Economic research platforms provide essential data, analytics, and insights into macroeconomic trends, policy developments, and global economic conditions. This category examines specialized resources that enable financial professionals to monitor economic indicators, analyze monetary policy, and incorporate macroeconomic perspectives into investment and business decisions.
Our evaluations focus on data quality, analytical tools, forecasting capabilities, and content depth. We assess each platform's effectiveness for different professional roles including economists, strategists, portfolio managers, and business planners seeking reliable economic intelligence.
Featured Review: Comprehensive Economic Intelligence Platforms
Professional Economic Research and Forecasting Solutions
Comprehensive economic intelligence platforms integrate data, analytics, and expert insights to support sophisticated macroeconomic analysis and forecasting. This review evaluates leading solutions that provide the breadth and depth of economic content required by professional economists and financial analysts.
Our analysis compares Moody's Analytics, Oxford Economics, IHS Markit (S&P Global), The Economist Intelligence Unit, and FocusEconomics. The assessment examines data coverage, forecasting methodologies, analytical tools, and integration capabilities for different professional applications.
Key Findings
- Moody's Analytics provides the most comprehensive platform with exceptional forecasting models and scenario analysis capabilities
- Oxford Economics offers superior global coverage with the strongest country-level models and industry-specific forecasts
- The Economist Intelligence Unit delivers the strongest policy analysis and geopolitical risk integration
- Pricing varies significantly based on user count, data breadth, and model access, with total costs scaling substantially for enterprise-wide deployments
Central Bank Resources
Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED)
The St. Louis Fed's FRED platform provides exceptional economic data access with over 800,000 time series. The service offers powerful charting tools, API access, and comprehensive U.S. economic indicators with strong international coverage and exceptional data visualization capabilities.
Read ReviewECB Statistical Data Warehouse
The European Central Bank's Statistical Data Warehouse provides comprehensive euro area and EU economic statistics. The platform offers extensive monetary, financial, and macroeconomic data with strong visualization tools and data export capabilities for European economic analysis.
Read ReviewBank of England Interactive Database
The Bank of England's Interactive Database provides comprehensive UK economic and financial data. The system offers extensive monetary statistics, interest rate data, and financial stability indicators with strong historical coverage and analytical tools for UK economic research.
Read ReviewBank of Japan Statistics
The Bank of Japan Statistics platform delivers comprehensive Japanese economic and financial data. The service provides extensive monetary statistics, flow of funds accounts, and price indicators with strong historical series and export functionality for Japanese economic analysis.
Read ReviewEconomic Forecasting Tools
Moody's Analytics Economic Forecasts
Moody's Analytics provides sophisticated economic forecasting with exceptional scenario analysis capabilities. The platform offers comprehensive macroeconomic projections, alternative scenarios, and customizable models with strong integration to credit risk and stress testing applications.
Read ReviewOxford Economics Global Economic Model
Oxford Economics delivers a comprehensive global forecasting framework with exceptional country coverage. The system provides integrated country, industry, and city-level forecasts with sophisticated modeling tools and scenario analysis capabilities for global economic research.
Read ReviewIHS Markit Global Link Model
IHS Markit (now part of S&P Global) provides integrated economic and industry forecasting. The platform offers strong links between macroeconomic models and industry projections with exceptional scenario generation and risk analysis for strategic planning and investment applications.
Read ReviewThe Conference Board Economic Outlook
The Conference Board provides specialized business cycle forecasting and economic indicators. The service offers leading, coincident, and lagging indicators with strong cyclical analysis and business applications for corporate planning and investment strategy.
Read ReviewEconomic Indicators & Monitoring
Trading Economics
Trading Economics provides comprehensive economic indicators for 196 countries with exceptional data breadth. The platform offers economic calendars, data visualization, and historical series with strong alerting capabilities and API access for systematic economic monitoring.
Read ReviewBloomberg Economics
Bloomberg Economics delivers integrated economic data and analysis within the Bloomberg Terminal ecosystem. The service provides economic indicators, nowcasting, and proprietary analytics with exceptional data visualization and research content for financial professionals.
Read ReviewEconoday
Econoday specializes in economic event calendars and indicator analysis. The platform provides comprehensive release schedules, consensus estimates, and analytical commentary with strong historical data and market impact assessment for economic release monitoring.
Read ReviewCEIC Data
CEIC Data offers exceptional coverage of emerging market economic indicators. The service provides comprehensive macroeconomic and sector data with strong coverage of Asian economies and primary-source data collection for global economic research and analysis.
Read ReviewInternational Economic Organizations
OECD Data
The OECD Data platform provides comprehensive economic statistics across developed economies. The service offers exceptional data visualization, country comparisons, and structural indicators with strong research integration and policy analysis for economic research applications.
Read ReviewWorld Bank Open Data
World Bank Open Data provides comprehensive global development indicators and economic statistics. The platform offers extensive country data, visualization tools, and API access with exceptional historical coverage and global scope for international economic analysis.
Read ReviewIMF Data
IMF Data delivers specialized macroeconomic and financial statistics with global coverage. The system provides balance of payments data, government finance statistics, and international reserves with strong methodological consistency and cross-country comparability.
Read ReviewUN Comtrade
UN Comtrade offers comprehensive international trade statistics with exceptional historical and country coverage. The platform provides detailed import/export data, partner country analysis, and commodity breakdowns with powerful data extraction and visualization tools.
Read ReviewEconomic Research Platform Comparison
| Platform | Core Strength | Data Coverage | Forecasting | Analysis Tools | Research Content | Integration | Pricing Tier | Overall Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moody's Analytics | Modeling | Excellent | Excellent | Excellent | Very Good | Excellent | Premium ($$$$$) | 95/100 |
| FRED | U.S. Data | Excellent | None | Very Good | Limited | Excellent | Free | 96/100 |
| Oxford Economics | Global Models | Excellent | Excellent | Very Good | Excellent | Very Good | Premium ($$$$) | 94/100 |
| OECD Data | Comparative | Very Good | Good | Very Good | Excellent | Very Good | Free | 94/100 |
| Trading Economics | Breadth | Excellent | Good | Very Good | Good | Very Good | Moderate ($$$) | 93/100 |
| IHS Markit | Industry | Very Good | Excellent | Very Good | Very Good | Excellent | Premium ($$$$$) | 93/100 |
| EIU | Analysis | Very Good | Very Good | Good | Excellent | Good | Premium ($$$$) | 91/100 |
Methodology: Platforms are evaluated across 50+ criteria including data quality, forecasting methodology, analytical capabilities, and content depth. Ratings reflect value for professional economists, strategists, and financial analysts.