Research Guides: Economics: Finding Data & Public Policy Research

Key Economic Data Sets

U.S. Census Bureau This link opens in a new window
Leading source of up-to-date demographic data about the United States people and economy.

PUMS Data
The U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) files are a set of untabulated records about individual people or housing units.

IPUMS This link opens in a new window
Database of census and survey data from around the world integrated across time and space. Users must create a free account to access.

Bureau of Labor Statistics
The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor is the principal Federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy.
California Department of Finance
EuroStat
Statistical office of the European Union that provides statistics for Europe. Information is culled from the European Statistical System (ESS), an amalgamation of various statistical bodies.
Federal Reserve
The Federal Reserve often referred to as "the Fed" is the central bank of the United States. Created to help promote a safe and sound monetary and financial system for our nation.
FRED Economic Research
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Download, graph, and track 672,000 US and international time series from 89 sources
FRASER
Digital library of U.S. economic, financial, and banking history—particularly the history of the Federal Reserve System.
Forward Exchange Rates on Investing.com
IMF Data
Query International Financial Statistics from the IMF by country, topic, or data source. View charts in your browser and download raw data. Note: This is the open version -- limited data available without subscription.
International Financial Statistics
Query International Financial Statistics from the IMF by country, topic, or data source. View charts in your browser and download raw data. Note: This is the open version -- limited data available without subscription.
Statistics Bureau of Japan (in English)
OECD Financial Statistics
Opportunity Atlas
Visualize economic opportunity in the United States through an interactive map
World Bank
The World Bank provides free and open access to a comprehensive set of data about development in countries around the globe.

ICPSR Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research This link opens in a new window
ICPSR maintains a data archive of more than 500,000 files of research in the social sciences. It hosts 16 specialized collections of data in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and other fields.

Public Policy Research

The American Enterprise Institute
AEI is a community of scholars and supporters committed to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity and strengthening free enterprise.
The Brookings Institute
The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. with a mission to conduct in-depth, nonpartisan research to improve policy and governance at local, national, and global levels.
Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress is an independent nonpartisan educational institute dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action.
Center for Economic Policy Research
CEPR is Europe’s leading network of Economic Policy Researchers.
Center for the Study of Social Policy
Policy research on children and families. 1979-Current.

CLASP Center for Law and Social Policy - Data This link opens in a new window
CLASP conducts analysis of national, state, and local data to accurately document racial disparities and disparate policy impacts by race to inform our policy recommendations and advocacy.

Institute for Research on Poverty
IRP researches the causes and consequences of poverty and inequality in the United States. We bring together social scientists from across research disciplines such as economics, sociology, social work, and demography. The result is a well-rounded understanding of poverty issues.
Measure of America-SSRC Project
Measure of America provides easy-to-use yet methodologically sound tools for understanding the distribution of well-being and opportunity in America and stimulating fact-based dialogue about issues we all care about: health, education, and living standards.
Neighborhood Data for Social Change
A project of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, NDSC is a free, publicly available online resource for civic actors to learn about the trends, challenges, and opportunities facing Los Angeles County neighborhoods through maps, charts, data analysis, and storytelling.

Pew Research Center This link opens in a new window
A nonpartisan fact tank that publishes public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis, and other data-driven social science research.
Policy Commons This link opens in a new window
Over 12 million working papers, policy briefs, data sources, and media from more than 35,000 municipalities, IGOs, NGOs, think tanks, and research centers.

RAND Corporation
Economic and social policy with a historical focus on military research.
Southern Poverty Law Center
A nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry, and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of society.
Urban Institute
"At Urban, we believe that data and evidence are essential to shaping a more inclusive, equitable, and just society."