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Economics research guide

Preliminaries - Library Services

Databases:

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 the Wharton Research Data Service.

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 and encyclopedias for economics

Concise Encyclopedia of Economics - articles on all basic aspects of economics by over 150 top economists, with over 80 biographies of famous economists, and many tables and charts illustrating economics in action.

The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics - the classic source in 8 volumes online, and also in print in Hunt Reference, HB61 .N49 2008 

Quick online dictionaries: Credo Reference; Oxford Reference Online

Cumulative sites:

Data sources from the Econometrics Journal - as well as articles, books, jobs, conferences, etc.

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

Questions?
Contact the librarians: