The Basics

• Resources for economists on the Internet Most searches begin with a look at the vast number of links offered by the web site hosted by the American Economic Association, Resources for Economists on the Internet. Resources includes official sites, sites of major research organizations, and a vast number of references to economics data that may be publicly available.
• The Economics Departments, Institutes, and Research Organizations provides a comprehensive listing of all Economics Departments and Research Sites.
• Any serious research in economics must also look at EconLit, the bibliographic reference for all economists. It is available on-line at the Goddard Library.

Economics Data

There is indeed a wealth of economics data on the internet, but finding it can be quite a challenge. One place to start is the Resources for Economists on the Internet data page with a large number of links. In general terms, these have proven to be useful:

• The American Statistical Association maintains a very useful gateway to economics data (both macro and micro), US and international. Each entry includes general information on the source and the link. There is also a search engine for the site. This is an excellent place to start, since each source also as a rating as to quality.
• The University of California-San Diego has another excellent site, with a search engine that covers country-level and individual-level data. Detailed descriptions of each data source are also provided.
• U.S. Macro Data
• The World Factbook provides General data on the economies of countries world wide by the Central Intelligence Agency.
• The World Development Indicators of the World Bank provides macroeoconomic data and various indicators of national development. You can also use the Query section to create your own data sets in Excel format.
• The IMF country reports provide comprehensive data on the financial condition of member countries.
• The World Trade Organization provides basic information on international trade.

For sites that provide more detail on a national basis, conducting a search is much more challenging. The various international statistical offices might be considered a starting point and they should be investigated. Many times they are unwilling to part with substantially detailed data, but it is worthwhile to look at them first.

• This link provides links to all national statistical offices with a web presence.
• Eurostat of the European Union, but not so much is available for downloading (you can always consult the European Economy found in the Goddard Library). It is best to go the free download part of the web site.
• The University of Maryland maintains a useful data bank of many variables for the US economy in a format ready to download.

Major New York Financial Institutions

• The New York Mercantile Exchange
• New York Stock Exchange
• New York Federal Reserve Bank

Links to Federal Reserve Banks

These links are particularly useful for the research produced by the staffs of the individual banks. You can head for the Research Papers or Special Studies of these Sites. An interactive introduction to how the Federal Reserve System works is available at the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank.

• The Board of Governors in Washington, D.C. Comments of Alan Greenspan and others are available on the site.
• The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
• The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis has a great collection of Macroeconomic Data. at FRED
• These two documents offer you insight into history of the US monetary system: A history of colonial money (wampum and all that) and the evolution of American bank notes.

Links to Central Banks of Countries Outside of the United States

• European Central Bank, with the official € (EURO) web site as well
• Bank of Japan
• Links to other central banks and ministries of finance

Links to other Important International Financial and Trade Organizations

• The World Bank, which offers researchers a range of in-depth research papers (follow the link to research from the home page and use the search engine) and useful data on macroeconomic and other indicators. The World Development Indicators has many tables on-line. In addition, you can search at Data Query to get tables of the last five years of data for a range of variables and countries. The data can be exported into text or Excel spreadsheet files.
• International Monetary Fund. The site is an excellent source for up-to-date research, some of it rather technical, and excellent statistical information and comments on the finances and economies of most of the countries of the world.
• The World Trade Organization, which offers current international trade statistics and historical data as well. These data can also be downloaded.
• United Nations Development Program
• A host of links to other world organizations.

Test your economic literacy

This interactive test allows you to find out how much you know. You can compare your literacy with the rest of us!

Test your economics humor

The site for economics jokes.