Edited by Mary E. Burfisher and Elizabeth A. Jones, US Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (described in the July 2, 1998 Scout Report for Business & Economics), the report Regional Trade Agreements and US Agriculture analyzes the "trade-creating" and "trade-diverting" impacts of US participation in regional trade agreements (RTAs). Twelve chapters cover the North American Free...

The Rural Development Briefing Room is new to the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) site (described in the July 2, 1998 Scout Report for Business & Economics). Easy access to non-metropolitan information is available including Rural-Urban Continuum Codes, Urban Influence Codes, Typology Codes, links to Rural Development Perspectives and Rural Conditions and Trends, and metro-nonmetro labor...

On November 3, the US Census Bureau released 1996 poverty estimates for three age groups of children and for people of all ages, in each state and the District of Columbia. "The 1996 estimates include the numbers of poor people, poor children under 18, poor children ages 5 to 17 living with a family and poor children under age 5," as well as estimates of median household income. These estimates...

The State of the Cities Data Systems (SOCDS) allow users to extract customized datasets on US cities based on statistics gathered by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Bureau of the Census, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The SOCDS page links to the 1998 State of the Cities report (described in the June 30, 1998 Scout Report for Social Sciences) and provides three data...

Policy wonks, planners, and those with a general penchant for statistics will thoroughly enjoy the U.S. Census Bureau's Economic Indicators homepage. For starters, the homepage alone would be a reason to visit, as it includes the most recent data on manufacturing and trade inventories in the U.S., along with retail and food service sales, international trade in goods and services, and data on new...