Series Ch408. 1857–1919: “Dun & Bradstreet Reference Book and Failure Statistics” (an undated folder distributed by Dun & Bradstreet); 1920–1926: Dun & Bradstreet, Inc., The Failure Record through 1971, and unpublished data supplied by Dun & Bradstreet, Inc., and reproduced in Historical Statistics of the United States (1975), series V20; 1927–1997: calculated from series Ch411–412.

Series Ch409. Data provided by the Economic Analysis Department, Dun & Bradstreet Corporation.

Series Ch410. U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Business Conditions Digest, June 1971 and subsequent issues, series B12.

Series Ch411 and Series Ch413. 1857–1919: “Dun & Bradstreet Reference Book and Failure Statistics”; 1920–1926: The Failure Record through 1971, and unpublished data supplied by Dun & Bradstreet and reproduced in Historical Statistics of the United States (1975), series V24; 1927–1997: Dun & Bradstreet Inc., Business Failure Record (1999). Several minor errors in series Ch411 were corrected by summing monthly data as reported in Dun's Review, January 5, 1895; January 1910; and January 1927.

Series Ch412. 1857–1926: calculated from series Ch408 and Series Ch411; 1927–1997: Dun & Bradstreet Inc., Business Failure Record (1999).

In 1841, Lewis Tappan organized the Mercantile Agency to gather and disseminate impartial credit information regarding merchants seeking credit from suppliers. The name was changed to R. G. Dun & Co. in 1859. John Bradstreet founded a rival agency in 1849. In 1933, the R.G. Dun Corporation acquired the Bradstreet Company and renamed itself Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. For a history, see Roy A. Foulke, The Sinews of American Commerce (Dun & Bradstreet, 1941). Today the company's U.S. data base includes the detailed histories of over 11 million businesses.

Series Ch408. Represents the number of active firms each year in the company's data base. In the early years, this list of concerns was published in a periodic volume called the Reference Book. The Reference Book published nearest to July 1 of each year was used to make the count. Recent data for the total number of listed concerns is as of July 1. From 1857 through 1983 the listings included businesses, both incorporated and unincorporated, in manufacturing; wholesale and retail trade; building contractors; and certain types of commercial service including public utilities, water carriers, motor carriers, and airlines. Specific businesses not covered are finance, insurance, and real estate companies; railroads; terminals; amusements; and many “one-man services.”  Neither professions nor farmers are included. Beginning in 1984, the series was revised to include agriculture; forestry and fishing; finance, insurance, and real estate; and the service sector in its entirety. According to Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), “all industries in the U.S. are now represented.”

Series Ch409. Represents the total number of stock corporations issued charters under the general incorporation laws of the various states and (beginning with 1963) the District of Columbia. The statistics include completely new businesses that have incorporated, existing businesses changed from a noncorporate form to a corporation, existing corporations given certificates to operate in another state, and existing corporations transferred to another state. This series does not, therefore, represent net new business formation. That is the object of the D&B index of net business formation (series Ch410).

Series Ch410. Compiled from monthly national data on new business incorporations, number of business failures, and confidential data.

Series Ch411–413. Business failures do not represent total business closings, which consist of both failures and discontinuances. Business failures consist of businesses involved in court proceedings or in voluntary actions involving losses to creditors. Businesses that discontinue operations for reasons such as inadequate profits, ill health, and retirement are not recorded as failures if all creditors are paid in full. Since June 1934, with the enactment of the Bankruptcy Act, reorganization may or may not lead to discontinuance of operation. Since that date, however, bankruptcy under the act is included in the failure statistics.

Series Ch413. Liabilities of business failures refer to liabilities at the time of failure. They include all accounts and notes payable on secured or unsecured obligations held by banks, officers, affiliated companies, suppliers, or the government. Before 1933, the series includes liabilities arising from failures of real estate, insurance, holding, and financial companies; steamship lines; and travel agencies, even though these firms were not included in series Ch408 or series Ch412. Before 1939, the series does not include the losses from small concerns forced out of business with insufficient assets to cover all claims unless the closure was involuntary.