, gathered mainly by Nicholas Krus and me.
- Government finance data for many British colonies in the 19th and early 20th centuries, by Ewout Frankema.
- Wages in a number of African countries in the 19th and early 20th centuries, by Ewout Frankema and Marlous Van Waijenburg.
We expect to add some other large data sets later this year. By bringing together previously scattered data, Historical Financial Statistics makes possible novel comparisons and new insights.