Main catalog

• Datasets shared by affiliates of the BU Economics Department

Additional data

• A large collection of links to development-related data

Data management

• Tools and information for managing and manipulating data

The Institute for Economic Development (IED) at Boston University maintains the Research Data Network as a catalog and repository of data contributed by faculty and graduate students of Boston University's Department of Economics. Additionally, the Network is linked to other data sources and information helpful to economics researchers. The purpose is to enable wider sharing of existing datasets already collected by faculty and students, in order to facilitate collaborative research or opportunities for subsequent independent work.

Some data listed in the Network's main catalog are stored and maintained by IED directly, while others are maintained by the data's owner. IED makes no guarantees on the accuracy or integrity of the data listed in the Research Data Network. The Network is intended to serve only as a data clearing house for facilitating the sharing of information. Research Data Network users bear all risk and responsibility associated with obtaining and using data listed in the Network.

Access to data maintained by the IED Research Data Network is generally restricted to the BU Economics community because some datasets are licensed only to the Boston University Department of Economics. Further restrictions may apply depending on confidentiality agreements or other intellectual property rights governing the free distribution of a dataset, or if the contributor of a dataset has otherwise specified additional restrictions. For this reason, access granted to datasets from the IED Research Data Network is handled on an individual basis, and individuals who are granted access to a dataset may not distribute it to anyone else.

Gaining access to data in the network

The IED welcomes new submissions to the data network. For information on the submission process, including the various options that contributors have in setting access levels for their submitted data, click here.