Research guide for
73-270B - Writing for Economists, Spring term 2008
Prof. Rudman
First, some preliminaries:
Economics research
EconLit - the primary resource for locating economics literature, and online version of the Journal of Economic Literature; primarily has abstracts, but you can use the “Get It” feature to find the full text of a document
Academic OneFile – cross-disciplinary database of 3500 journals for academic research
JSTOR - historical collections of important academic journals, including those in economics, finance, marketing, operations research, statistics and management
NBER – working papers and datasets from the National Bureau of Economic Research, the nation's leading nonprofit economic research organization
Economics Section of Social Science Research Network (SSRN) – early research results through working papers and forthcoming papers in either abstract or full-text format
Research Papers in Economics (RePec) – international database of working papers, journal articles and software components
Fed in Print - economic research published by analysts at Federal Reserve banks
Berkeley Electronic Press – articles in the areas of macroeconomics, theoretical economics, and economic analysis and policy
Datasets
World Development Indicators - from the World Bank - datasets for 700+ development indicators, in areas such as finance, communications, the environment, education, labor, health, and economics, for 208 countries and 18 country groups, from 1960 to the present
International Financial Statistics – from the International Monetary Fund - data for major economic aggregates used in economic analysis as well as current data on exchange rates, international liquidity, international banking, currency, interest rates, prices, production, trade, government accounts, and national accounts
Compustat Excel Analytics – company financial data and industry averages, a part of Standard & Poor’s Netadvantage database
Compustat, CRSP, OptionMetrics, and Mergent FISD – vast quantities of data on company financials, securities prices, options, and fixed-income securities, available through Tepper’s subscription to WRDS – requiring a password; see your professor about access
ICPSR Data Sets (Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research) - an archive of social science data for research and instruction, including historical time series of International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Census Bureau, Federal Reserve, and many more
Statistical Abstract of the United States (also in print at the Hunt Reference Desk) - U.S. and international statistics across a broad range of topics - sources listed at the bottom of each table which will lead to more detailed reports on the same topic
NBER – datasets and links from the National Bureau of Economic Research, the nation's leading nonprofit economic research organization
Census Bureau – official US Government site for demographics and business statistics
Consumer Expenditure Survey – continuing studies of the purchasing behavior of US consumers, including data on their expenditures, income, and consumer unit characteristics
Bureau of Labor Statistics – data on employment, wages, productivity, occupations, prices, etc.
Bureau of Economic Analysis – national, international, regional, and industry accounts measures, such as GDP, government expenditures, balance of payments, etc. Federal Reserve Economic Database
Dictionaries for business & economics
The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics - the classic source, in Hunt Reference, HB61 .N49 (newest edition coming soon!)
Quick online dictionaries: Credo Reference; Oxford Reference Online
Cumulative sites:
Links to economic and financial data sources of interest to economists and business statisticians, provided by the Business and Economics (B&E) Statistics Section of the American Statistical Association
Resources for Economists on the Internet – guide sponsored by the American Economic Association, with resources of interest to academic and practicing economists
Citation research
Web of Science – scholarly literature of the sciences, social sciences and the arts & humanities, with the special feature of citation searching: you can take known papers or authors and find all the other papers that cite them, for a comprehensive literature review
Other relevant research sources:
INFORMS PubsOnline provides access to journals published by INFORMS, the professional association for operations research and management science - articles come from the fields of engineering, management, mathematics and psychology
PsycINFO - the premier international database for psychology and related fields, which includes journal articles, book chapters, books, and technical reports, dissertations
Dissertation Abstracts – summaries of dissertations and theses in the English language in all disciplines
Community of Science (COS) - a global registry that searches for funding opportunities for students, academics and professionals, and for the experts working on a particular subject
Company/industry research –
Standard & Poor’s Netadvantage – reports on major industries; Compustat company financial data; detailed stock, bond and mutual fund reports, as well as outlook and trends by S&P equity analysts
Business & Company Resource Center – excellent news and trade journal content, as well as company profiles, company histories, investment reports, and industry surveys
Hoovers Online – basic company and industry background; can make company and competitor lists
MarketLine – detailed research reports on thousands of industries, companies, and many countries.
Mergent Online – best for financial data on international public companies. You can download in Excel, and build customized comparative reports
ProQuest Direct – local, national, and international newspapers, journals and magazines, including the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times - covers management and economics literature in its ABI-INFORM component
Lexis-Nexis Academic – wide-ranging coverage of business news, company information, legal events, international, national and local business news
We’re here to help! Hunt Library Reference Desk: (412) 268-2442; huntref@andrew.cmu.edu