Research Roundup: New Business Data Resources

There has been a mega-dump of useful and interesting economic data resources over the past few weeks.  Here’s a few that are worth a look and a bookmark for future use:

• OECD’s 2017 Entrepreneurship At a Glance: This annual report from the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development offers a deep dive into what’s happening with start-ups and small businesses across the 35 OECD member economies.  This year’s edition includes new data on the gig economy and also takes a look at the state of women’s entrepreneurship as well.
• New CDFI Data:  The Urban Institute is involved in a major project assessing the impact of US Community Development Financial Institutions.   It has released a new fact sheet on CDFIs that has some interesting data.  The data show some impressive results and impact from CDFIs.  Overall, they show that CDFIs lent more than $34 billion between 2011 and 2015.  But, they also show that CDFIs remain limited in geographic scope as 27% of all US counties have seen zero CDFI activity during this time period.
• Distressed Communities Index: The Economic Innovation Group’s Distressed Communities Index is rightly getting a lot of media attention.  The most depressing headline?  52.3 million Americans—17% of our population—live in distressed communities.
• US Census Business Dynamics Statistics:  The US Census Bureau has just released the latest edition (2015 data) of its business dynamics statistics.   The latest figures are sobering.  There is a lot of good news, as the number of startups is rising and their job impacts are also growing.  But, the growth rates remain low and below historical averages.