Economic Guides
Plain-English explanations of the indicators, institutions and cycles behind the charts on this site. Every guide is free, self-contained and written to be read in one sitting.
25 guides · roughly 3 hours of reading in total
Showing 25 of 25 guides
Foundations
How to Read Economic Data
A beginner-friendly introduction to interpreting charts, understanding key indicators, and making sense of the numbers on our platform.
GDP and National Accounts
What GDP measures, why it matters, and how to interpret the different ways economic output is reported.
Understanding Employment Data
What unemployment and employment metrics really measure, their limitations, and how to interpret labor market data across countries.
Emerging vs. Developed Economies
How economists classify countries, why the distinction matters for data interpretation, and what to watch when comparing across income groups.
Human Development & Inequality
Why GDP alone is insufficient, how the Human Development Index captures well-being, what the Gini coefficient reveals about inequality, and how sustainability metrics connect to development.
Money & Policy
Understanding Interest Rates
A guide to how central banks set rates, why they matter, and how to interpret interest rate data on our platform.
How Central Banks Work
The institutions that control monetary policy, their tools, mandates, and how their decisions ripple through the global economy.
Understanding Inflation
What drives price increases, how inflation is measured, and why central banks treat it as a primary policy target.
Understanding Monetary Policy Decisions
How central banks set interest rates, the tools they use beyond rate changes, and why monetary policy decisions ripple through the global economy.
Monetary Policy Regimes Through History
How the rules of money changed from the gold standard to floating rates, quantitative easing, and today’s search for a stable normal.
Currencies and Exchange Rates
How currencies work, what drives exchange rates, and why some currencies dominate global finance while others remain regional.
Cycles & Markets
Economic Cycles Explained
How economies expand and contract, why crises recur, and what frameworks like Dalio’s debt cycles and Reinhart-Rogoff’s crisis patterns teach us.
Real-Time Business Cycle Indicators
How policymakers, investors and businesses use forward-looking data, from the yield curve to PMIs, to gauge where the economy is headed before official recession calls arrive.
Market Cycle Indicators
How valuation ratios, sector behaviour, global timing and the yield curve help locate markets within the recurring rhythm from undervaluation through euphoria, stress and recovery.
Kondratiev Long Waves
Multi-decade super-cycles of technology and finance: Kondratiev’s original idea, the five long waves, Carlota Perez’s refinement, and why the framework still sparks debate.
Minsky’s Financial Instability Hypothesis
Why long stretches of calm in finance can plant the seeds of crisis, how hedge and Ponzi finance differ, and what policymakers watch for when credit runs ahead of the real economy.
Geopolitical Cycles and the Global Economy
How shifts in power, conflict and monetary order interact with macroeconomic cycles, reserve currencies and investment risk.
Trade & Global
Global Trade Explained
How international trade works, what the key indicators measure, and how to interpret trade data on our platform.
Trade Networks & Supply Chains
How international trade connects economies, what trade balances reveal, why supply chain concentration matters, and how to read trade network visualisations.
Debt & Fiscal
Government Debt Explained
What sovereign debt is, how it accumulates, why some countries sustain high debt levels while others default, and how to read debt metrics.
Debt Sustainability Explained
What makes government debt sustainable, how analysts assess fiscal health, and what warning signs indicate a country may be approaching a debt crisis.
Technology
Technology and Innovation Metrics
How nations measure innovation, what R&D and patent data reveal, and how to use our Technology page.
The Digital Economy and AI
How digitisation is reshaping economies, what AI patent data reveals, and how to interpret the metrics of the digital transformation.
Forecasting
Economic Forecasting & Outlook
How economic forecasts are produced, what the IMF World Economic Outlook tells us, and how to interpret projections with appropriate scepticism.
Scenario Analysis & Correlations
How the scenario simulator uses historical correlations to project economic impacts, what correlation means (and does not mean), and how to interpret results responsibly.
Looking for a definition?
The glossary covers both the macroeconomic vocabulary used across these guides and the exact formula, unit and source behind every metric charted on the site.