Resources
Tools, tutorials, and references for researchers in the social sciences, some compiled by Md Johirul Islam.
Books development workers and academics should read A curated reading list for development economists, aid workers, and academics looking beyond standard field texts.
Getting a job in development Chris Blattman posts and advice on development-sector jobs, research roles, and career entry points.
How to get a PhD and save the world Advice on using graduate study to build useful research skills for policy and development work.
Bellemare blog on Missing values Applied econometrics advice on diagnosing and handling missing data in real-world datasets.
Best Practices When Writing Code by Dr Daniel M. Sullivan Practical coding guidance for organizing reproducible, readable economics and data-analysis projects.
CEO Microdata style guide A microdata style guide for cleaner variable names, labels, folder structure, and reproducible workflows.
Coding for Economists by Professor Arthur Turrell An open online book introducing coding tools and workflows for economists.
Coding for RCT evaluations J-PAL guidance for writing clear, reproducible code in randomized evaluation projects.
Data science for economists Regression analysis in R by Professor Grant McDermott Course materials for applied data science and regression analysis using R.
Data Science resources A curated wiki of data science learning materials, tools, and reference links.
DIME Analytics Coding guide World Bank DIME guidance on reproducible coding practices for development research projects.
IFRI Data Cleaning guide A Stata-focused guide for cleaning survey and research data systematically.
Innovations for Poverty Action Coding Guide IPA guidance for building clean, auditable research data workflows.
IPA Data cleaning guide A practical IPA guide to cleaning, documenting, and checking research datasets.
IPA Missing value guide IPA guidance on coding, labeling, and managing missing values during data cleaning.
Library of Statistical Techniques (LOST) A searchable library explaining statistical methods with examples and implementation notes.
Professor Ben Elsner's Causal Inference Course A video lecture series covering graduate-level causal inference concepts and applications.
Professor Raj Chetty and Professor Greg Bruich 'Big Data Course' Opportunity Insights course materials on using large administrative datasets for economic research.
Tutorial on working with Survey CDC/NHANES tutorials for analyzing complex survey data and documentation.
Datasets collection by Pietro Biroli A personal collection of economics, health, education, and social science data sources.
DHS Datasets Demographic and Health Survey reports and datasets for health and population research.
Gapminder data Downloadable global development indicators designed for comparison across countries and time.
Harvard Dataverse A research data repository for discovering, citing, and sharing datasets.
MICS Datasets UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey data on children, women, households, and development outcomes.
Purdue University Data Sources A university guide linking to common economics and public data sources.
UNICEF Datasets UNICEF dataset listings on children, women, health, education, protection, and development topics.
Virginia Tech Data Sources A library guide to economics data sources, indicators, and research databases.
World Bank Micro Data World Bank catalog for household surveys, impact evaluations, and development microdata.
Applied Economics with R by Professor Hans H. Sievertsen Lecture materials for applied economics, data analysis, and econometrics in R.
Causal Inference: The Mixtape An applied causal inference book covering research designs, identification, and code examples.
Introduction to Econometrics with R An online textbook teaching econometrics concepts with R examples and exercises.
Introduction to Statistics with Computer Applications by Kyle Butts Course materials introducing statistics and computing for economics students.
Mastering 'Metrics A concise book on core causal inference tools used in applied microeconomics.
Microeconometrics Using Stata Draft book materials and examples for applied microeconometrics in Stata.
Mostly Harmless Econometrics Companion site for a widely used applied econometrics text on causal inference.
Non-traditional Diff-in-Diff by Kyle Butts A practical note on modern difference-in-differences designs beyond the basic two-way setup.
The Effect: An Introduction to Research Design and Causality An accessible book on research design, causality, and empirical social science methods.
CTAN (Comprehensive TeX Archive Network) The central archive for TeX and LaTeX packages, documentation, and distributions.
Detexify LaTeX handwritten symbol recognition A tool that identifies LaTeX symbols from a hand-drawn sketch.
Overleaf Online LaTeX documentation and tutorials for writing, formatting, and collaborating on documents.
TeX Stack Exchange A Q&A community for troubleshooting LaTeX, TeX, and document-preparation problems.
The Comprehensive LaTeX Symbol List 1 A PDF reference catalog of mathematical and technical symbols available in LaTeX.
The Comprehensive LaTeX Symbol List 2 CTAN-hosted PDF reference for finding LaTeX commands for symbols.
The Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX 2ε A classic beginner-to-intermediate guide to writing documents with LaTeX.
FAQs on PhD applicants by Chris Blattman Chris Blattman answers common questions about economics and public policy PhD applications.
Gradschool Spreadsheet by Alvin A shared spreadsheet for tracking economics graduate school application information.
PhD Guide by We Econ Pol A guide for preparing economics PhD applications and understanding the process.
PhD memo by Alvin A memo-style guide with practical advice for economics PhD applicants.
NBER Predoc and RA listings Listings for research assistant and predoc positions connected to NBER-affiliated researchers.
Pre-doctoral and Research Assistant Positions WEP Women in Econ/Policy listings for predoc and research assistant opportunities.
Pre-Doctoral Fellowship with Opportunity Insights Program information for Opportunity Insights predoc research roles.
Tips for RA's Practical advice for applied micro research assistants on coding, workflow, and collaboration.
What is a predoctoral research assistantship? AEA overview explaining predoc RA roles, why they matter, and how students find them.
Women in Econ Policy Jobs Women in Econ/Policy job listings focused on economics, policy, and research roles.
Animated plot in R A tutorial on creating animated visualizations in R with gganimate.
CRAN The main repository for R downloads, contributed packages, manuals, and mirrors.
Data Visualization with R An online book on building modern data visualizations with R.
Data Visualization: A practical introduction Kieran Healy's practical guide to data visualization principles and R workflows.
R for Data Science A full book on importing, tidying, transforming, visualizing, and modeling data in R.
R Programming for Data Science A book introducing R programming fundamentals for data analysis.
R-Bloggers A community feed of R tutorials, package updates, examples, and commentary.
Telling Stories with Data By Rohan Alexander.
Storytelling with Data (Guide) A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals.
Storytelling with Data (Practice) Let's Practice!
Coding for Economists By Arthur Turrell.
Data Science for Economists By Grant McDermott.
Regression Analysis in R By Grant McDermott.
List of Open Source Books about R Comprehensive list.
Switch Your Workflow from Stata to R One bit at a time.
Introduction to Stata basics StataCorp learning materials for getting started with core Stata commands and workflows.
IPA STATA Trainings IPA's Stata training repository with course materials, examples, and practice code.
Learning Stata for econ research A shared document for learning Stata in economics research settings.
Princeton STATA Tutorials Princeton DSS training files and tutorials for Stata and data analysis.
STATA Guide by Naqvi Asjad Naqvi's Stata Guide with applied examples, visualization, and workflow notes.
STATA List The official Stata forum for user questions, troubleshooting, and community answers.
StataCorp YouTube Channel Official Stata videos with tutorials, feature demonstrations, and recorded webinars.
UCLA Institute for Digital Research and Education UCLA OARC Stata modules for statistics, data management, and applied examples.
The Stata Guide By Asjad Naqvi.
StataTeX Blog Stata and LaTeX integration.
StataList The official Stata forum.
Tutorial on Working with Survey Data CDC tutorial for NHANES.
UCLA Stata Resources Extensive modules for learning Stata.
A guide to switch from STATA to R A practical guide for translating common Stata workflows into R and RStudio.
How to Switch Your Workflow from Stata to R Advice on gradually moving applied research workflows from Stata to R.
R and Stata Equivalence A command-by-command reference for matching Stata tasks with R equivalents.
R and Stata: Data A slide or handout resource focused on data handling across R and Stata.
Stata to Python Equivalents By Daniel M. Sullivan.
All Quant Courses By Sargent & Stachurski.
Python Programming for Economics and Finance QuantEcon series.
Intermediate Quantitative Economics with Python QuantEcon series.
Econ Graphs By Chris Makler.
Python for Economists By Ewen Gallic.
WEP Pre-doctoral and RA Positions WEP Job board.
What is a predoctoral RAship? AEA Forum explanation.
Tips for RAs Applied tips for Micro RAs.
Opportunity Insights Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Fellowship info.
SIEPR Predoctoral Research Fellows Stanford SIEPR.
PREDOC.org Central hub for pre-doc opportunities.
The PhD Excellence Initiative Fellowship program.
Michigan Ross Bridges to Doctoral Fellows Bridge program.
AEA Summer Training Program Summer program.
GSAS Research Scholar Initiative Harvard GSAS.
PRIMO (Harvard Business School) Program for Research in Markets & Organizations.
Predoctoral Program in Policy Policy focused pre-docs.
Columbia Business School Predoc Fellowship program.
Open Source Economics Laboratory Research lab.
Columbia BS Summer Research Internship Summer internship.
NYU Stern Pre-Doctoral Program details.
Stanford GSB Research Fellows Research fellows program.
UChicago BFI PREP Becker Friedman Institute.
MIT Sloan Predoctoral Opportunities MIT Sloan.
Pre-Doc Memo by Alvin Christian Detailed memo.
Pre-Doc Guide by Alvin Christian Guide document.
PhD Memo by Alvin Christian Memo for PhD applicants.
Econ PhD Guide By We Econ Pol.
FAQs on PhD Applicants By Chris Blattman.
Advice for Applying to Grad School By Susan Athey.
Chris Blattman: Books to Read For development economists.
Chris Blattman: Getting a Job in Development Job search advice.
Chris Blattman: Research in War Zones Field research advice.
Chris Blattman: Should you become a Field RA? Advice for aspiring PhDs.
Chris Blattman: Advice for New Asst Profs Academic career advice.
Chris Blattman: Writing Statement of Purpose Application advice.
Chris Blattman: Negotiating Job Offer Job market advice.
Greg Mankiw: Advice for Aspiring Economists General advice.
Greg Mankiw: Choosing a Graduate Program Grad school advice.
Greg Mankiw: Why Economists Need Math Curriculum advice.
Greg Mankiw: How to Write Well Writing tips.
World Bank Microdata Global development data.
DHS Program Demographic and Health Surveys.
UNICEF MICS Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys.
Pietro Biroli's Datasets Collection.
The Effect By Nick Huntington-Klein.
Non-traditional Diff-in-Diff By Kyle Butts.
Intro to Statistics with Computer Applications By Kyle Butts.
Applied Economics with R Hans H. Sievertsen.
Best Practices when Writing Code By Daniel M. Sullivan.
Causal Inference Course By Ben Elsner.
Big Data Course Chetty & Bruich.