Data and programming books and blogs

A work-in-progress collection of writing on data analysis and visualization. Created for the Data Analytics for Economists courses at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, but all are welcome. Suggestions and corrections are always appreciated (ruhl2@wisc.edu).

Books

• Python for data analysis by Wes McKinney. Recommended text for Econ 570 and Econ 770. A good, short overview of using python and pandas for data work.

• The visual display of quantitative information by Edward Tufte. Recommended text for Econ 570 and Econ 770. A classic study of data visualization. It predates "modern" visualization tools, but the ideas in the book are timeless.

• Storytelling with data by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic. Recommended text for Econ 570 and Econ 770. A practical guide to creating compelling figures.

• An introduction to statistical learning by Gareth M. James, Daniela Witten, Trevor Hastie, and Robert Tibshirani. A math-light introduction to machine learning—whatever that means.

Blogs

• Bad visualizations: The name says it all. h/t A. D'Souza '21

• COMTRADE visualization: Showcases visualizations that use COMTRADE data. Some good stuff and some good examples of overwrought, hard to follow visualizations.

• Fivethirtyeight: Economics, sports politcs...a bit of everything.

• The FRED blog: Short posts on topical economic questions and observations.

• Reddit's data is (are!) beautiful: As much chaff as wheat, but worth an occasional look.

• Storytelling with data: Among other things, a monthly challenge. Give it a try or see what others have done!

• Vizualization catalog: Examples of many different plot types. Not really a blog.

• VizWiz: Makeover Monday, Tableau Tip Tuesday, and Workout Wednesday