I am a junior at Trinity College studying economics. Economics is both a quantitative course and a qualitative course. Meaning that a lot of research is incorporated into my studies, assignments, and projects. For most of my research, I use Google and have recently started to use google scholar. However, an issue with doing so is that a lot of articles may be biased whether from politics or other preferences which can sometimes offer false information. It is also hard to sometimes find exactly what you are looking for as google will provide you with a broad array of different websites. NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research) is a very easy website to use, making research papers, sites, and other information very accessible.
NBER has a very nice homepage. It is easy to navigate and well organized. NBER is a private, nonpartisan organization which means that politics do have much influence on the content being portrayed. You can use it to find many different analyses of major economic issues within a couple of clicks. It is sort of google for economics but simpler. You can easily find what you need through the filters, such as; research, programs, projects, conferences, etc. When clicking on one a list of different subjects within the category shows up from which you can pick from. These range from economics of children to asset pricing to information and research about the Chinese economy.
Another thing I found interesting about NBER is the lectures tab in which there are video lectures of economists who examine current issues involving economic policy and present their newly found research. This stood out to me as I find learning through this is easier than just simply reading it off a random site.
I used this site to conduct research on Covid-19. I clicked on that topic, and it told me how many papers have been written on, it then shows the new findings which have usually been out w within the week with the website of the paper and some information on what it covers. IF one was just to learn about the topic and keep up with current issues, NBER is very helpful. If you are looking for something specific, you can type in the keyword, and then it will list the sites on the keywords you typed it. It will show the title, the beginning of it, and most importantly the date it was published, and the author(s). You can click on the authors’ names, and it will bring you to a page that shows you their qualifications and their work. This is important as you can easily find out whether it is credible and if it is to be trusted.
Overall, I would rate this site a 9/10. It is very easy to find what you need exactly, and easy to navigate through. This also makes it easy to keep up and learn about current issues and you get access to many lectures and credible research papers. You can easily back up the sources and it overall is a great site to use, even if not using it for an assignment or project.