Ducks and Economics

Google is extending search to public data, first from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. From a post on the Google blog:

The data we’re including in this first launch represents just a small fraction of all the interesting public data available on the web. There are statistics for prices of cookies, CO2 emissions, asthma frequency, high school graduation rates, bakers’ salaries, number of wildfires, and the list goes on. Reliable information about these kinds of things exists thanks to the hard work of data collectors gathering countless survey forms, and of careful statisticians estimating meaningful indicators that make hidden patterns of the world visible to the eye. All the data we’ve used in this first launch are produced and published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Division. They did the hard work! We just made the data a bit easier to find and use.

Since Google’s acquisition of Trendalyzer two years ago, we have been working on creating a new service that make lots of data instantly available for intuitive, visual exploration. Today’s launch is a first step in that direction. We hope people will find this search feature helpful, whether it’s used in the classroom, the boardroom or around the kitchen table. We also hope that this will pave the way for public data to take a more central role in informed public conversations.

I think this is fantastic, of course. HT: Tyler Cowen at www.marginalrevolution.com

Disclosure: My brother recently accepted an internship?/job offer? with Google for the summer and will be working in their Ann Arbor facility.

Statement of purpose: This blog’s purpose will be primarily as an outlet for me to explore my interests in economics and other arenas. I’ll try to maintain a fairly rigorous standard as far as quality is concerned and hope be able to discuss a wide variety of topics. So that’s that.

What I’m reading this morning:

1. Discussion of certain linguistic memes in the NYT.

2. Rediscovered the Requiem for a Dream soundtrack, featuring Clint Mansell and The Kronos Quartet. Used to have the remixed version including tracks from Paul Oakenfold and Delerium, but lost it a few years ago. Does anyone have a copy? (Wait, I don’t have any readers yet).

3. Initially posted by others, but I’m going to be re-reading this fairly carefully: Brad DeLong on the Geithner Plan.