Research datasets

Inflation Attitudes Survey data

This dataset contains the individual responses to our Inflation Attitudes Survey, a quarterly survey of people’s feelings about inflation and other economic variables like the interest rate. 

Long-run summary results and data 

In our inflation-targeting framework, inflation expectations are a key measure of central bank credibility and can give an indication of wider economic developments. This micro-level dataset provides greater scope for investigating inflation attitudes, including inflation perceptions and expectations.

Full Inflation Attitudes Survey dataset

Full Inflation Attitudes Survey dataset: STATA file 

Inflation Attitudes Surveys

Bank of England/NMG household survey data

This annual survey asks people questions about their income and spending. It is carried out by NMG Consulting on our behalf.

2004 to 2011 NMG survey data (7MB)

2011 to 2023 NMG survey data (43MB)

The survey data provide a timelier update of developments in household finances than other surveys, which are typically published with a longer lag.

Agents’ historic company visit scores

Our Agents collect economic intelligence from the business community around the UK. They make regular quantitative assessments of the intelligence, which we publish as the Agents’ scores.

In addition, the Agents make an assessment following each visit to a company, based on current and future-looking responses to 11 questions (and a further purely backward-looking question on credit availability), scored on a  scale from -5 to +5. 

This dataset contains the Agents’ scores from 2008 Q1 to 2020 Q4.

Agents’ historic company visit scores 

Further information on the Agents’ scores is set out in the following article:

The Agents' company visit scores

Agents' summary of business conditions

Historic Agents’ scores

The Agency Network collects economic intelligence from the business community around the UK. They make regular quantitative assessments of the intelligence, which we publish as the Agents’ scores.

For more detail on how the Agents score economic conditions, see definitions of the agents' scores. 

This dataset contains the following Agents’ scores that have been discontinued:

• Sectoral and sub-sectoral scores for a number of variables that were discontinued in June 2019, having been replaced by aggregate scores,
• Manufacturing output (domestic) – discontinued in June 2019, and
• Pre-tax profitability (manufacturing and services), discontinued in October 2016. 

The dataset also contains an approximated back-series for a set of new consolidated scores that replaced a number of sectoral- and sub-sectoral scores in June 2019.

Historic Agents' scores

A millennium of macroeconomic data

The dataset contains a broad set of macroeconomic and financial data for the UK stretching back in some cases to the C13th and with one or two benchmark estimates available for 1086, the year of the Domesday Book. The dataset was originally called the 'Three centuries of macroeconomic data' spreadsheet but has now been renamed given its broader coverage. Version 3.1 of the dataset has now been updated to 2016.

A millennium of macroeconomic data (28MB) 

The spreadsheet was originally constructed alongside a Quarterly Bulletin article in 2010 that contains a number of charts of the data. 

The UK recession in context — what do three centuries of data tell us?

For more information, please email ryland.thomas@bankofengland.co.uk.

The Bank of England’s balance sheet

Historical data on our balance sheet is available in three spreadsheets. The first includes annual data from 1696 to 2019. The second contains weekly data on the Banking and Issue Department balance sheets from 1844 to 2006. The third focuses on the Bank’s operations as a lender of last resort over the 1844 to 1914 period based on a recent Staff Working Paper.

Annual data on the Bank of England's balance sheet, 1696 to 2019

Weekly data on the Bank of England's balance sheet, 1844 to 2006

The Bank of England as Lender of Last Resort Historical dataset

The weekly data can be used alongside our digitised daily account books, which provide even more detail on our balance sheet from 1851 to 1983.

For more information, please email ryland.thomas@bankofengland.co.uk.

Quantitative easing data

This dataset contains data on our quantitative easing programme, known as the asset purchase facility (APF).

QE related data

We also publish daily yield curve estimates, which may be useful for analysing the impact of quantitative easing.

Decision Maker Panel

We launched our Decision Maker Panel in August 2016 to collect information on how business conditions are changing in the face of substantial UK and international economic uncertainty.

The panel was created in partnership with Professor Nicholas Bloom of Stanford University and Professor Paul Mizen of the University of Nottingham. It is made up of senior executives from different industries across the UK. 

The survey is being partly funded by the University of Nottingham’s ESRC Impact Accelerator Fund.

Decision Maker Panel project and recruitment teams 

We collect data from the panel through a short monthly online survey, and aim to sample around 8,000 companies each month. Each survey will focus on one of three topics:

1. Firms’ expectations for the year ahead and any resulting uncertainty about changes in their sales and prices.
2. Employment.
3. Capital expenditure.

All information collected from panel members is held in strictest confidence. Any published results will be aggregated so that individual responses cannot be inferred.

How will the Bank use the data?

The responses to the survey will help our Monetary Policy Committee to assess the prospects for the UK economy and the outlook for business, which will inform the committee’s interest rate decisions and other policymaking. 

You can read more about the Decision Maker Panel in the following Quarterly Bulletin article:

Evidence from the Decision Maker Panel - Tracking the views of British businesses

• Decision Maker Panel data
• Agents' summary of business conditions - September 2019

Further information on the Decision Maker Panel

If you would like to know more, please see Decision Maker Panel website, email Philip.Bunn@bankofengland.co.uk or call +44 (0) 203 461 3096

BoC-BoE Sovereign Debt Default Database

Database description

Until recently, few efforts have been made to systematically measure and aggregate the nominal value of the different types of sovereign government debt in default. To help fill this gap, in 2014 the Bank of Canada (BoC) developed a comprehensive database of sovereign defaults that is updated annually in partnership with the Bank of England (BoE). The database draws on previously published datasets compiled by various public and private sector sources. It combines elements of these, together with new information, to develop comprehensive estimates of stocks of government obligations in default. These include bonds and other marketable securities, bank loans and official loans, valued in US dollars, for the years 1960 to 2022 on both a country-by-country and a global basis. This update of the BoC-BoE database, and future updates, are useful to researchers analysing the economic and financial effects of individual sovereign defaults and, importantly, the impact on global financial stability of episodes involving multiple sovereign defaults.

Suggested citation for this webpage: David Beers, Obiageri Ndukwe, Karim McDaniels and Alex Charron

Latest publications

• BoC-BoE Sovereign Default Database - What's New in 2023? (PDF) 
• Sovereign Default Database: Methodology, Assumptions and Sources (PDF)
• Sovereign Default Database: Appendix and References (PDF)

Earlier publications 

• How Frequently do Sovereigns Default on Local Currency Debt? (PDF)
By David Beers, Elliot Jones and John Walsh (2020)
• A Closer Look at the BoC-BoE Sovereign Default Database
Bank Underground post by David Beers and Jamshid Mavalwalla (2018)