Collecting FRED Data with Python requests

Midterm Exam II, DANL 210-01, Spring 2025

📌 Directions

This is an exam on a paper, so minor coding errors are expected. My main focus is on your approach to each question — the logic, algorithms, and syntax you use. Nearly perfect code will be rewarded with bonus credit.

Section 2. Data Collection with API (Points: 14)

Question 1 (Points: 4)

• In the client–server model of the web, which statement is true?

1. A client hosts webpages, and a server displays them to users.
2. A client requests data, and a server responds with data.
3. Clients and servers are the same machine communicating via HTTPS.
4. A server initiates requests, and a client responds with data.

Question 2 (Points: 10)

• Fill in the following 5 blanks to make a request to the FRED API for collecting the U.S. unemployment rate (series_id = “UNRATE”)

import requests
import pandas as pd
param_dicts = {
  'api_key': 'YOUR_FRED_API_KEY', ## Change to your own key
  'file_type': 'json',
  'series_id': ___BLANK_1___    ## ID for series data from the FRED
}
api_endpoint = "https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/series/observations"
response = ___BLANK_2___

# Check if the server successfully sends the requested content
if ___BLANK_3___:
    # Convert JSON response to Python dictionary.
    content = ___BLANK_4___

    # Create a DataFrame of key 'observations's value from the content dictionary
    df = pd.DataFrame( ___BLANK_5___ )
else:
    print("The server cannot find the requested content")

key-value pairs in the content dictionary

Answer for ___BLANK_1___:

Answer for ___BLANK_2___:

Answer for ___BLANK_3___:

Answer for ___BLANK_4___:

Answer for ___BLANK_5___: