About

Visualizing Economics is an economics web site started in 2006 by Catherine Mulbrandon. At this site, I marry the techniques of information visualization with economic data. At the moment I am focusing (mostly) on US income distribution. If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed to get the latest graphs and maps sent to you as soon as they are posted. Additional, you can check out Visualizing Economics’ ranking on Alexa, gongol.com’s EconDirectory and 26econ.com’s Economics Blog Directory

My Manifesto

I believe design can contribute to public debates by creating information-rich, easy-to-understand graphics revealing the meaning of data without hiding its complexity. While the Internet allows even greater access to economic data than ever before, much of it is hidden in databases, spreadsheets and academic papers. At the same time, the discussion of economics in the media can be confusing and contradictory. Often numbers are quoted out of context, while political agendas distort the presentation of economic data. The goal of this site is to help people who are interested in the subject of economics (but are not experts) to understand and participate in public discussions about economics through data visualizations.

About Me

I am a native of Washington DC. In 1993, I graduated with an AB in Economics from the University of Chicago. During the next eight years, I worked for a financial consulting firm where I mastered Excel and learned about the financial markets.

In 2004, I completed the 2 year Master’s program in Interaction Design at Carnegie Mellon, where I explored information and interaction design in both print and digital pieces. In my Master’s thesis, I created a series of posters presenting data about the United States’ economy. From this project Visualizing Economics.com was born.

After graduation, I moved to Jersey City where by day I work as an interaction designer/information architect while at night (and on weekends) I work on this site. You can take a look at my portfolio or my LinkedIn profile or contact me at catherine[at]visualizingeconomics.com.

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