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Data links for development research, methods and Stata, and literature

 

This list contains links to micro and macro-level data, mainly related to economics, as well as some general interest links for data and methods. This list is still growing; let me know if you have any additions or comments.

 

There are special pages for data on China and Germany.

 

 

Micro-level data

 

International Household Survey Network (IHSN) http://www.internationalsurveynetwork.org/

·        Huge catalog of data from household surveys and censuses, mainly for developing countries

·        Provides basic information on the surveys as well as links and contact information

 

Keeping Track by the UK Office of National Statistics and ISER http://iserwww.essex.ac.uk/ulsc/keeptrack/index.php 

·        Large catalog of longitudinal data, with basic search functions and contact information

·        Industrialized and developing country sources

 

Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD) http://chd.ucla.edu/dev_data/index.html

·        Large collection of links to household surveys

·        Some links to firm-level, macro data and national statistical offices

·        Also has cutting-edge working papers on development economics topics

 

Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) http://www.measuredhs.com/

·        Probably the best source for demographic and health data; comparable surveys for some 70 countries. Very good coverage for Africa

·        Survey data on request; summary statistics and good documentation openly accessible on website

·        Some countries have specialized surveys on HIV, gender etc. Some newer ones also have GIS coordinates

 

Multi Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) by UNICEF http://www.childinfo.org/

·        Questionnaires similar to DHS but a better resource for child labor and AIDS

·        Need to register to get access to datasets

 

World Bank Living Standards Measurement Study Household Surveys (LSMS) http://www.worldbank.org/html/prdph/lsms/lsmshome.html

·        Some of the best-known surveys on this topic (along with DHS)

·        Also has some tools for using household data

 

RAND Family Life Surveys http://www.rand.org/labor/FLS/

·        In-depth surveys on Malasia, Indonesia, Guatemala and Matlab (a region in Bangladesh)

·        Also holds other household, firm and national economic surveys for Indonesia

 

World Bank Research Datasets - Poverty http://econ.worldbank.org/resource.php?type=18&topic=19

·        Lists a variety of datasets available at the World Bank

·        Often these data have been used for studies at the Bank – check for papers before using it

 

International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) http://www.ifpri.org/data/dataset.htm

·        Mainly household and community-level surveys related to food security and production

·        Also has some institutional data, social accounting matrixes and geospatial data

·        Need to request data through an online form

 

World Bank Africa Household Survey Databank http://www4.worldbank.org/afr/poverty/databank/default.cfm

·        Features a ‘survey navigator’ for finding data

 

Sources of Quantitative Data in Development Economics (by Pamela Jakiela at UC Berkeley) http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~jakiela/data_sources.html

·        List of data sources, including some on Mexican health and aging, and migration in Latin America

 

Various health datasets (maintained by John Kane at Oswego State University of New York  http://www.oswego.edu/~economic/hea-data.htm

·        Mainly US data on health-related issues

 

Kaiser Family Foundation list of data sources http://www.kaiseredu.org/research.asp?id=268

·        Excellent list of datasets (mainly US)

·        Categories include public health, health care financing and delivery, state level data, and related sources

 

 

Not-only-economic data

 

UCLA Data Archives Home http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/issr/da/

·        Holds some older surveys, often US political polls, election studies and attitude data

 

World Bank Institute - Governance http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/governance/datainteractive.html

·        Data on voice, accountability, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and corruption.

 

International Peace Research Institute of Oslo (PRIO) http://www.prio.no/

·        Conflict databases (on armed conflicts, and battle deaths)

 

 

Macro-level data

 

World Bank PovcalNet http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/jsp/index.jsp

·        Interactive tool to calculate your own poverty lines and compare them across countries

 

World Bank Health, Nutrition and Population Statistic Database (HNPStats) http://devdata.worldbank.org/hnpstats/

·        A variety of such indicators on most countries

·        Also features a data query system if you want to select your own comparison countries and time periods

 

Global Development Finance (GDF Online) http://lib.harvard.edu/e-resources/details/g/gdfonlin.html

·        Debt and financial flow data of the World Bank

·        Link is to access point for Harvard affiliates

 

United Nations Commodity Statistics Database (COMTRADE) http://lib.harvard.edu/e-resources/details/c/comtrade.html

·        Provides commodity trade data for all available countries and areas since 1962

·        Link is to access point for Harvard affiliates

 

United Nations Common Database (UNCDB) http://lib.harvard.edu/e-resources/details/u/uncommdb.html

·        UN's statistical database with more than 300 statistical series from UN and other International Organizations

·        Link is to access point for Harvard affiliates

 

World Development Indicators (WDI Online) http://lib.harvard.edu/e-resources/details/w/wdionlin.html

·        Most commonly used cross-country indicators

·        Link is to access point for Harvard affiliates

·        Useful variable definitions at the University of Michigan: http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/wdi/wdivar/wdivar1.html

 

 

Other sources

 

Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/

·        “The world’s largest archive of digital social science data” at the University of Michigan

·        Some datasets available for downloading but great in general to find surveys

 

DPLS Internet Crossroads http://dpls.dacc.wisc.edu/newcrossroads/index.asp

·        Data depository at the University of Wisconsin Madison

·        Long and uncategorized list of links includes statistical offices of several smaller countries and organizations

 

US Department of Labor – Bureau of Labor Statistics http://www.bls.gov/bls/other.htm

·        Principal U.S. federal statistical agencies and international statistical agencies

 

HU-MIT Virtual Data Centre System http://vdc.hmdc.harvard.edu/VDC/index.jsp

·        Great source for social sciences (including and beyond economics), keyword searchable

·        Holds the World Value Surveys, among other things

·        Need to login in top-right corner with Harvard ID

 

 

Methods

 

Research Methods Knowledge Base (by William Trochim at Cornell) http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/

·        Introduction and methods for field surveys

 

Stata tutorials and help

·        ‘Resources to help you learn Stata at UCLA http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/

·        Excellent Stata tutorial which also shows how to translate econometrics into Stata commands (at University of North Carolina Population Center) http://www.cpc.unc.edu/services/computer/presentations/statatutorial

·        http://repec.org/ has a search engine for Stata ado files

 

 

Literature and working papers

 

Research Papers in Economics (RePEC) http://repec.org/

·        Several search engines for economics journal and working papers

·        Also has a list for Stata ado files

 

Roubini Global Economics Service Monitor http://www.rgemonitor.com/

·        Blogs, top readings and Roubini writings on a number of countries and issues

 

 

 

Last updated December 10, 2006