Historical Monetary and Financial Statistics for Norway

Abstract

Work on historical monetary and financial statistics in Norges Bank started in the 1990s. We were inspired by Bank of England’s work on the collection of data for UK inflation over 300 years, which appeared in connection with its tercentennial in 1994. In 2001, Norges Bank’s project was extended with commissioned contributions from a national network of academic experts. The aim was to produce a set of historical data series, which covered as wide range as possible, based on available sources, of the past two centuries since Norges Bank was established in 1816. This project provided the basis for constructing composite long-run historical time series in areas of interest for a central bank with a focus on price stability and financial stability.

Norges Bank’s project on Historical Monetary and Financial Statistics (HMFS) focuses on the collection and documentation of historical data which describe long-term trends in monetary and financial variables that are central to these core tasks of central banks.

Central banks are also interested in a wider set of variables, which help put their core tasks in a more general context. The real economy interacts with the central banks’ core tasks through numerous channels. These channels may evolve over time and are subject to long-term changes in preferences, technology and institutions.

Monetary and financial variables are also often in need of a scale variable to portray them in a broader context. It is therefore useful to illustrate developments in prices and quantities related to monetary and financial markets relative to entities such as GDP or GDP per capita. The broad mandate of many central banks today may call for an even wider perspective, which includes key indicators of demography, inequality and climate risks.