Answers to these questions require real-time data sets for key variables like real and nominal GDP, potential output and inflation. At first glance, developing a real-time data set seems to be rather simple - just enter old data into spreadsheets and save them for future use. But in practice, old data are usually overwritten by new data without saving the older vintage.
Producing a real-time data set thus requires a substantial amount of effort, including digging through old source data and figuring out what data were available at what time - a Herculean task, considering the lack of documentation for much of the data.