Data

(where you can see examples of the kinds of data economics students work with)

• AER (American Economic Review) datasets — AER package for R
  An R package containing about 100 well‑known datasets used in the American Economic Review; useful for teaching and replication.

• AI tools
  AI study tools (e.g. Gemini Notebook) that let you upload documents and videos, generate summaries, study plans and practice exam questions; other useful tools include Claude (a simple Youtube-introduction here), ChatGPT, Symbolab, Photomath and Perplexity.

• CEPII (Centre d’Études Prospectives et d’Informations Internationales)
  Global economic datasets including bilateral trade, gravity indicators and macro series.

• Central bank independence data (CBI Data)
  Data on central bank independence for 155 countries covering 1923–2023.

• Columns by Jonas Lagerström
  A series of economics columns (Åbo Underrättelser, 2014–2017) — useful for outreach and examples.

• Datawrapper
  Create attractive maps, charts and tables from your data for free — great for quick visualisations (regional maps, charts, tables).

• EDGAR (Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research)
  Global emissions data with sectoral detail (useful for environmental and climate work).

• Electoral System Design Database (International IDEA)
  Data on electoral systems and related resources (Political Finance, Voter Turnout, Voting from Abroad).

• EM‑DAT — International Disaster Database
  Records of ~22,000 disasters worldwide (1900–present); disaster types, locations and impacts. Free registration required.

• European Company Surveys (ECS) — Eurofound
  Firm‑level interview data for Europe (waves 2004, 2009, 2013, 2019).

• European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) — Eurofound
  Survey data on wellbeing and quality of life across ~30 countries (waves 2003, 2007, 2012, 2016).

• European Social Survey (ESS)
  Large cross‑national survey on attitudes and values (≈30 countries, 2002–2020); accessible in R via the essurvey package.

• European Union Labour Force Survey (EU LFS)
  Individual‑level labour‑market microdata for Europe from 1983 onward.

• European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) — Eurofound
  Data on working conditions, employment status and earnings across many European countries (from 1990).

• Eurostat
  Primary source for EU statistics; thousands of datasets. Recommended: use the eurostat R package for direct access and mapping.

• Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED)
  Extensive time‑series database (US‑centric with many international series).

• Finland — StatFin (Statistics Finland) — multiple databases
  StatFin, municipal key figures, Paavo postcode data, integration databases, SDG indicators, Traficom stats, wage‑structure stats and more (municipal‑level data available).

• Finnish Customs statistics (ULJAS)
  Foreign‑trade, logistics and tax/collection statistics for Finland.

• Finnish Social Science Data Archive (FSD)
  ~1,600 datasets (≈1,300 quantitative); many large individual‑level surveys. Note: bachelor theses often restricted to datasets classified A or B.

• Football Statistics (blog)
  Data‑driven analyses of football puzzles, with code for replication.

• Forced Displacement Microdata (UNHCR / FDM Atlas)
  375 microdata datasets on refugees from 53 low‑ and middle‑income countries; documentation and background links.

• Freedom House
  Annual political‑rights and civil‑liberties index (0–100); series available via Our World in Data.

• Gale Business (Åbo FinnA link)
  Company facts database (~400,000 firms) with SWOTs and financials (ÅA access).

• Gender Data Portal — World Bank
  World Bank hub for gender indicators across economic, education and health domains.

• Global Database on Intergenerational Mobility (World Bank)
  Cohort‑ and gender‑specific estimates of intergenerational mobility in education.

• Global Innovation Index (WIPO)
  Annual innovation rankings and global trends.

• Global Repository of Income Dynamics (GRID)
  International income‑dynamics database (multiple countries; expanding coverage).

• Global Sanctions Database (GSDB)
  Nearly 1,500 sanctions episodes (1950–2022) with assessments.

• Global Terrorism Database (GTD)
  Terrorist attack records (1970–2020); recommended reading: Krueger, What Makes a Terrorist.

• Governing journals / Quartz — “Research that shaped the world”
  Annual roundup of influential research.

• Historia.se
  Portal for historical statistics and long‑run country series.

• HumanProgress
  Aggregated datasets across technology, health, crime, environment and more.

• IEA (International Energy Agency) — Data and Statistics
  Emissions, energy prices, EV sales and related energy statistics.

• IMD — World Competitiveness Ranking (World Competitiveness Center)
  Country competitiveness rankings.

• IMF — Data
  Time‑series data (WEO, public debt, GDP, exchange rates, FDI, interest rates, money aggregates, trade, etc.).

• IPUMS
  Individual‑level microdata across many topics (US focus; international data available).

• KELA (The Social Insurance Institution of Finland) — statistics
  Data on benefit amounts, payment frequencies and distributions by region and group.

• Kolada (Sweden)
  Extensive information on Swedish municipalities and regions (6,000+ indicators).

• Maddison Project Database
  Very long historical time series on growth, population and incomes.

• Medlingsinstitutet (Wage Statistics, Sweden)
  Monthly wage stats by sector and detailed occupation‑level wages (by gender).

• Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland (TEM)
  Employment statistics and labour‑market data.

• NASA — GRDI & satellite datasets
  Gridded Relative Deprivation Index (nighttime lights, built‑up area) for poverty mapping.

• National accounts — Finland (StatFin) and Sweden Country national accounts.

• NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research)
  Leading economics research repository; see The Digest and AEA Research Highlights.

• Nordic Statistics
  Data on Nordic countries across many domains.

• OECD Data / OECD Data Explorer
  Macro data and topic pages; use OECD Data Explorer to download datasets.

• Orbis Europe (Bureau van Dijk — ÅA access)
  Detailed firm‑level data (~130M firms), financials, ownership and ESG (ÅA login).

• Our World in Data (OWID)
  Broad macro‑level datasets; R package owidR.

• Penn World Table (PWT)
  GDP, inputs and productivity for 183 countries (1950–2019).

• PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study)
  Fourth‑grade reading assessments and contextual school/home data.

• PISA Database (OECD)
  PISA results and background indicators.

• PIAAC (Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies) — OECD
  Adult skills assessments (literacy, numeracy, problem‑solving).

• Quarto
  Publishing framework for RStudio (ebooks, slides, posters).

• R / Posit (RStudio)
  R and RStudio download; recommended book R for Data Science.

• R packages that load data directly into R
  (owidR, WDI, eurostat, OECD, pxweb, gravity, peacesciencer, vdem, democracyData, Quandl, essurvey, unvotes, AER, refugees, etc.) — Use CRAN packages to import data programmatically.

• Research roundup — Quartz (“Research that shaped the world”)
  Curated influential research lists.

• SNS (Studieförbundet Näringsliv och Samhälle)
  Accessible research reports and recorded talks (SNS Analys, SNS Play).

• Short tutorials on making good figures in Word: part 1 and part 2.

• Slavery and human‑trafficking data — Slave Voyages / modern counterparts Historical trans‑Atlantic slave trade (1514–1866); links to modern datasets on human trafficking, contemporary slavery indices and child labour.

• Statista
  Market, opinion and industry statistics across many topics; institutional access may require subscription (use ÅA library proxy if access is restricted).

• Statistics Finland (StatFin) — multiple databases
  Comprehensive Finnish national statistics: StatFin, municipal key figures, Paavo postcode data, integration and migration, SDG indicators, Traficom transport stats, wage‑structure statistics and more.

• Statistics Sweden (SCB)
  Sweden’s national statistics database with microdata and aggregate series across many domains.

• Stata — resources and tutorials
  Training materials and tutorials for Stata — commercial statistical software widely used in empirical research.

• UCDP (Uppsala Conflict Data Program)
  Data on wars, armed conflicts and peace processes worldwide; includes actor information, negotiations, peace agreements and the ViEWS early‑warning system.

• UN — Various data portals (UNdata, migration & population resources)
  Extensive UN datasets: commodity trade, demographics, energy, environment, homicide, UNAIDS, fertility, migration and more; migration stock and population resources linked.

• UNCTADSTAT
  UNCTAD data on international trade in goods and services, FDI, economic trends and related indicators.

• UNECE PX‑Web
  PX‑Web access to statistics for ~50 countries on SDGs, gender, transport, economy, forestry and more.

• UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
  Comparable international data on education, science, culture and communication.

• UNHCR — Refugee Statistics and Microdata
  Refugee and asylum statistics, microdata access and resources; R package refugees available for programmatic use.

• UNICEF Data
  Data on child and maternal indicators: health, education, nutrition, poverty, protection, and related topics.

• UNU‑WIDER Data
  Research datasets such as the World Income Inequality Database (WIID), Economic Transformation Database (ETD) and Government Revenue Dataset (GRD).

• Vipunen (Finnish education statistics)
  Comprehensive Finnish education statistics covering sectoral data, population education structure and students’ socio‑economic backgrounds.

• Voitto+ (Åbo FinnA link)
  Finnish company financials (~97,000 firms) — Åbo Akademi access.

• World Bank Data
  Extensive country‑level time series and microdata across agriculture, climate, growth, education, health, finance, trade and development; World Bank Microdata Library included.

• World Competitiveness Ranking (IMD)
  Country rankings on competitiveness indicators such as infrastructure, institutions and economic policy.

• World Happiness Report / data
  Country‑level life‑satisfaction and wellbeing data (since 2005).

• World Health Organization (WHO) — Global Health Observatory
  Health statistics for 194 countries: air pollution, child health, life expectancy, causes of death, workforce, malaria, mental health, nutrition, road safety, tobacco control, and more.

• World Inequality Database (WID)
  Data on income and wealth inequality by country and over time; see SWIID for harmonised GINI series.

Copyright

By reading this e‑book I, the author, hereby consent that all text and material contained in this e‑book may be freely used by readers in AI services and similar applications, including but not limited to Gemini Notebook and other AI‑based tools. This means I do not regard such use as a copyright infringement and I hereby expressly grant permission for the material to be copied, analysed and used in these contexts without restriction. The same permission applies to my video clips on YouTube.