LibGuides: Political Science 194H (Carey, Spring 2025): Data Sources

Finding & Using Data Guide

Finding & Using Data Library Guide
Comprehensive guide for finding data and support services at UC Merced

Selected Data Resources

Data Citation Index (Web of Science)
1900 - present. Supports data discovery, reuse, and interpretation. Provides access to datasets in multiple repositories from a single destination.

Data.Gov
U.S. Government’s open data resource including
resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, and design data visualizations.
Havard Dataverse Network
A collection of datasets and data collections, on topics such as political competitiveness in post-war Latin America, the effect of IMF programs on government spending, manifestos of regional political parties and ideology scores of state legislators and perceptions of electoral integrity, organizations such as development NGOs, groups such as networks of economists at different universities, and replication archives for academic journals.

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
A data archive of more than 500,000 files of research in the social sciences. It hosts 16 specialized collections of data in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and other fields.

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
NBER provides a data archive that covers topics such as cross-national technology adoption, manufacturing productivity, financial openness and exchange rate regimes, and economic policy uncertainty.

Statistical Abstract of the U.S.
Provides access to authoritative and comprehensive statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the United States.
TRACFed (Syracuse University)
Access to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) statistical data drawn from public records, FOIA requests, and other sources related to the operation of federal government. Via Syracuse University.

Northwestern Libraries: Social Science Data Resources
Resources broken down into topic areas such as Community Studies, Crime and Justice, Health and Heath Care, Religion, etc. Some resources not available through UC Merced.

International Focus

ForeignAssistance.gov
U.S. Government foreign aid site, containing data for over 300 country development indicators.
International Monetary Fund Data
National and international financial data from the International Financial Statistics, Government Finance Statistics, Direction of Trade Statistics, Balance of Payments, Exchange Rates, and more.

OECD
Statistical data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), including country studies, forecasting publications, reports, and socioeconomic datasets.

Our World in Data
Our World in Data is an online publication from University of Oxford that shows how living conditions are changing. The aim is to give a global overview and to show changes over the very long run, so that we can see where we are coming from and where we are today.
United Nations Data
This data portal combines 34 databases that cover agriculture, employment, education, energy, environment, health, human development, industry, population, refugees, trade, tourism, and more. Includes access to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Database.
United Nations Research Guides
Research guides on all major topics the UN addresses: from development and peace and security to happiness.

World Bank Worldwide Indicators
World Bank provides global statistical data in support of research and the understanding of global issues.

EuroStat
Statistical office of the European Union containing a wide range of statistics for EU member states and selected non-member countries.
World Bank Open Data
Free access to global development data across a large range of indicators. Use the Databank tool to create data visualizations.

Best Bets for Demographics (US & International)

Data.census.gov
The Census Bureau is the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy. After July 1, 2019, all new data (previously released on American FactFinder) is released on this new data platform.
International Statistical Agencies: US Census Bureau
Comprehensive list of direct links to international statistics and census agencies.

IPUMS International
1960 - present. Provides access to the world's largest collection of publicly available individual-level census data and source documents from 1960 forward. Free registration required to view and download data.
Statistical Abstract of the U.S.
Provides access to authoritative and comprehensive statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the United States.

United Nations: Demographic Yearbook
The United Nations Demographic Yearbook collects, compiles and disseminates official statistics on a wide range of topics, collected from national statistical authorities since 1948 through a set of questionnaires dispatched annually to over 230 national statistical offices.
US Census Bureau
US gov. census website; includes online tools to access and compare basic demographic data across most countries, dating back to 1950 if available.
World Bank: Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) International
Publicly available IPUMS data including census questionnaires, technical documents and reports that describe the survey process and the key results. Dating back to 1960, if available.

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