Introducing FRED for Exploring Economic Data

FRED® is a free economic database that contains over 816,000 US and international time series from over 100 sources. FRED® is used by researchers, journalists, analysts, and data enthusiasts alike to visualize, save, and download data. In the last year alone, we have added over 200,000 new time series and improved several of our key features, such as the mapping and search tools.

This session will be a live demonstration of active learning with FRED® data. We will show attendees how to use the flagship database from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis to place abstract economics concepts in realistic and relevant contexts. Participants will learn how to use data to answer the following questions: What is the value of women’s domestic labor that goes unpaid? How did the COVID-19-induced recession impact men and women employment? What fraction of the labor force do workers with a disability represent?

During the presentation we will showcase how to leverage short reading assignments based on data featured in the FRED Blog. We will highlight topics related to diversity and inclusion and showcase the broad range of instructional resources produced by the Economic Education team at the St. Louis Fed: lesson plans, interactive modules, and micro-credentials All these resources are accessible to educators and the public at large at no cost.

Presented by Diego Mendez-Carbajo, Senior Economic Education Specialist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.