macroeconomic data on fred

This assignment will allow you to locate, create visualizations, and analyze real economic data.
1. Navigate to the FRED website: FRED Economic Data Site.
2. In the upper right corner, click on My account, then click Create New Account. Creating an account will allow you to save your data and graphs.
3. You will now create, and save, graphs of actual data on real and nominal GDP, the Unemployment rate, and the Inflation rate.
4. In the blue Search bar, type “real GDP” and hit enter. A list of options will appear. Read through the list to familiarize yourself a bit with the data that you can obtain. Not only can you find total GDP, but you can also find data on GDP per capita, Potential GDP, and the GDP of other countries.
5. Return to the option at the top of the list: Real Gross Domestic Product (Chained 2012 Dollars, Quarterly, Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate) and click on it. This seasonally adjusted data smooths out the volatility that may occur during a typical year.
6. When you click on the series name, FRED creates a line graph with inflation adjusted dollar values from 1947 to present day. You can hover your cursor over the line and see the actual dollar values of real GDP for each quarter.
7. Now click on the orange EDIT GRAPH button above the graph. Then click “ADD LINE”. Type GDP into the search bar. Click on the first option: Gross Domestic Product (Quarterly, Billions of Dollars, Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate). This is Nominal GDP. Click Add data series. Because the Real GDP is using 2012 dollars, you will see that Real and Nominal GDP are equal in 2012. Since 2012, Nominal GDP is higher than Real GDP because of inflation.
8. Scroll down to just below the graph on the left side of the screen and click on Account Tools. Click Save graph. Name your graph in the bar. Accept the default observation range and click Save Graph again.
9. Return to the orange Edit Graph bar and click on it. Click on the Edit Lines dropdown menu and select Edit Line 1. In the Units dropdown menu select Percent Change from Year Ago, and click Copy to all. Now you have a graph of the economic growth and decline (the business cycles!) over the years. again use the Account Tools to save this graph as you did in Step #8. Be sure to name it so that you can easily identify it when reviewing your saved graphs.
10. In the blue search bar, type Unemployment Rate. Click on the orange Edit Graph bar and in the Modify frequency dropdown menu, choose Quarterly. Again use the Account Tools to name and save this graph.
11. In the blue search bar, type Consumer Price Index. Click on the first option given. Now click on the orange Edit Graph button and under the Units dropdown menu, choose Percent Change from Year Ago. As you learned in the module, the percent change in the Consumer Price Index is the Inflation Rate. Use the Account Tools to name and save this graph.
12. Now go to the My Account Dropdown menu and click on Graphs. Select the four graphs that you just created and click Add to Dashboard. In the dropdown menu, select Create a New Dashboard. Name your Dashboard and click Add to Dashboard. You can now view your Dashboard.
13. In the Actions dropdown menu, choose Make Public. This will insert a url into the bar to the right of the Actions dropdown. Click Copy and then Paste the URL into your submission for this assignment.

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