--- title: "JST Macrohistory Database" description: >- How to pull the Jorda-Schularick-Taylor long-run macro-financial panel (18 advanced economies, annual, 1870 onward) for free as a single spreadsheet, what the key series mean, and the subset-citation and crisis-dummy gotchas that bite pipelines. sidebar: label: JST Macrohistory order: 12 tags: [macro, banks, panel-data, time-series, free, no-api-key, academic, data:jst-macrohistory] verified: date: 2026-06-09 level: fetched with: live no-key pull of JSTdatasetR6.xlsx (release R6; 2718 rows, 18 countries, 1870-2020, 59 series incl. crisisJST, eq_tr, housing_tr, debtgdp) url: https://www.macrohistory.net/database/ --- The **Jorda-Schularick-Taylor (JST) Macrohistory Database** is a long-run cross-country macro-financial panel: **18 advanced economies, annual, 1870 to 2020** (release R6), assembled in one spreadsheet. It is the standard source for long-run work on credit, banking crises, house prices, returns on the major asset classes, and business-cycle facts. This page is the distilled access recipe. - **Cost:** free, no paywall, no key (academic, freely distributed). - **Coverage:** 18 advanced economies, annual, **1870-2020** in the current release (R6); 59 variables per country-year. - **Format:** a single Excel file (`JSTdatasetR6.xlsx`, about 1.4 MB, one `Sheet1`) or the same as Stata (`JSTdatasetR6.dta`). - **Home:** ## Access ### No key, direct download The download links carry a cache-busting token (`?t=...`); the host serves the current release at a stable file name. Pull the page once to grab the live link, or use the path below. ``` https://www.macrohistory.net/app/download/9834512569/JSTdatasetR6.xlsx https://www.macrohistory.net/app/download/9834512469/JSTdatasetR6.dta ``` ```python import pandas as pd jst = pd.read_excel("JSTdatasetR6.xlsx") # one sheet, tidy country-year panel jst = jst.set_index(["country", "year"]).sort_index() jst.loc["USA", "debtgdp"].dropna().tail() # private credit / GDP ``` The panel is already tidy: one row per `country` x `year`, with `iso` and `ifs` country codes, so it merges cleanly onto other country panels. ## Gotchas (the ones that bite pipelines) The reason to read this page rather than the workbook. Verified against the live R6 file on the date above. - **Cite the right subset, not just the headline paper.** The base panel cites Jorda, Schularick and Taylor (2017). The **asset-return** columns (`eq_tr`, `housing_tr`, `bond_tr`, `bill_rate`, and the `_interp` variants) require citing the 2019 *QJE* "Rate of Return on Everything" paper, and the bank balance-sheet ratios (`lev`, `ltd`, `noncore`) require the 2021 *RES* paper. Using a column without its source citation is the most common JST mistake. - **Two crisis dummies, and they differ.** `crisisJST` is the current systemic-banking-crisis indicator; `crisisJST_old` is the earlier coding. Pick one deliberately and say which; results on crisis prediction move with the choice. - **Real vs nominal is encoded in the name.** `rgdpmad`/`rgdpbarro` are real (different source vintages, Maddison vs Barro), `gdp` is nominal, `hpnom` is a *nominal* house-price index. Deflate with `cpi` yourself when you need real series; do not assume. - **Returns are total returns where marked `_tr`.** `eq_tr` and `housing_tr` are total returns (capital gain plus yield); `eq_capgain` / `housing_capgain` are price-only. The `_ipolated` / `_interp` columns fill gaps by interpolation, which you may want to exclude. - **Release versions are not interchangeable.** The file name carries the release (R6); country coverage, series, and back-revisions change across releases. Pin the release number in your replication, not just "JST". - **Coverage is unbalanced early.** Many series start well after 1870 for several countries (wars, data gaps); the panel is not rectangular. Drop NaN per series rather than assuming a balanced panel. ## Series you actually need | Column | Meaning | |---|---| | `rgdpmad`, `gdp` | Real GDP (Maddison), nominal GDP | | `cpi` | Consumer price index (deflator) | | `tloans`, `tmort`, `thh`, `tbus` | Total / mortgage / household / business loans | | `debtgdp` | Private credit to GDP | | `hpnom` | Nominal house price index | | `stir`, `ltrate` | Short-term and long-term interest rates | | `eq_tr`, `housing_tr`, `bond_tr`, `bill_rate` | Total returns on equity, housing, bonds, bills | | `crisisJST` | Systemic banking-crisis dummy | | `lev`, `ltd`, `noncore` | Bank leverage, loan-to-deposit, noncore funding | ## Standard operations - **Credit and crises:** the canonical use is predicting crises or output from `debtgdp` growth; choose one crisis dummy and report it. - **Returns on everything:** the `_tr` columns give comparable long-run real returns across asset classes once deflated by `cpi`; cite the 2019 QJE paper. - **Cross-country panels:** index by `country` x `year`; use `iso` for merges. - **Pin the release** (R6) and access date for reproducibility. ## Citation Jorda, Oscar, Moritz Schularick, and Alan M. Taylor. 2017. "Macrofinancial History and the New Business Cycle Facts." In *NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2016*, volume 31, edited by Martin Eichenbaum and Jonathan A. Parker. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Add the 2019 *Quarterly Journal of Economics* "Rate of Return on Everything" citation when using the return series, and the 2021 *Review of Economic Studies* citation when using the bank balance-sheet ratios.