Embassy of the United States Canberra, Australia

U.S. Government Resources

• Bureau of Economic Analysis: The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) produces economic accounts statistics that enable government and business decision-makers, researchers, and the American public to follow and understand the performance of the Nation's economy. To do this, BEA collects source data, conducts research and analysis, develops and implements estimation methodologies, and disseminates statistics to the public.
• Bureau of Labor Statistics: The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor is the principal Federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy. Its mission is to collect, analyze, and disseminate essential economic information to support public and private decision-making. As an independent statistical agency, BLS serves its diverse user communities by providing products and services that are objective, timely, accurate, and relevant.
• CIA World Factbook on the U.S. and CIA World Factbook on Australia: The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities. The Reference tab includes: maps of the major world regions, as well as Flags of the World, a Physical Map of the World, a Political Map of the World, and a Standard Time Zones of the World map.
• Country Commercial Guide (PDF 1MB): The Country Commercial Guide provides information on doing business in Australia.
• Federal Reserve System: Economists at the Federal Reserve Board conduct innovative research on a broad range of topics in economics and finance. In addition to presenting their research to policymakers, Board economists share their research at academic conferences and publish it in peer-reviewed journals and other scholarly outlets.
• Investment Climate Statement: The Investment Climate Statements provide a thorough description of the overseas environments in which U.S. investors must operate.  The statements cover general characteristics, such as openness to foreign investment and treatment of foreign investors, as well as details about procedures for licensing and similar administrative matters. The statements are updated each year as Chapter 7 in the Country Commercial Guides, a series to be found by country at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s website.
• Special 301 Report: The "Special 301" Report is an annual review of the global state of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and enforcement.
• USA.gov: As the U.S. government's official web portal, USA.gov makes it easy for the public to get U.S. government information and services on the web.
• U.S. Census Bureau: The Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about the U.S. people and economy.
• USTR NEI Report: The National Export Initiative (NEI) report outlines ways the U.S. government can expand efforts to help U.S. businesses win more foreign government contracts, find buyers worldwide, participate in more trade missions and trade shows, receive more export financing, and learn new ways to sell products and services overseas.  A central focus of the plan is providing additional assistance to small and medium-sized businesses, which are major drivers of new job creation.

International Resources

• EIU Analysis: The Economist Intelligence Unit’s country analysis helps business leaders prepare for opportunity, empowering them to act with confidence when making strategic decisions.
• Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom: The Index of Economic Freedom covers 10 freedoms – from property rights to entrepreneurship – that gauge the economic success of 184 countries around the world.
• Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (2011): The Corruption Perceptions Index ranks countries and territories according to their perceived levels of public sector corruption.
• World Bank Doing Business Survey: Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business. This index averages the country's percentile rankings on 10 topics, made up of a variety of indicators, giving equal weight to each topic.
• UN Human Development Indicators: The aim of the Human Development Report is to stimulate global, regional and national policy discussions on issues that are relevant to human development.
• European Commission Annual Macro-economic Database: The annual macro-economic database of the European Commission's Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs contains data for EU-27, the euro area, EU Member States, candidate countries and other OECD countries (United States, Japan, Canada, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Mexico, Korea, Australia and New Zealand).
• IMF Database: The IMF publishes a range of time series data on IMF lending, exchange rates and other economic and financial indicators. Manuals, guides, and other material on statistical practices at the IMF, in member countries, and of the statistical community at large are also available.
• Bank for International Settlements: The BIS international financial statistics are a unique source of information on various elements of the global financial system.