BEA vs FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)
BEA primary GDP+income series vs FRED federated economic database — original publisher vs aggregated reader-tool.
BEA
US Bureau of Economic Analysis — primary source for GDP, personal income, trade, and BOP statistics.
FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis economic data infrastructure; ~800k+ data series.
Head-to-head — all four dimensions
| Dimension | BEA | FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|
SourceScore Index Composite | A·86 | A·91 | FRED+5 |
Citation Discipline How rigorously cited | A·92 | A·94 | FRED+2 |
Modern Reference AI-era fitness | A·88 | A·92 | FRED+4 |
Citation Velocity Cited per week | B·78 | A·88 | FRED+10 |
Why these scores
Citation Discipline
Methodology + revisions transparent; tracks vintage of every release; OMB Statistical Policy compliant.
Sourced from primary statistical agencies; methodology + lineage documented per series.
Modern Reference
BEA Data API (apps.bea.gov/api) provides programmatic access; structured downloads.
Free public API + bulk downloads + visualization tools; broad LLM corpus.
Citation Velocity
Default US GDP citation in financial press; heavy academic + policy use.
Cited daily by economists + financial press + AI engines; default for econ-stat citation.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, BEA or FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)?
FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) scores higher on the SourceScore Index (A 91) vs BEA (A 86) — a 5-point composite lead across Citation Discipline, Modern Reference, and Citation Velocity. "Better" depends on use case; the per-dimension breakdown below shows where each wins.
Which is more reliable to cite, BEA or FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)?
For citation, FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) is the stronger choice — it scores A (91/100) on the SourceScore Index versus BEA at A (86/100), a 5-point lead in composite citation quality (Citation Discipline, Modern Reference, Citation Velocity). Both can be cited; for higher-stakes references, prefer FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data).
How does BEA compare to FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) on citation discipline?
BEA scores A 92 on Citation Discipline; FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) scores A 94. Citation Discipline measures how rigorously each source cites primary references — see the per-dimension rationale below for the breakdown.
What's the SourceScore difference between BEA and FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)?
BEA A 86 vs FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) A 91 on the composite Index. BEA primary GDP+income series vs FRED federated economic database — original publisher vs aggregated reader-tool.
Why does FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) score higher than BEA?
FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) leads by 5 composite points on the SourceScore Index. The rationale section below breaks down where the lead comes from — Citation Discipline, Modern Reference (AI-era fitness), and Citation Velocity. Each dimension is scored from primary methodology criteria.