Data and research links

Research, be it data, quantitative or qualitative, is imperative to any economics degree.

Unfortunately, it is easier said than done. In my experience, one of the biggest stumbling blocks is finding the initial relevant research or data. Finding a data set on the National Statistics website is not always the smoothest ride (if you are stuck on this, read our guide) and finding reliable information on the implications of trade barriers can also prove to be tricky.

For most, a search engine will be the place to start, a quick search may provide a few resources but they’re not always the most reliable. How do you check the reliability?

With this in mind, we have provided a few handy links. These links are not directly to the resource but are organisations that have compiled online resources for economics. They should prove to be very, very useful.

Economic Data

A comprehensive list of free economic data and how to use it effectively.

Do you need more help with data collection?

If you are trying to find data for an economics project you may find Dr Edmund Cannon’s informative guide on data collection very useful.

Data Archive

Data archive ‘provides the largest collection of digital data in the social sciences and the humanities in the UK.’

The Economics Network

The Economics Network provides online learning materials from Universities and other institutions providing lecture slides, worksheets, quizzes and much more. The audio and video lectures may be very useful, offering you the opportunity to view other institutions’ lectures.

IDEAS

Do not be put off by the website design, this site provides ‘information about working papers and published research to the economics profession. IDEAS stands for Internet Documents in Economics Access Service.‘

AEA Resources

The American Economic Association maintains a list of “hundreds of resources” of many kinds.

Twitter

If you’re on Twitter, there are a lot of useful economics-related accounts.

If you are after some quick data our data sources section may be able to help. It also has a few tips on how to use some rather tricky data sets.