Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
The most common questions about EcoData — the economic and financial data platform for research and publication. Each answer is written concisely, with a definition and context.
What is EcoData and who is it for?
EcoData is an economic and financial data platform for research and publication. It aggregates, cleans, and standardizes international macroeconomic data together with Vietnam official statistics, ready for analysis and publishing. Its main audience is lecturers, researchers, graduate students, and economic analysts.
Which sources does EcoData aggregate data from?
International macroeconomic data comes from the World Bank, IMF, ADB, UN, FRED, OECD, ILO, Eurostat, FAO, WTO, and UNCTAD. Vietnam data comes from the General Statistics Office (GSO), the General Department of Vietnam Customs, the Ministry of Finance, governance surveys (PCI, PAPI, PAR, SIPAS, ICT), and microdata sets (VHLSS, VARHS, VES).
What Vietnam data does EcoData include?
It covers five main groups: official GSO statistics (statistical yearbooks, socio-economic reports, national and provincial figures); Customs import-export data by commodity, partner country, province, and transport mode; provincial governance surveys (PCI, PAPI, PAR, SIPAS, ICT); household microdata (VHLSS, VARHS, VES); and stock-market data (prices, financial statements, corporate events).
How is EcoData different from downloading directly from the World Bank, IMF, or GSO?
EcoData unifies many disparate sources into a single, consistent panel/time-series format that is already cleaned, with standardized indicator names (short codes) and metadata. Users save time on collecting, reconciling, and standardizing data, and get datasets ready to feed straight into econometric models instead of processing each source manually.
What export formats are available and are there any limits?
Data can be exported to CSV, Excel (XLSX), and JSON, with metadata. Each subscription tier has a different daily export quota; previewing data and browsing the catalogue are free. See the "Data Export" page for details on formats and per-tier limits.
Does EcoData support econometric analysis and exporting Stata/R/Python code?
Yes. The integrated Econometrics tool lets you prepare data, estimate, and test many models (OLS, WLS, GLS, panel, VAR, ARIMA, Logit, Probit, and other estimators), present result tables in citation style, and export complete code that runs directly in Stata, R, or Python to reproduce the entire workflow.
Does the data come with metadata and citations for reproducible research?
Yes. Every exported dataset comes with metadata (definition, unit, frequency, provenance) and standardized short codes, helping users cite sources and reproduce their results transparently.
Does EcoData have an English interface? Is it free?
EcoData is bilingual in Vietnamese and English. Browsing the catalogue and previewing data are free; exporting full data and using some advanced features (Survey datasets, AI Chat) require a subscription billed monthly, every 6 months, yearly, or lifetime.