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Research Guides

Political Science

Introduction

The following is a sample of datasets—see our Finding Data Guide for a fuller list.

Datasets

Monthly statistics of international trade = Statistiques mensuelles du commerce international Published also as an online database called:SourceOECD. Shows the value of each member country's exports & imports of services by type of service.

ICPSR ICPSR (Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research) is the world's largest archive of computer-readable social science data. The data resources include but are not limited to surveys of values, attitudes, health, race and religion, political exit polls and voting behavior, data on crime, and consumer income.

International Financial Statistics (IMF) 
Standard source of international statistics compiled by the International Monetary Fund on all aspects of international and domestic finance. It reports, for most countries of the world, current data needed in the analysis of problems of international payments and of inflation and deflation. The Web interface allows subscribers to browse the database, select series of interest, display the selected series in a spreadsheet format, and save the selected series for transfer to other software systems such as Excel. Subscription paid by Student Technology Fee.

World Data Analyst 
Statistical profiles of over 200 countries.

Federal Statistical Research Data Centers (RDCs) are secure computing labs where qualified researchers can conduct approved statistical analysis on non‐public data (“restricted data”).

Baruch College is one of the Centers and fees are waived for all of CUNY. 

Learn more here.

FRED Economic Data - great for a novice, but also good for sophisticated users accessing an array of data sources.

Bureau of Labor Statistics data retrieval tools.

FRASER - a digital library of U.S. economic, financial, and banking history—particularly the history of the Federal Reserve System.

Bank of International Settlements - BIS statistics, compiled in cooperation with central banks and other national authorities, are designed to inform analysis of financial stability, international monetary spillovers and global liquidity.

Federal Reserve Tealbook - Several data sets contain the projections from the Tealbooks (formerly Greenbooks) of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. The Tealbook/Greenbook is produced before each meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. Using an assumption about monetary policy, the Research staff at the Board of Governors prepares projections about how the economy will fare in the future. These projections are made available to the public after a lag of five years.

 

  • Facts on International Relations and Security Trends (FIRST) -- integrated database containing information from research institutes around the world. Coverage includes data on armed conflicts and peace keeping, arms production and trade, military expenditure, armed forces and conventional weapons holding, nuclear weapons, chronology, statistics and other reference data.
  • Gapminder -- a non-profit venture promoting sustainable global development and achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The site includes moving graphics that display development trends by the countries, time periods, and indicators you choose.
  • GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION OF POVERTY The Global Poverty Mapping Project has downloadable poverty data sets and maps. The Poverty Mapping Project is sponsored by CIESIN (The Center for International Earth Science Information Network) at the Earth Institute, Columbia University.
  • Human Development Reports The UN Human Development office publishes global, regional and national human development reports. This webpage provides access to these reports from the most recent back to the mid 1990's. Human Development Report's primary purpose is to assess the state of human development across the globe and provide a critical analysis of a specific theme each year. It combines thematic policy analysis with detailed country data that focus on human well-being, not just economic trends. Selecting the "Statistics" link will get you to the Human Development Indices - a summary composite index that measures a country's average achievements in three basic aspects of human development: longevity, knowledge, and a decent standard of living.
  • International Data Base (IDB) -- maintained by the Bureau of the Census, this database provides demographic data for selected indicators, countries and user-selected regions, and years, population statistics, and summary data, population pyramids and access to more data for a single country.
  • NationMaster -- designed by a web publishing company in Australia, this site gathers statistics from a variety of sources, mostly international agencies, and presents them in an easy-to-use and interesting graphical formats. Links to ads are present but are generally unobtrusive.
  • Princeton Data and Statistical Services  
    Access to many downloadable statistical data, such as Economic Time Series, Census Data, and International Data Sources. There may be some tools that are restricted to Princeton faculty or students.

  • United Nations Statistics Division 
    Collects, analyzes and disseminates a wide range of statistical information to the general public. Includes links to information on statistical methods, links to data and reports, and other sources.

  • Immigration Data Hub 
    Provides access to the latest immigration statistics, maps, and numbers for the United States and other countries.

  • OFFSTATS: Official Statistics on the Web -- The OFFSTATS database provides access to free statistics from official sources on the web. Web links are arranged by country, region or subject. All of the content of the database is held in the public domain and is available through the Internet. Many data are downloadable as text or spreadsheet files.
  • Terrorism and Preparedness Data Resource Center -- TPDRC archives and distributes data collected by government agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and researchers about the nature of intra-domestic and international terrorism incidents, organizations, perpetrators, and victims; governmental and nongovernmental responses to terror, including primary, secondary, and tertiary interventions; and citizen's attitudes towards terrorism, terror incidents, and the response to terror.
  • World Development Report
    "The World Bank's annual World Development Report (WDR) is an invaluable guide to the economic, social and environmental state of the world today. Each year the WDR provides in depth analysis of a specific aspect of development. Past reports have considered such topics as the role of the state, transition economies, labor, infrastructure, health, the environment, and poverty. " 1979- 2008 in print at 330.91724 W9271 FM-3-North. Recent editions on the Web with some exceptions.
  • Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) -- reports aggregate and individual governance indicators for 212 countries and territories over the period 1996–2007, for six dimensions of governance: Voice and Accountability, Political Stability and Absence of Violence, Government Effectiveness, Regulatory Quality, Rule of Law , and Control of Corruption.