Characteristics of the project

Nature of the project

The project historical time series for researchers reuses statistical information compiled or promoted by the Banco de España.

Its aim is to support economic research by making it easier to access unofficial, essentially historical, statistical information. Its goal is also to stimulate the general public’s curiosity about economics by disseminating historical data which may be of interest.

An ongoing project

One of the characteristics of the project historical time series for researchers is that it is a work in progress. The range of data on offer is not restricted and will be extended over time. The “News” section provides information on the latest time series included in the project.

A project open to external co-operation

Although this project’s main source of data is the Banco de España’s statistical activity and its economic publications, this project envisages presenting historical data compiled by other institutions and authors, that are not necessarily related to the Banco de España.

This co-operation may afford original works greater visibility and achieve a more complete collection of public time series available free of charge.

Source of the data

The data compiled come, firstly, from discontinued data series published by the Banco de España or other public institutions. These time series are provided in the same condition in which they were disseminated the last time they were published and, consequently, they have not been revised.

The other source of data is the time series compiled by internal and external researchers published in any of the Bank’s various publication series (Working Papers, Occasional Papers, Economic Studies and, especially, Economic History Studies), which make up the project’s re-edited time series.

The data are presented in the same condition as they are obtained from their sources. That is, linked time series are not presented unless they exist in the sources.

Nature of the data

It should be noted that these statistical time series are not official. The official time series are currently disseminated by the Banco de España on a regular basis in its collections of tables (Statistical Bulletin, Economic Indicators, Summary Indicators, Financial Accounts of the Spanish Economy, interest rates and exchange rates) and in the Statistics area of the Banco de España's website; they do not include the data disseminated through this section of historical statistics for researchers.

Their unofficial status is derived from their source. There is generally no longer any current methodological framework applicable to discontinued time series and their data are not revised or corrected, even if new information is available. Re-edited time series are particular authors’ estimations or compilations and their quality is associated with the prestige of such authors.

Data presentation and storage

The information is organised in tables which are included in Excel files. Each file constitutes a dataset and these datasets are organised and stored in the Banco de España’s institutional repository. This means that each dataset has a permanent URL which can be used to cite the dataset. Each Excel file provides the full citation for the dataset.

In addition to the files containing the datasets, an Excel file is also available with the complete catalogue of time series for each collection (discontinued time series, re-edited time series and selected historical time series).

Intellectual property of the data

The data published in the framework of the project are subject to general considerations on information provided by the Banco de España (see the “Disclaimer” section at the end of the page). However, the published data of re-edited time series may be used on the same terms and conditions as all the other data provided that the publication from which they were originally obtained for this project is cited. The datasets of re-edited time series include the related full citation.

Discontinued time series

The discontinued time series are statistical series published at some point in the past by the Banco de España but which are not currently published. The most common reasons for this discontinuation are changes in international standards, changes in the available sources and the disappearance of the economic phenomenon the time series were intended to measure (e.g. the peseta exchange rate).

The interest of these time series, as compared with the equivalent time series which are currently published, lies in that they may cover an earlier initial period or present more detailed information. In other cases, discontinued time series do not have any currently published equivalents (as in the above example of the peseta exchange rate) and, therefore, the usefulness of these data being available in this project is evident.

The data provided for these time series were the last to be published and, consequently, they have not been updated or adjusted for any errors (unless the errors were highly obvious) they might have included at that time. The terminology used for the various concepts presented is that employed when the data were published and, consequently, it may differ from current terminology.

Re-edited time series

The re-edited time series are statistical times series included in any of the studies published by the Banco de España that were compiled or estimated by the authors. These studies include mainly: Working Papers, Occasional Papers, Economic Studies and Economic History Studies.

The data presented are generally from the PDF versions of the various publications (either because they were published originally in that format or because their paper version was scanned and stored in that format). Even where software is used for data extraction, manual intervention is necessary to a greater or lesser degree. Although the data were subject to several checks, failures in character recognition or in manual intervention may cause some data transcription errors. See the “Disclaimer” section at the end of the page on the disclaimer of liability for the information provided. The use of these data is subject to the general considerations on information provided by the Banco de España (see again the “Disclaimer” section at the end of this page). However, the published data of these re-edited time series may be used on the same terms and conditions as all the other data provided that the publication from which they were originally obtained for this project is cited.

Contacto

Communication banner

ContactStatistical information service