This document provides an overview of macroeconomic indicators. It defines economic indicators as a collection of statistical data about the economy, listing some common indicators such as GDP, employment, inflation, and trade balances. It also distinguishes between leading, lagging, and coincident indicators. Additionally, it identifies major public and private sources that track economic indicators and provides some recent news articles discussing indicators.

1. MACROECONOMIC
INDICATORS
Linda Hauck
Librarian to VSB & Economics
Spring 2012

2. Defined
economic indicators A collection of statistical
information about the economy. The most commonly
used country economic indicators include the gross
domestic product , output by sectors, private
consumption, retail sales
volume, employment, unemployment, average
earnings, investment, productivity, inflation, producer
input and output prices, current account, volume of trade
in goods and services, exports, imports, public debt, and
interest rates.
“Economic indicators" A Dictionary of Economics. John Black, Nigar Hashimzade, and Gareth
Myles. Oxford University Press, 2009. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University
Press. Villanova University. 6 February 2012 <http://www.oxfordreference.com

3. Leading, Lagging, Coincident

4. Sources
Public Private
 Bureau of Economic  Conference Board
Analysis (Consumer Confidence)
(Income, International  University of Michigan
Trade) (Consumer Sentiment)
 U.S. Census Bureau  Stock Indices
(Manufacturing, Retail (NYSE, NASDAQ)
Trade)
 Institute for Supply
 Bureau of Labor Statistics Management (PMI)
(Employment, Earnings, Pr
ices)  National Association of
Realtors (existing home
 Federal Reserve Board sales)
(Money, Finance, Exchang
e Rates

6. In the news…
Appelbaum, B. (2012, January 27). The quiet driver of economic growth: Exports [web log post].
Retrieved from http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/27/the-quiet-driver-of-economic-
growth-exports/?ref=economy

8. What’s the point?
A. “The only function of economic forecasting is to make
astrology look respectable.”
John Kenneth Galbraith
B. “God is in the details”
C. "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned
lies, and statistics."