iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Bertha Rohenkohl

Bastian Herre @bastianherre.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

New article by me, @eortizospina.bsky.social, and @lcsrg.me! How elections spread, voting rights expanded, and political competition developed over the last 200 years — and billions of people won more of a say in the important decisions that affect their lives. ourworldindata.org/the-rise-of-...

ourworldindata.org

The rise of electoral democracy

How elections spread, voting rights expanded, and political competition developed around the world over the last two centuries.

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 10/08/2026

📝 New article — 138 million children are in child labor. What does this actually mean? Last year, the United Nations published a report estimating that 138 million children around the world are in child labor. This situation is awful, and it deserves attention.

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Bertha Rohenkohl @bertharohenkohl.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Data on economic inequality has improved a lot, and it's more accessible than ever. But with so many options, it can be hard to know where to start. We've just published a new page with major datasets, charts, and explanations of what they measure and what they don't. Check it out! ⤵️

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 01/06/2026

How do the rights of LGBT+ people vary around the world? 🧵 The first map shows the 38 countries that allow same-sex partners to marry, affirming their right to love and form a family. However, the majority of countries don’t recognize same-sex marriage, or outright ban it.

World map showing where same-sex marriage is legal in 2025.

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Interested in demography? You might like our new tool on @ourworldindata.org which lets you see how changes in fertility rates, life expectancy, and migration rates will change future populations. Have a play! You can even do it continent wide. ourworldindata.org/population-s...

ourworldindata.org

Population tool: how will populations across the world change in the 21st century?

We created an interactive tool that lets you test how changes in fertility rates, life expectancy, and migration rates will change future populations.

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Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Congratulations to the data wizards at @ourworldindata.org who created this elegant tool so you can adjust fertility, mortality & migration rates for any country to see the impact on population sizes & age structures. This is really, really great!! Check it out!! Excellent tool, terrific write up.

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Saloni @scientificdiscovery.dev · 08/05/2026

Write for us! We’re looking for people to write many more pieces for us at Works in Progress – including on the story behind superglue, why there’s no syphilis vaccine, how gas turbines became efficient, and many more in this post. If you or someone you know would be interested, please pitch us :)

worksinprogress.news

More articles we would like to commission

Write for Works in Progress.

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 28/04/2026

What is the most unequal country in South America? It depends on what metric you look at. One way to measure income inequality is to look at the share of all income that goes to the top income earners.

Bar chart of income shares where it compares the share received by the richest 10% and the richest 0.1% across seven countries (Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Uruguay, Argentina) to show concentration of income at the very top. The richest 10% receive about 43% to 63% of income while the richest 0.1% receive about 3% to 22%, with Peru showing the highest 0.1% share. Data source: World Inequality Database (2026). License: CC BY. Income measured before taxes and benefits, based on 2022 data.

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 24/04/2026

📊 Data update: How many people live in poverty around the world, and how has that changed over the last decades? The World Bank's Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP) is one of the primary tools we have for answering these questions.

Stacked area chart of total population living in extreme poverty (below $3 per day) by world region from 1990 to 2026, where global numbers fall from about 2.3 billion in 1990 to under 1 billion in 2026, driven mainly by large declines in East Asia & Pacific and South Asia. Sub-Saharan Africa's count remains high and becomes a larger share of global poverty over time. Data source: Lakner et al. (2025), updated using World Bank PIP in March 2026. License: CC BY.

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Bertha Rohenkohl @bertharohenkohl.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

💰We've updated the data on government spending:

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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Please help share what must be one of the best jobs ever. We are looking for a writer to join @ourworldindata.org to work with our fantastic team including @maxroser.bsky.social and @hannahritchie.bsky.social. £80k - £120k / ideally full time / location flexible ourworldindata.org/hiring-write...

ourworldindata.org

We’re looking for a writer

We’re hiring a writer who can make the world’s largest problems understandable to our large Our World in Data audience.

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Tuna @antea04.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

I'm a data scientist @ourworldindata.org and I need help from a botanist or someone local to Kyoto, Japan! 🌸 We present one of the world’s longest climate records: 1,200 years of peak cherry blossom dates in Kyoto. The researcher who maintained it, Prof. Yasuyuki Aono, sadly passed away last year.

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Bertha Rohenkohl @bertharohenkohl.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Looking to use Claude Code as an applied economist? This excellent series by @paulgp.com covers how to set it up, data analysis and web scraping. Amazing work! Looking forward to the next episodes

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 01/04/2026

Albert Einstein reshaped our understanding of the universe. But what would his chances have been if he'd been born in the Central African Republic, one of the world's poorest countries? And what could the world's poorest children grow up to be if they had his circumstances?

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 01/04/2026

What share of income goes to the richest 1% in your country? How about the richest 10% or 0.1%? How has that changed over time? The World Inequality Database (WID) is the leading source for answering questions about incomes and wealth at the very top of the distribution.

Line chart of the income share of the richest 1% of the population (before taxes and benefits) showing trends from 1974 to 2024 for Chile, India, the USA, France, and Finland. It shows Chile with the highest and most volatile share, peaking above 30 percent, India and the USA rising steadily to about 20 to 25 percent by 2024, and France and Finland remaining lower and comparatively stable around about 5 to 12 percent. The data source is the World Inequality Database (2026). The chart is licensed CC BY to Our World in Data.

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 27/03/2026

How has the world's population changed over the last 12,000 years? What do projections tell us about the rest of this century? We've refreshed four of our most popular static charts that show you answers to these questions, updating them with the latest data from the UN. 🧵

The size of the world population over the long-run.

A line chart of world population from 10,000 BCE to present with a short projected extension into the 21st century. It shows a very slow, nearly flat increase for millennia, a small bump around 2,000 years ago, and a rapid exponential rise after about 1800 leading to roughly 8 billion in 2022. Key labeled milestones: about 4 million in 10,000 BCE; 595 million in 1700; 983 million in 1800; 1.6 billion in 1900; 2 billion in 1927; 3 billion in 1960; 4 billion in 1975; 5 billion in 1987; 6 billion in 1998; 7 billion in 2010; 8 billion in 2022. The chart includes a UN Population Division projection that reaches 9 billion in 2037, 10 billion in 2061, and a peak of about 10.3 billion in 2084 before declining. Annotations note that average growth from 10,000 BCE to 1700 was about 0.04 percent per year and that the mid-14th century Black Death killed between a quarter and a half of the population of Europe.

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 26/03/2026

Outside rich countries, widespread informal work means unemployment rates are low— (This Data Insight was written by @eortizospina.bsky.social.) Last year, three-quarters of the world’s countries had unemployment rates below 10%, according to data from the International Labour Organization.

Horizontal bar chart of the share of workers in informal employment by country (2023) where Madagascar, Angola, India, Bolivia, Peru, and Egypt have very high informal shares of about 96% to 71%, while Norway, Spain, Germany, Italy, and Poland are at the low end around 1.2% to 7.7%.

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 17/03/2026

Argentina was one of the richest countries in the world at the beginning of the 20th century— (This Data Insight was written by @eortizospina.bsky.social.) When I first visited Buenos Aires some years ago, I was struck by how grand the city's historic architecture was.

The 10 countries with the highest GDP per capita in 1910.
Horizontal bar chart ranking countries by estimated GDP per capita in 1910, from highest to lowest: United States $9,600; New Zealand $8,500; Australia $8,300; Switzerland $8,000; United Kingdom $7,700; Canada $6,500; Belgium $6,500; Argentina $6,100; Netherlands $6,000; Denmark $5,900. Data source: Bolt and van Zanden – Maddison Project Database 2023. CC BY. Note: Units correspond to international-$ at 2011 prices. Figures are rounded.

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Reposted by Bertha Rohenkohl

Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 10/03/2026

At the turn of the millennium, 2.2 billion people in the world lived in extreme poverty. In international statistics, this means they survived on less than $3 per day (in today’s money). In the two decades that followed, this number more than halved. You can see this decline in the chart.

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 06/03/2026

Teaching economics or social sciences? Concepts like the unemployment rate or labor force participation can be tricky to explain clearly. Our new Work & Employment page breaks these down with clear explanations and visualizations — all free to download and use in your classes and presentations.

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Bertha Rohenkohl @bertharohenkohl.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

✨ We have a whole new page on Work & Employment stats! ✨

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 02/03/2026

Being unemployed isn’t the same as not having a job — at least when it comes to labor statistics. The map shows unemployment rates around the world in 2025. Let’s see what this number captures — and what it doesn’t 🧵

World map showing the unemployment rate in 2025. The unemployment rate is the share of the labor force without work, but actively looking for a job and available to start soon. Figures are modeled estimates from the International Labour Organization in 2026, via the World Bank. The chart is licensed CC BY to Our World in Data.

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Reposted by Bertha Rohenkohl

Bastian Herre @bastianherre.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

✍️ New article: Tracking historical progress against slavery and forced labor: a long-run data view For much of history, forced labor was widespread and brutal. Tens of millions of people were made to work under the threat of violence or punishment. The situation today is very different.

Slavery and forced labor have become less common over the last 250 years.

Line chart of the number of countries that had not yet abolished large-scale forced labor.

In 1789, 165 of the 174 countries covered had not yet abolished large-scale forced labor. In 2024, it was 9 countries.

Annotations on important cases, such as China, the Soviet Union, and the United States, say more about the history of slavery and forced labor.

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 21/02/2026

Was the global decline of extreme poverty only due to China? The share of the world population living in extreme poverty has never declined as rapidly as in the past three decades.

Extreme poverty fell sharply worldwide – even excluding China.

Line chart of global extreme poverty rate, 1990 to 2025. Extreme poverty is defined as living below the international poverty line of $3 per day; data are adjusted for inflation and differences in living costs between countries. The chart shows global extreme poverty reduced from 43% to 10%, and the series excluding China reduced from 33% to 12%, with the two lines converging by around the mid-2000s and continuing to decline toward 2025. Y axis runs from 0% to 50%; x axis runs from 1990 to 2025. Data source: World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2025); OurWorldInData.org/poverty. License: CC BY.

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 17/02/2026

📊 Explore updated data on global development from the World Bank— How are countries around the world developing — in terms of their economies, infrastructure, technology, energy use, healthcare, education, food production, and much more?

Line chart of national GDP from 1990 to 2024, adjusted for inflation and differences in living costs (purchasing power parity). Key insight: China’s GDP rises steeply and overtakes the United States around the mid-2010s, reaching about $35 trillion by 2024; the United States grows more gradually to about $25 trillion by 2024. India shows strong growth to about $15 trillion by 2024. Russia, Japan, Germany, and Brazil remain much lower, roughly in the $2 trillion to $6 trillion range with small fluctuations. Data sources: Eurostat, OECD, IMF, and World Bank (2026). Note: values expressed in international dollars at 2021 prices. The chart is licensed CC BY to Our World in Data.

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 11/02/2026

📊 Data update: Track measures of poverty beyond income: health, education, and living standards— The experience of poverty goes far beyond having no or low income.

Share of population living in multidimensional poverty.
A choropleth world map showing country-level shares of people deprived across health, education, and living-standards indicators. Caption below the title: "Multidimensional poverty is defined as being deprived in a range of health, education and living standards indicators." Key pattern: high shares are concentrated across much of sub-Saharan Africa, with many countries above 50% and some above 80%; parts of South Asia and a few Pacific countries also show substantial shares, while many higher-income countries are hatched for no data or show low shares. Data source: Alkire et al. (2025) - The Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2025. Note: Estimates based on the most recent household survey data (between 2013 and 2023). A separate dataset is produced to monitor trends over time. CC BY.

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 05/02/2026

The Syrian civil war has killed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions, and caused poor health and widespread poverty— Most of our work on war and peace focuses on the people killed directly in the fighting.

Chart titled "the many costs of the Syrian civil war". It consists of eight small line charts of deaths due to fighting, all deaths, deaths of children under 5, internally displaced people, international refugees, GDP per capita, the share in extreme poverty, and the share undernourished between 2004 and 2024. It shows that the civil war didn't just kill hundreds of thousands due to fighting, but also increased deaths overall (especially those of young children), displaced millions, halved average living standards, and created extreme poverty and widespread undernourishment. Data sources include UCDP, the UN, Eurostat, OECD, IMF, World Bank, and FAO. The chart is licensed CC BY to Our World in Data.

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Bertha Rohenkohl @bertharohenkohl.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

This is a very nice new short series from @voxdev.bsky.social First episode on conditional cash transfers - looking forward to the next ones 🎬

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 13/01/2026

The world dedicates a Poland-sized area of land to producing liquid biofuels such as bioethanol & biodiesel. Is there a more efficient way to generate energy? Putting solar panels on the land used for biofuels, e.g., would produce enough electricity for all cars and trucks worldwide to go electric.

How much energy can be produced on global land currently used for liquid biofuels?

Bar comparison showing energy per year from land currently used for liquid biofuels: Biofuels for transport — 1,400 TWh per year; Solar panels on the same land — 32,000 TWh per year. Side annotations: 31,000 TWh shown for context as the amount of electricity the world generated in 2024; 7,000 TWh per year shown as the amount of electricity the world would need to power all of its cars and trucks if they were electric.

Note: This assumes the world uses 32 million hectares of land to grow crops for liquid biofuels, based on net land use which subtracts land allocated to co-products such as animal feed, and assumes solar PV uses 1 hectare of land per GWh.

Data source: Energy Institute; Cerulogy; Ember; and author calculations. Chart is licensed CC BY to Our World in Data.

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Bertha Rohenkohl @bertharohenkohl.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

Interested in more data like this? My colleagues have just updated many charts and the main page on Global Education! ✨👇

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 31/12/2025

The world as 100 people over the last two centuries

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 15/12/2025

✍️We published a new topic page on medicine and biotechnology— For much of human history, people relied on trial and error to find cures for diseases and health conditions using natural plants and remedies, with little idea of which ingredients worked or why.

A timeline titled "The Golden Age of Antibiotics" shows when each antibiotic drug class was first available for medical use, with example antibiotics labeled. Classes are color-coded by their source: actinomycetes, other bacteria, fungi, or synthetic. Milestones include the first antibiotics (arsphenamines in 1910), as well as the discovery of many actinomycetes-derived antibiotics, such as streptomycin, and sulfonamides, penicillins, and tetracyclines. Data: Hutchings, Truman, Wilkinson (2019). Created by Saloni Dattani for Our World in Data.

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 13/12/2025

In most countries, imports from China account for less than 10% of GDP, even where China is the top partner— China is the top source of imports for many countries.

World choropleth map showing the value of merchandise imports from China divided by gross domestic product, expressed as a percentage for 2024 (services are not included). A shaded scale runs from 0% to 10% with legend ticks at 0%, 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, and 10%; darker shading indicates a larger share. China is marked with a distinct fill and some countries are hatched to indicate no data. Overall pattern: higher shares are concentrated in parts of Southeast Asia, Mongolia and nearby economies, several countries in Africa, and parts of Central and Eastern Europe; North America, much of South America, and Australia show relatively low shares. Data source shown in the footer: IMF (2025); World Bank and OECD national accounts (2025). Licensed CC BY.

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Bertha Rohenkohl @bertharohenkohl.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

🎯 Our Sustainable Development Goals tracker is now up to date!

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 11/12/2025

Ethiopia imports much more from China than it used to, as do many other African countries— China’s central role in merchandise trade is the result of a large change that has taken place in just a few decades. This change has been especially large in Africa and South America.

Stacked area chart showing the share of the total value of merchandise imports from each partner region, expressed as a percentage of total import value, from 1949 to 2024. X axis spans years 1949 to 2024 with decade markers; Y axis runs 0% to 100% with ticks at 20% increments. Legend shows regions: North America, Europe, Oceania, Africa, South America, Asia (excl. China), and China. Data source shown in the footer: International Monetary Fund (2025). Chart credit: Our World in Data. License noted as CC BY.

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Bertha Rohenkohl @bertharohenkohl.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

📍This is a very nice round up: 10 key insights on development economics in 2025, by Oliver at @voxdev.bsky.social

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 09/12/2025

China is the top import partner for most countries in the world— Over the past two decades, China’s role in global trade has expanded substantially. It has become a central hub, particularly through growing relationships with many lower and middle-income countries.

Choropleth world map showing each country shaded by China’s rank as a source of merchandise imports in 2024. Key insight: China is the top import source for many countries across Asia, large parts of Africa, much of South America, and Australia and nearby islands. Legend categories shown are 1st (top source), 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, Not in top 5, and No data; shading intensity corresponds to the rank. Data source: International Monetary Fund (2025). License: CC BY.

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Bertha Rohenkohl @bertharohenkohl.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Just out: ✨ 2025 OWID top of the charts ✨ What is the most viewed, read, shared, downloaded content on @ourworldindata.org ? (link below) Is there any data, topic, or chart you'd like to see featured on OWID next year? Let us know!

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 25/11/2025

📊 Data update: We now show the latest GDP growth projections from the IMF In the spring and fall each year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) publishes its World Economic Outlook. The latest report was published this past October.

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 21/11/2025

📊 Data update: The Penn World Table is an extensive database that helps us understand long-run, global trends in economic growth, working hours, productivity, and living standards. We’ve updated 17 of our charts using the latest release.

A line chart showing productivity, defined as gross domestic product (GDP) per hour of work, for a selection of 10 countries from 1950 to 2023. The data is adjusted for inflation and differences in living costs between countries. At the top of the chart is Denmark, with a productivity of 88.7 $ per hour. At the bottom is Ethiopia, at 4.5 $ per hour. The data source is the Penn World Table (2025). The chart is licensed CC BY to Our World in Data.

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 17/11/2025

In the last decades, the world has made fantastic progress against extreme poverty. In 1990, 2.3 billion people lived in extreme poverty. Since then, the number of extremely poor people has declined by 1.5 *billion* people. 🧵

A stacked area chart showing the total population (split by World Bank region) living in extreme poverty, defined as living below the International Poverty Line of $3 per day. Shown from 1990 to 2025, with World Bank projections from 2026–2040. The data is adjusted for inflation and cost of living differences.

Rapid progress against extreme poverty in recent decades has slowed and is projected to end.

In 1990, 2.3 billion people lived in extreme poverty. Since then, the number of extremely poor people has declined by 1.5 billion people.

The number of people in extreme poverty is projected to decline, from 831 million people in 2025 to 793 million people in 2030. After 2030, the number of extremely poor people is expected to increase.

The data source is Lakner et al (2024), updated using the World Bank PIP (2025). The chart is licensded CC BY to Our World in Data.

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Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham @paulgp.com · 13/11/2025

NBER grants to fund research into economic measurement - I find this agenda very compelling and important #linkoftheday www.nber.org/news/nber-la...

nber.org

NBER Launches Initiative on Economic Measurement

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Bertha Rohenkohl @bertharohenkohl.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

Great to see the new search tool on Our World in Data! It is now *much* easier to find what you want among the thousands of charts and hundreds of datasets we host Really amazed by the colleagues who made this happen ✨

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Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham @paulgp.com · 02/11/2025

Dropping a beta version of this page while everyone is up and processing baseball! This tool lets you search the full text of papers from the American Economic Review, American Economic Journal series, and over 30,000 NBER working papers. paulgp.com/econlit-pipe...

paulgp.com

Economics Literature Search

Full-text search across 15,000+ papers from top economics journals and NBER working papers. Track how empirical methods have evolved over time.

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 28/10/2025

Interested in bite-sized, data-driven insights on the world and how it’s changing? Check out our growing catalog of over 350 Data Insights (DIs) — which we’ve just made easier to explore and discover what matters to you!

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Our World in Data @ourworldindata.org · 09/10/2025

How over- and underrepresented are different causes of death in the media? Another way to visualize this data is to measure how over- or underrepresented each cause is. To do this, we calculate the ratio between a cause’s share of deaths and its share of news articles.

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