Bank of England is Using Google Search Data To Learn About UK Economic Trends
They may not know it, but web users who type “unemployment”, “estate agents” or “VAT” into Google are helping the Bank of England to gather information on the state of the British economy.
The central bank is turning to internet search data as it seeks to widen its understanding of unemployment, consumer spending and the housing market.
Research has shown evidence of a correlation between the volume of certain search terms on Google and economic data from traditional surveys. Although the Bank admits that the approach has its limitations, it believes online search data can be an increasingly useful source of intelligence about the state of the UK.
See Also: Correlate Your Own Data With Google Correlate (Free)
See Also: Correlating Searches for Flu Related Topics With Flu Activity
How About Making Financial Decisions Based on Tweets?
“The World’s First Twitter-Based Hedge Fund Is Finally Open” (via The Atlantic)
Filed under: Data Files, Patrons and Users
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com. Gary is also the co-founder of infoDJ an innovation research consultancy supporting corporate product and business model teams with just-in-time fact and insight finding.
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