Microeconomics focus of new Fed data center

Officials at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York this month  launched a research data center, the Center for Microeconomic Data. It is expected to increase collaborative research among the bank”™s microeconomists and promote more engagement by the bank with the academic community.

The center will be anchored by two large data collection projects.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York officials said the bank”™s Consumer Credit Panel will provide “rich, granular and frequent” data on household debt and credit conditions in the U.S. Through the quarterly “Household Debt and Credit Report,” the center will continue to report trends in mortgages, student loans, credit cards, auto loans and delinquencies.

The center will also undertake a monthly survey of consumers”™ perceptions and expectations on a host of economic outcomes and decisions.

Officials said the center aims to develop and use microeconomic data and microeconometric techniques to investigate key decisions by individuals and firms and to analyze the impact of fiscal and monetary policy on individual agents. It will contribute to the Federal Reserve”™s mission of financial stability by supporting the development and application of econometric models of household loan defaults and will produce high-quality research that contributes to the general policy debate.

Bank officials said the Center for Microeconomic Data also will seek to engage the academic community in the bank”™s policy decisions through conferences and seminars.