One of the major challenges in quantitative social research is finding relevant data. Even with significant advances in electronic searching and sharing, it is often a challenge to locate and obtain appropriate data—if they even exist in the first place. For analytical work on comparative political economy and welfare states, I have found the sources listed below to be useful.

Aggregate Data

• Comparative Welfare States Data Set
• Comparative Political Data Set
• Penn World Table
• OECD Statistics
• World Development Indicators

Aging

• Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE)

Education

• UNESCO Data Centre

Income Inequality

• Luxembourg Income Study (LIS)
• Standardized World Income Inequality Database (SWIID)

Labor and Employers

• ICTWSS: Database on Institutional Characteristics of Trade Unions, Wage Setting, State Intervention and Social Pacts
• ILO LABORSTA
• Union Centralization among Advanced Industrial Societies

Political Parties

• Chapel Hill Expert Survey (CHES)
• Comparative Parties Data Set

Social Attitudes and Values

• European Social Survey (ESS)
• International Social Survey Programme (ISSP)

Social Rights

• Comparative Welfare Entitlements Data Set
• Social Citizenship Indicator Program (SCIP)