The object of this project is to develop a user-friendly data base consisting of price data on security transactions for the New York and American Stock Exchanges. This data base will be made readily accessible, in a convenient format, and at reasonable cost to scholars doing empirical research in the area of financial economics. At present these data are not readily available to academic researchers. This project is important because it will allow scholars to explore a host of questions regarding the functioning of financial markets which at present is not possible, given the high cost and access problems with existing data sets. This data base will include transaction prices for all security trades, not just closing trades on the New York and American Stock Exchanges. Transaction prices will be maintained for the most recent ten years of historical data. The data base will initially be provided on magnetic tape for IBM computers. Following, these data will be available for VAX computers, and finally they will be available for processing on micro-computers.
