Another Google mention

Yesterday I mentioned a new Google project that I thought was cool and interesting enough to share. Today, I came across another Google-related item that I thought did a great job of making economic data accessible.

Google Trends is a pretty cool (and, as with most things Google, free) tool for determining what topics in the world are generating the most buzz (albeit subject to some self-selection bias). Somewhat similar to Twitter's "Trending Topics", Google Trends have provided analysts with a wealth of data to crunch, providing some interesting insights into the public mind.

Today I came across an interesting post that--with an assist from Google Trends--casts doubt on the NBER's assertion that the "Great Recession" ended in June 2009. I think many of us doubted that assertion in the first place, but this chart is interesting nonetheless.

Thanks to the Zero Hedge blog for the graphic (and the research).

[Zero Hedge]