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Welcome to Historical Financial Statistics, a free, noncommercial data set that went online in July 2010. We aim to be a source of comprehensive, authoritative, easy-to-use macroeconomic data stretching back several centuries. Our target range of coverage is from 1492 to the present, with special emphasis on the years before 1950, which few databases cover in detail.

Here is a brief description of the contents of the site.

  • Data: Data are currently stored as spreadsheets. Data include some series not found anywhere else. Eventually we intend to establish a searchable, menu-driven database. The data we currently have are only a beginning, more extensive than in other free sources, but sparse in an absolute sense. We are gathering data as time and convenience allow, and welcome help.
  • Documentation: Notes to accompany the data. Eventually this section will also include chronologies and other useful tools to help understand the data.
  • Submitting data: We welcome additions to the data. Here is how to submit them.
  • Links: Other useful sources of historical statistics.
  • About us: Contact information plus a description of our mission, topics of coverage, copyright information, legal notice, etc.

Thanks to all of the contributors who submitted data and made this resource possible.

All contents copyright © 2010 by Historical Financial Statistics.