The Economics Shelf

Below you'll find my growing collection of websites, tools, blogs, and other resources that I have used in my courses and for teaching economics. Some of the links on this page I use frequently for teaching. Others are just interesting or unique resources for helping us all learn the economic way of thinking. 

Economics in the News

• FRED Blog:  Official blog of the St. Louis Fed

• Econ in the News (MRU): News articles, videos, and podcasts on economics through current events

• Macro Minute Blog: Short-form blog covering headlines from national economic data reports 

• Econ Focus Magazine: Economics magazine of the Richmond Fed

• Planet Money: Public radio & podcast program aimed at making economic complexities easier and fun 

• Cato at Liberty: Policy blog focused on current issues, incentives, regulation, and political economy 

• EconLog: Blog of the Library of Economics & Liberty

• Economic Policy Institute: Think-tank articles focused on the economic interests of low-income Americans

Learning Economics

• Marginal Revolution University: free online resources for learning & teaching economics

• Monday Morning Economist: Short, weekly pop-culture breakdowns of core economic concepts

• EconTalk Podcast: Weekly podcast about economics, history, philosophy, and everyday life 

• CORE Econ: Free online resource for teaching & learning economics

• Conversations with Tyler: Deep-dive interviews exploring markets, policy, culture, and social dynamics

• Federal Reserve Education: Free resources for learning about economics and personal finance 

• U-Channel: Presentations by faculty, policy-makers, and researchers from around the world

• MIT Open Courseware: Free online course materials for economics and related topics

• Liberty Fund / Online Library of Liberty (OLL): Open collection of foundational political economy texts 

• Yale Open Courses: Publicly available course material covering financial theory and markets 

Research & Writing

• Harvard Guide to Writing Economics: Online guide for writing economics research papers

• Guide to Writing in Economics: Department of Economics; Duke University

• Research & Writing for Economics Students: Bookdown guide for empirical research

• "The Formula": How to write an economics paper introduction section; 5-part formula

• Data Wrapper: Paste data to quickly create clean scatterplots, choropleth maps, and trend charts for term papers 

• RePEc: Research Papers in Economics; publicly available working papers 

• Project Tier: Organization and documentation guide for reproducible research 

Interactive Economics

• FRED: Free online platform with hundreds of thousands of economic data series

• BLS Inflation Calculator: CPI calculator for the United States (hosted by Bureau of Labor Statistics)

• Census Bureau Quick Facts: Economic statistics for all states & counties (cities with population > 5,000)

• Opportunity Atlas: Interactive map showing children’s economic mobility outcomes by neighborhood 

• FedWatch: Online probability estimator for upcoming FOMC interest rate changes (based on trader expectations)

• Gapminder: Interactive historical charts for economic indicators around the world

• IMF Data Mapper: International Monetary Fund's online interactive mapping tool

• U.S. Debt Clock: Real-time tracking of national & state level debts and economic indicators

• U.S. Census Bureau Population Clock: Population data and estimates for the U.S. and the world

• Fiscal Ship: Interactive policy game - can you balance the federal budget & your political priorities?

Undergraduate Research and Publishing Outlets

• Issues in Political Economy (IPE): Undergraduate research journal in economics, peer-reviewed exclusively for undergraduate work; affiliated with the Eastern Economic Association (great option for econometrics/capstone student submissions)

• The Undergraduate Economic Review (UER): An open-access journal supported by Illinois Wesleyan University 

• The Berkeley Economic Review: Publishes undergrad research articles, policy papers, and empirical senior theses

• The American Economist: Explicit mission to publish quality undergraduate research and faculty-mentored student work (great for co-authored work with faculty & students)

• Journal of Economics and Economic Education Research: Peer-reviewed journal in business & economics; accepts papers co-authored by faculty and undergraduate/graduate students