The National Archives has a branch devoted to the storage of electronic records from many federal entities. Of interest to economists are records from the Bureaus of the Census, Economic Analysis, and Labor Statistics, the Civil Aeronautics Board, Department of Transportation, IRS, SEC, and Social Security Administration. While the records are not available over the Internet (at least not yet), detailed information about them, including a listing of "data files" and ordering information for the data files (generally available only on 9-track tape reels or 3480 tape cartridges) are available. Currently, some 8,000 data files out of more than 18,000 available are listed in a rapidly growing list. Some of the data files are old, while some are relatively recent. Some entities have only a small selection of data, while for others, the listings are more complete. Unfortunately, the tapes are relatively expensive at either $80.75 or $90.00 (depending upon the medium), with additional tapes at $24.50. One can hope that a less expensive on-line database is not too far in the future. Since a comprehensive list of files here is impossible, the interested researcher should examine them. Much more information about this service can be found in the directory listed below.
ftp://ftp.cu.nih.gov/NARA_ELECTRONIC (press the return key for the
password)