Growth and Development Visuals

I love using visuals in our class. Not only because a picture is worth a thousand words, but because our job as economists is to make observation and to try to explore and explain those observations. Visuals make observations easier.

My two favorite sites are the chart feature at Gapminder.org and Our World in Data. 

On the Gapminder site, you can change the variables of analysis by clicking on the down arrow next to the variable name and choosing new variables from the various categories. Be sure to use the time feature at the bottom of the scatter plot. Gapminder has tons of other great stuff including maps and TED talks, so be sure to explore the whole site.

The Our World in Data site is also pretty amazing. Be sure to scroll down on the main page to see the numerous topics that are covered.

Below are some additional visuals and sites that we used in class. 

Here is a world map showing nations economic status according to the World Bank Income Classification scheme (caution, big file)

Easy exchange rate calculations here at xe.com 

Read about The UN Millennium Development goals here

Read about the UN Sustainable Development goals here 

Here is a map of several development indices from The United Nations Development Program

This is a nice graphic showing the composition of different development indices

Here is a list of HDI values by country from the UN

The US Census Bureau has a detailed map showing poverty in the US

Data and graphs pertaining to population growth can be found at the World Bank

The world population clock is fun

The UN gives us populations projections by country

The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland has a great article (with visuals) on the Internal Rate of Return to Education and the College Wage Premium 

National Geographic shows us what the world eats (note the time scroll at the bottom)

Vox.com has a cool visual showing the world's shipping routes

Metrocosm has an amazing visual showing two centuries of immigration to the US

Slate has a visual showing over 300 years of slave trade.

The Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute has good data on SWFs all over the world

The Atlas of Economic Complexity from The Center for International Development at Harvard University has some great visuals, including the composition of exports and imports by country

Here is the World Conflict Map from the Council on Foreign Relations