Social Sciences & Humanities
Economics & Finance Research: Working Papers, Data and Journals
Economics and finance research runs on working papers before it runs on journals. The National Bureau of Economic Research, founded in 1920, posts roughly 1,200 working papers a year and organises its affiliates into 19 programmes and 13 working groups. SSRN, begun in 1994, and RePEc, begun in 1997 with a precursor from 1993, carry the same early-circulation habit, and the arXiv economics archive, open since September 2017, adds econometrics, general economics and theory classes. Papers are classified with the JEL system maintained by the American Economic Association, which EconLit uses to index the literature.
Publication is concentrated in a small set of journals. The American Economic Review has appeared since 1911, Econometrica since 1933, the Review of Economic Studies since 1933 and the Journal of Political Economy since 1892, while the Journal of Finance, published for the American Finance Association, dates from 1946. Data and code are part of the submission: the AEA publishes a paper only if it is clearly documented and access to the data and code is nonexclusive to the authors,. Field experiments are registered in the AEA RCT Registry, which is free and does not need AEA membership.
Empirical work leans on public and licensed datasets. FRED and its ALFRED vintages serve macroeconomic series through an API, the Penn World Table gives real GDP comparisons for 183 countries, and IPUMS harmonises census and survey microdata. In the United States the National Science Foundation's Economics programme funds individual projects, data collection and Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants. The twelve specialisations linked from this hub take up the sub-fields in turn.
New to the field? What is Economics & Finance? →
Reviewed 5 November 2026 by CASRAI Editorial Board
- NBER about(read 5 November 2026)
- NBER programmes(read 5 November 2026)
- AEA about(read 5 November 2026)
- AEA data and code(read 5 November 2026)
- AEA JEL codes(read 5 November 2026)
- AEA RCT Registry(read 5 November 2026)
- NSF Economics(read 5 November 2026)
- arXiv economics(read 5 November 2026)
- FRED API(read 5 November 2026)
- J-PAL about(read 5 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: RePEc(read 5 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: SSRN(read 5 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: Econometric Society(read 5 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: American Economic Review(read 5 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: Review of Economic Studies(read 5 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: Journal of Political Economy(read 5 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: Journal of Finance(read 5 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: IPUMS(read 5 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: Penn World Table(read 5 November 2026)
- Wikipedia: CRSP(read 5 November 2026)
Field at a glance
Journals
- American Economic Review
- Published by the American Economic Association; first issue March 1911; monthly; AEA Papers and Proceedings carries the annual meeting papers.Website ↗
- Review of Economic Studies
- Founded in 1933; published by Oxford University Press for the Review of Economic Studies Ltd and run by an independent editorial board.Website ↗
- Journal of Political Economy
- Established in 1892; published by the University of Chicago Press for the Department of Economics and Booth School of Business.Website ↗
- Journal of Finance
- Published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Finance Association; established in 1946.Website ↗
Societies
- American Economic Association
- Organised in 1885, incorporated in 1923; more than 17,000 members; publishes EconLit.Website ↗ · Our guide →
- Econometric Society
- Founded 29 December 1930 in Cleveland; publishes Econometrica (from 1933) and the open access Quantitative Economics and Theoretical Economics.Website ↗
- National Bureau of Economic Research
- Private nonprofit founded 1920; about 1,200 working papers a year; best known for its working paper series.Website ↗ · Our guide →
- NBER programmes and working groups
- Lists 19 programmes, including Asset Pricing, Corporate Finance, Monetary Economics and Public Economics, and 13 working groups.Website ↗
- Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)
- Founded 2003 at MIT; reports more than 2,700 completed or ongoing randomized evaluations in over 140 countries.Website ↗
Funders and programmes
- NSF Economics programme (PD 23-1320)
- Funds research projects, data collection and DDRIG dissertation grants; proposals go through Research.gov or Grants.gov under the PAPPG.Website ↗
Archives, facilities and data
- FRED API
- St. Louis Fed API for economic series; includes ALFRED vintage data showing when values were revised.Website ↗
- IPUMS
- Harmonised census and survey microdata at the University of Minnesota; public data free; 365 censuses from 94 countries in IPUMS-International.Website ↗
- Penn World Table
- National-accounts dataset for cross-country real GDP; version 10 covers 183 countries, 1950 to 2019; maintained by UC Davis and Groningen.Website ↗
- AEA RCT Registry
- Free registry for randomized trials in economics and other social sciences; no AEA membership needed.Website ↗ · Our guide →
- CRSP (Center for Research in Security Prices)
- Stock market data provider founded 1960 at the University of Chicago; Morningstar acquired it in February 2026.Website ↗
Standards and formats
- JEL classification system
- AEA classification scheme for economics literature; EconLit uses it to classify articles, dissertations, books and working papers.Website ↗
- AEA data and code policy and Data Editor
- A paper is published only if documented and data and code access is nonexclusive to the authors; Data Editor is Lars Vilhuber.Website ↗ · Our guide →
Preprints and indexes
- RePEc
- Volunteer bibliographic database begun in 1997; services include IDEAS, EconPapers, the Author Service and MPRA.Website ↗
- SSRN
- Founded 1994 by Michael Jensen and Wayne Marr; bought by Elsevier in May 2016.Website ↗ · Our guide →
- arXiv economics archive
- Open since September 2017; classes econ.EM Econometrics, econ.GN General Economics and econ.TH Theoretical Economics.Website ↗ · Our guide →
39 pages across 6 topic areas
Research Methods & Statistics
- AAEA: Agricultural & Applied Economics Association Explained
What AAEA, the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association, is: its journals, annual meeting, sections and awards, and which outlet fits your work.…
- Development Economics: Definition, Scope and Methods
What development economics studies, how to code it (JEL O1), how the World Bank classifies income groups, and the experimental methods behind the fiel…
- Difference-in-Differences: Evidencing Parallel Trends and the Staggered-Adoption Problem
Parallel trends is a counterfactual assumption, not something a pre-trend plot can confirm. This guide sets out what each diagnostic actually establis…
- Economics vs Econometrics: What Is the Difference?Comparison
Economics studies how choices allocate scarce resources; econometrics is the statistical toolkit that tests and measures economic relationships. Side-…
- Endogeneity: The Three Sources, and the Remedy That Matches Each
Endogeneity is three different problems - omitted-variable bias, simultaneity and measurement error - and the remedy that fixes one does nothing for t…
- Finance vs Accounting: What Is the Difference?Comparison
Accounting records and reports what has happened to an organization's money under published standards; finance values money and risk going forward. Th…
- Fuzzy Regression Discontinuity: The Instrumental-Variables Interpretation
Fuzzy RDD explained: why imperfect compliance at the cutoff turns regression discontinuity into an instrumental-variables problem, what LATE it identi…
- Granger Causality: What It Does and Does Not Show
Granger causality tests whether one time series improves prediction of another — a narrower claim than true causation. This guide covers the two main…
- Harmonized System (HS) Codes: Structure, GIRs and HS 2028
Harmonized System (HS) codes explained: chapter-heading-subheading structure, the General Interpretative Rules, national digits and HS 2028.…
- Instrumental Variables: The Three Assumptions and the Weak-Instrument F-Test
The three IV assumptions (relevance, exclusion restriction, exogeneity), what violates each, the first-stage F-statistic and the F>10 weak-instrument…
- OEWS: Occupational Wage Statistics and Formulas
Understand OEWS (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics): mathematical formulas, MB3 estimation, worked wage examples, and APA reporting standard…
- Penn World Table (PWT): Variables, Formulas and Data Guide
Penn World Table 11.0 explained: variable lookup table, per-capita, per-worker and per-hour formulas, and Excel, R and Python code.…
- Regression Analysis: Assumptions, Interpretation, and How to Report It
A practical guide to choosing between linear, logistic, and other regression models, checking each model's assumptions, interpreting coefficients and…
- Regression Discontinuity Design: Bandwidth, Running Variable, and the McCrary Test
A practical guide to regression discontinuity design: sharp vs. fuzzy RD, what makes a running variable valid, the bias-variance trade-off in bandwidt…
- Social Insurance: Definition and How It Works
Social insurance defined per the ILO: contributory, pooled, guaranteed. Compares it with social assistance and worked contribution arithmetic.…
- Synthetic Control Method: Constructing a Weighted Counterfactual for a Single Treated Unit
A synthetic control builds a weighted composite of untreated donor units to serve as a counterfactual for a single treated unit. This guide covers don…
- Total Factor Productivity (TFP): Formula and Solow Residual
Total factor productivity (TFP) explained: the Solow residual formula, a worked example with the arithmetic, BLS assumptions, and Excel, R and Python…
- UN Comtrade: Trade Data, Formulas and Extraction
Learn how to extract UN Comtrade data, calculate merchandise trade balances, reconcile CIF-FOB margins, and analyze bilateral trade mirror flows.…
- What Is Behavioral Economics? Research Areas, Funding, and Career Paths
A comprehensive guide to what behavioral economics is, its core concepts, major subfields, the research funding landscape (NSF, NIH, Russell Sage Foun…
- What Is Econometrics? Research Areas, Funding, and Career Paths
A comprehensive guide to what econometrics is, its major subfields, the funding landscape for econometrics research (NSF Economics and MMS programs, t…
- What Is Economics? Research Areas, Funding, and Career Paths
A comprehensive guide to what economics is, its major subfields, how it developed historically, the funding landscape for economics research (NSF, USD…
- What Is Health Economics? Research Areas, Funding, and Career Paths
A comprehensive guide to what health economics is, its major subfields, the real funding landscape (AHRQ, NIH institutes, NSF, RWJF), core research me…
Research Tools & Software
- Attention Checks on Prolific: Policy, Design, and Rejection Rules
Prolific's exact policy on attention and comprehension checks, the rejection thresholds by study length, how to design a check that meets its fairness…
- Creating Dummy Variables in Stata: i. Factor Notation vs. tabulate, generate()
Two ways to create dummy/indicator variables in Stata — the i. factor-variable operator vs. tabulate, generate() — and when each one is the right tool…
- Kenneth French Data Library: Research Guide
Access the Kenneth French Data Library for empirical finance. Learn how to download Fama-French factors, clean return files, and run regressions in Py…
- MTurk Data Quality: Documented Problems and How Researchers Screen for Them
Bots, VPN-based geographic misrepresentation, and professional "super-workers" are documented MTurk data-quality risks. Here's the published evidence…
- Prolific vs. MTurk: Which Should You Use for Participant Recruitment?Comparison
Prolific enforces a pay floor and built-in demographic pre-screening; MTurk sets no minimum pay and relies on requester-managed Qualifications. Compar…
Scholarly Publishing
- Econometrics Journal: Scope, Metrics & Guide
A comprehensive guide to econometrics journals, covering The Econometrics Journal (RES/OUP) and Journal of Econometrics (Elsevier), metrics, and submi…
- Is Brookings Peer Reviewed? BPEA Guide
Brookings Institution think-tank policy reports are internally vetted rather than peer-reviewed academic papers, whereas its flagship journal, the Bro…
- JEL Codes: AEA Classification System Guide
Understand JEL codes from the American Economic Association. Explore the 20 economics categories, manuscript classification rules, and EconLit indexin…
- RePEc Journal Rankings: Metrics & Top Serials
A research-practice guide to RePEc journal rankings: how simple and recursive impact factors work, who maintains CitEc and LogEc, and how to use IDEAS…
Grants Management & Research Funding
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation: Research Grant Programs (STEM, Economics, Public Understanding of Science)
A grants-office guide to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation: its Science, Economics, STEM Higher Education, and Public Understanding of Science programs,…
- DAAD Scholarships: Research Grants, EPOS & How to Apply
DAAD (Germany’s academic exchange service) is not a single scholarship. This guide breaks down its main research-relevant funding lines -- Research Gr…
- USDA NIFA AFRI: Program Areas and How to Submit
How USDA NIFA AFRI's six Farm Bill priority areas and three funding divisions fit together, plus the step-by-step process for submitting an applicatio…
Scholarly Writing
- How to Write a USDA NIFA AFRI Project Narrative
A structural walkthrough of USDA NIFA's AFRI Project Narrative: required documents, the dual scientific-merit/agricultural-relevance framing, page lim…
- Writing an Economics Job Market Paper: Structure, Narrative Convention, and Norms
What structurally distinguishes an economics job market paper from a working paper or dissertation chapter: the motivation-mechanism-magnitude narrati…
- Writing for an Economics Working-Paper Series: NBER, IZA & CEPR
How NBER, IZA, and CEPR working-paper series work: who can submit, format conventions, and why the working-paper stage matters for dissemination and p…
Research Data Management
- AEA Data and Code Availability Policy: What to Deposit
What the AEA Data and Code Availability Policy requires economics researchers to deposit -- data, code, and a README -- where it goes (the AEA Data an…
- OnTheMap: Census Workforce and Commuting Data Explained
What OnTheMap is, how it relates to LODES files and census-block vintages, its confidentiality limits and how to cite the data.…
