About 4Economics

What 4Economics is

4Economics is a purpose-built search platform that helps people working with economics information find relevant, verifiable, and practical content on the public web. It brings together scholarly papers, working papers, institutional reports, central bank publications, news coverage, blogs, datasets, and tools into a single, searchable environment oriented around how economists and applied researchers actually work.

The platform is intended for a broad set of users -- researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, policy analysts, data scientists, instructors, and practitioners -- who need to locate economic theory, empirical work, data, code, and policy commentary without wading through unrelated or noisy results. 4Economics focuses on the domain of economics rather than trying to be a general-purpose search engine: that focus allows us to surface signals and features that matter for macroeconomics, microeconomics, econometrics, and applied economics workflows.

Why we created 4Economics

Searching for economics material often requires different trade-offs than general web search. Users care about methodological details (IV, DiD, RCT), data availability and documentation, replication files, and authoritative outlets such as central bank research or working paper series. General-purpose search engines are excellent at many tasks but can prioritize popularity, social signals, or commercial pages in ways that make it harder to find high-quality economics content quickly.

We created 4Economics to reduce the time spent on discovery and triage. The aim is to make it faster to:

Locate primary materials (academic papers, policy briefs, datasets and replication code);
Identify empirical designs and data sources relevant to a question;
Track policy announcements, GDP releases, CPI updates, and unemployment reports;
Find teaching materials, textbooks, and data visualizations for classroom use;
Compare software, training courses, and data subscriptions when evaluating research tools.

Rather than promising definitive answers, 4Economics is designed to help users discover and evaluate sources efficiently so they can spend more time on analysis, interpretation, and judgment.

How it works -- an overview

4Economics combines multiple technical and editorial approaches to make search results more relevant to economics topics. The system is built around three broad pillars:

1. Indexing multiple public sources

We index information that is publicly available or licensed for indexing. That includes:

Academic repositories and working paper servers (for example, NBER working papers, RePEc listings, and SSRN abstracts where available);
Institutional publications from universities, central banks, ministries of finance, and statistical agencies;
Scholarly journals, preprints, and open access versions of academic papers;
Think tank reports, policy briefs, and institutional working papers;
Economics-focused blogs, commentary, and educational resources;
News feeds covering macro news, financial news, development news, and trade news;
Public data portals and datasets, plus links to replication archives and code repositories.

We do not index private or restricted datasets that are not exposed on the public web or through licensed channels, and we surface clear attribution and links back to original sources so users can access and verify material.

2. Economics-aware ranking and signals

The ranking system prioritizes signals that economists and applied researchers typically find useful, while still respecting recency and editorial relevance. Examples of signals we rely on include:

Citation and reference patterns (citations to and from a document, where available);
Data and code availability -- whether a paper links to datasets, replication files, or data portals;
Author and institutional authority (author affiliations, central bank or university publications, working paper series);
Methodological tags indicating empirical approach (IV, DiD, RCT), theoretical contribution, or policy analysis;
Document type (journal article, working paper, policy brief, dataset, news piece);
Topical signals tuned to economics vocabulary across macroeconomics, microeconomics, labor economics, international trade, development economics and more;
Recency and timeliness for news and announcements (GDP release, CPI updates, unemployment report, interest rate decisions).

The goal is not to replace peer review or scholarly judgment, but to emphasize methodological relevance and traceability so users can prioritize high-quality leads quickly.

3. Proprietary index and AI-assisted tools

On top of the index we apply topic models and AI systems designed to help interpret queries within an economics context. These tools are intended to:

Identify the likely intent of a query (e.g., looking for a dataset vs. looking for a literature summary);
Suggest relevant filters and related searches (e.g., narrow by method, date range, or source type);
Provide short, transparent summaries and highlighted excerpts to help triage results;
Assist with citation search and author search tasks, literature reviews, and topical search across subfields;
Offer interactive support via an economics AI chat that can summarize papers, explain econometric techniques, propose empirical specifications, or point to likely datasets and data portals.

AI responses include references and recommended next steps so users can verify findings and follow primary materials.

Key features and result types you can expect

4Economics combines a variety of result types and interface features aimed at common economics workflows. Typical features include:

Contextual tags and filters: Each result is tagged with labels such as data, methods, policy, forecasting, or theoretical, and you can filter by items like empirical technique (IV, DiD, RCT), document type, or data availability.
Direct links to datasets and replication files: Where available, we provide links to economic datasets, replication code, and data portals so researchers can access underlying materials quickly.
Citation details and related literature: Results include citation metadata and links to working papers, published versions, and related literature to support literature review and citation search.
Specialized search pages: Dedicated pages let you focus on Web (scholarly and institutional content), News (policy announcements, market reaction, macro news), Shopping (books, datasets, services), and Chat (interactive AI assistance).
Time series and event tracking: For economic indicators such as GDP, CPI, inflation, unemployment, interest rate decisions, and fiscal stimulus announcements, we provide context and links to primary releases and central bank commentary.
Data visualization and charting tools: Inline visuals and links to external charting tools help users get a quick view of economic indicators, commodity prices, or labor market trends.
Export and citation tools: Options for exporting citations, saving search results, and building reading lists for literature reviews or course syllabi.

These features are intended to support both quick triage (find the key paper, dataset, or announcement) and deeper research tasks (assemble related work, follow replication files, or prepare a classroom module).

Specialized pages and workflows

The search experience is organized around several specialized pages to match typical economics tasks:

Web search (scholarly & institutional)

Use this page when you want academic papers, working papers, institutional reports, or datasets. Apply filters for source type (NBER, RePEc, university, central bank), method tags (econometrics resources, RCT, DiD), or data availability (replication files, economic datasets). This is also a good place for citation search and author search.

News and policy tracking

The news page aggregates macro news, inflation news, GDP release updates, unemployment report coverage, and policy announcements (interest rate decisions, fiscal stimulus, policy briefs). Results are prioritized for timeliness and source credibility, linking back to central bank research, government statistical releases, and reputable news outlets.

Shopping and procurement

This page collects books, textbooks, data subscriptions, datasets for sale, econometrics software, statistical software, training courses, conference passes, and services that practitioners and institutions commonly evaluate. It's meant to help users make comparisons and find purchase or subscription options, while showing where open access materials are available.

AI chat and interactive help

The economics AI chat is an interactive assistant designed to support common research and teaching tasks: summarize academic papers, generate literature summaries, propose empirical specifications, suggest data sources and portals, help with hypothesis testing and causal inference, or provide guidance on econometric interpretation and model guidance. Each AI interaction includes source references and suggested next steps so users can verify and follow through.

Who benefits and common use cases

4Economics helps a diverse set of users with practical, domain-specific needs. Representative use cases include:

Students: Quickly find textbooks, lecture notes, datasets, and study aids for assignments and thesis research. Use filters to locate classroom-ready materials and code repositories.
Researchers and academics: Perform literature reviews, run citation search and author search, locate replication files, and identify datasets for applied economics and econometric analysis.
Policy analysts and think tanks: Track fiscal policy debates, monetary policy decisions, budget and taxation materials, and policy briefs from central banks and research institutions.
Data scientists and applied economists: Find economic datasets, data portals, APIs, charting tools, and econometrics software to support forecasting, model building, and data visualization.
Educators: Prepare course reading lists, find academic books and case studies, and identify data visualizations and teaching materials for lab sessions and lectures.
Practitioners and vendors: Compare services, datasets for sale, training courses, and software options before procurement.

The common thread is a focus on tasks rather than pure search: find a dataset for regression, identify the consensus on a policy question, locate a classroom case, or compile sources and references for a literature review.

The broader economics ecosystem we index

Economics is a broad field with many sub-disciplines and source types. 4Economics is built to reflect that complexity and to make it easy to navigate across topics such as:

Macroeconomics (economic growth, monetary policy, fiscal policy, GDP, inflation, unemployment, crisis and recovery);
Microeconomics and micro theory (market design, game theory help, cost benefit analysis);
Econometrics and applied econometrics (econometrics resources, statistical software, hypothesis testing, causal inference);
Labor economics (labor market analysis, unemployment reports, wage studies);
International trade and development economics (trade news, development news, international datasets);
Public finance and taxation (budget materials, fiscal stimulus, public finance analysis);
Behavioral economics and experimental methods (RCTs, experimental design, behavioral studies);
Economic history and economic theory (historical datasets, theoretical contributions).

We also surface resources commonly used in research and teaching: NBER working papers, RePEc listings, SSRN preprints, central bank research pages, academic journals, statistical agencies, data portals, and code repositories. Where available we link to economic datasets, replication files, and data visualizations to help users move from discovery to analysis.

Practical tips for better searches

To get the most out of 4Economics, try some of these approaches:

Use method tags to narrow by empirical approach: add terms like "IV", "DiD", "RCT", or "instrumental variables" when you want empirical studies with specific designs.
Include source filters if you want materials from central banks, statistical agencies, or specific repositories (NBER, RePEc, SSRN).
For policy tracking, search terms like "GDP release" or "CPI" together with a country name and date range to find primary releases and commentary.
Try "dataset" or "replication" as part of your query when you need underlying data or code.
Use the AI chat for quick literature summaries or to suggest a list of candidate datasets and data portals; always verify references provided by the assistant against the original sources.
Explore related searches and citation trails to broaden a literature review or discover working papers and subsequent published versions.

Privacy, ethics, and responsible use

We index public and licensed content and provide clear attribution to original sources. Our approach to privacy and ethics includes:

Respecting user privacy and standard data protection practices in the handling of search logs and personalization;
Designing AI outputs to be transparent about sources and limitations and to include references where possible;
Encouraging users to verify model outputs and primary materials before using them for policy or research decisions;
Highlighting whether documents provide data and replication code so users can assess reproducibility.

4Economics is a research and discovery tool -- it is not a substitute for peer review, professional advice, or careful judgment. We avoid giving prescriptive or definitive policy or financial advice and recommend users consult primary materials and qualified experts when decisions require it.

Limitations and what we don't do

To set expectations clearly, here are some limitations to keep in mind:

We do not access private, restricted, or nonpublic datasets unless they have been made publicly available or are licensed for discovery;
We do not guarantee completeness -- new work, especially in preprint form or behind paywalls, may not be immediately available; if you need access to paywalled material, follow the links to publisher pages or institutional repositories and consider inter-library access or contact authors directly;
AI-assisted summaries are designed to aid triage and exploration; they should not be treated as final interpretations or substitutes for careful reading of the full text.

Getting started -- a short checklist

A simple sequence to begin:

Pick a search page based on your task: Web for scholarly material, News for policy updates, Shopping for resources, or Chat for interactive help.
Start with a focused query and add method or source filters (for example, "inflation forecasting VAR central bank" or "education RCT dataset replication").
Review contextual tags and citation metadata to prioritize results for reading.
Follow links to datasets, replication code, or primary releases and export citations or save results for later.
If you need quick synthesis, ask the AI chat for a literature summary or a suggested empirical specification, and then verify the references provided.

How to give feedback or report a problem

We iterate based on user feedback. If you find coverage gaps, a result that needs correction, or have suggestions for new features or filters, please let us know. Our team of search architects and economics specialists reviews feedback and updates indexes, tags, and models accordingly.

For direct contact and support, use the site feedback mechanisms or visit our contact page: Contact Us

Final note

4Economics is designed to make the process of discovery, triage, and access to primary economics materials faster and more focused. Whether you are doing a literature review, tracking the latest fiscal policy or monetary policy announcements, preparing a class, or hunting for a dataset, the platform aims to surface the signals and links that matter -- citations, datasets, replication files, and institutional sources -- while helping you move efficiently from search to analysis.

We encourage you to explore the different search pages, try the AI chat for targeted help, and use the filters to tailor results to your methodology and sources. Always verify findings against the original material and apply scholarly judgment when interpreting results.