R is a coding language similar to Python that is used for statistical analysis and is a vital skill in most economics research positions.
The first part of learning R is the installation of R.
Here’s the link for the download. In the R program, there is a fairly in-depth tutorial walking you through how to get started. After downloading and installing the program, I suggest running through the tutorial. It shows you a lot of where tools are, how to create files, and other utility things like that.
There are a few different introductory tutorials to R online(which I will link below):
John’s Hopkins This specific program is free unless you want to pay for a proof of completion certificate.
There are many other online courses that go through similar lesson plans, but these seem to be the most comprehensive. The youtube tutorial is a less hands-on approach but can be used to hear someone explain topics out loud. The John’s Hopkins course is the most professional and in-depth, and it also includes instructions to use Swirl. Swirl is an interactive tutorial within R Studio.
Data Camp can be a great resource to ask more specified questions and can be used to learn other skills, such as how to use GitHub. GitHub is a website used to share code and can be a great place to post your progress. GitHub accounts can be made public and shared, sometimes used as a portfolio on job applications.
Another good resource is Data Wrangling for Economists, especially chapters 2, 5, 6, and 7. A concept introduced in Chapter 5 called “The Pipe” is a great way to code in R.