Starting Your Research
The following sources can help you identify a topic for your research. Some provide an overview of a specific issue and suggest further readings, which might be useful; others will help you to find definitions of economic terms.
Dictionaries
- A Dictionary of Economics. John Black
[DOCS REF. HB61 .B554 1997]
Covers all aspects of economic theory, from microeconomics to public finance and international trade. Includes mathematical and statistical terms widely used in economics as well as words from related areas such as business and finance.
- Dictionary of Free-Market Economics. [DOCS REF HB61 .F65 1998]
Contains brief, free-market definitions of basic terms and concepts, as well as entries on theories of market economy, biographies of free-market economists, and key terms and concepts.
- The MIT Dictionary of Modern Economics. David W. Pearce, editor. [DOCS REF HB61 .M49 1992]
Contains brief definitions of economic concepts or institutions.
- The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law. Peter Newman, Editor
[LAW LIB. K487.E3 N48 1998]
Includes about 400 lengthy articles, authored by notable scholars, discusses theoretical and empirical work from economics and law.
Encyclopedias - The American Economy: A Historical Encyclopedia. Cynthia Clark, Editor.
"Provides detailed information about the formation and development of economic policy throughout American history and describes its continued importance."
[DOCS REF HC 102 .A66 2003]
- An Encyclopedia of Keynesian Economics. Thomas Cate, editor.
[KNIGHT HB99.7 .E528 1997]
Provides in-depth coverage of the ideas and impact of John Maynard Keynes. The three general categories center on: biographies of economists who contributed to such debates; analysis of Keynes' absolute income hypothesis regarding the psychology governing consumption; and essays on the rise and apparent decline of Keynesian economics.
- Encyclopedia of Political Economy. Phillip Anthony O'Hara.
[DOCS REF. HB61 .E554 2001]
A comprehensive, fully refereed compendium of the main concepts, problems, institutions, schools, and policies associated with political economy. The entries emphasize the application of the principles of political economy to real world problems such as inflation, unemployment, development and financial instability.
- The McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Economics. Douglas Greenwald, editor.
[DOCS REF. HB61 .E55 1994]
A comprehensive reference providing articles on important topics in economics and related fields.
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Finding Books
- UO Library Catalog
Identify books by topic, title or author, you may search by author, title, subject, or keyword.
- Summit, The Orbis Cascade Alliance Union Catalog
Orbis is a consortium of libraries that doubles our collection. You can borrow books not owned by the UO Library by selecting the Request Item option. Orbis works only for books. If you want to request a journal article, you'll need to fill out an interlibrary loan form.
- WorldCat
Worldcat provides access to library catalogs from around the world. The database contains bibliographic records describing books, journals, maps, musical scores, manuscripts, etc.
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Finding Articles
Use the following databases to find articles or analysis on your topic related to economics. (UO access only.)
- Academic Search Premier
Covers a wide range of subjects such as biology, business, eonomics, education, engineering, humanities, physics, psychology, religion & theology, etc. Contains indexing for over 8,200 publications, with full text for nearly 4,650 of those titles. Indexes The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Christian Science Monitor. PDF backfiles to 1975 and searchable cited references are provided for more than 1,000 titles.
- Business Source Premier
Mostly full text. Covers business, management, economics, banking, finance, accounting, and much more.
- EconLit with Full Text
Provides subject indexing and abstracts for the discipline of economics. Includes articles in over 620 journals, chapters in books, and dissertations.
- Global Insight
Advanced Country Analysis and Forecast
Provides economic, political and legal analysis for 203 countries, including comprehensive country reports, five-year forecasts, risk ratings and same-day analysis of events and trends.
- JSTOR: Electronic Journal Archive
A fully searchable electronic database that contains the scanned images of over 100 major research journals in a variety of academic disciplines including business and economics, some of which began publication as early as the 1870s.
- The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal, the financial newspaper of record, is an indispensable source for business professionals, providing business and financial news coverage, personal and company profiles, feature reporting, special reports, and regular columns. The database provides the full-text articles from the Wall Street Journal going back to at least 1986, with some material from earlier years. It includes the entire text of written articles, but no graphs or data, such as stock prices. The Knight Library holds the current issues in paper and retains it until microfilm is received. The microfilm goes back to 1889.
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Web Resources
Journals and Working Papers
University of Oregon Economics Department Working Papers
Working papger published by faculty in the Economic Department.
University of Oregon's Scholars' Bank: Department of Economics
Collections include Uiversity of Oregon Economics Department Working Papers, Honors Theses (Economics), and University of Oregon Index of Economic Indicators.
Economic Journals on the Web (http://www.oswego.edu/%7Eeconomic/journals.htm)
IDEAS (http://ideas.repec.org/)
IDEAS (Internet Documents in Economics Access Service) is the largest bibliographic database dedicated to economics , which provides information on working papers and published research available freely on the Internet. This database is run by the Center for Research on Economic Fluctuations and Employment (CREFE) at the University of Quebec at Montreal.
NEBER (http://www.nber.org/)
"The National Bureau of Economic Research is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization dedicated to promoting a greater understanding of how the economy works. The NBER is committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic community."
RFE: Resources for Economists on the Internet (http://rfe.org/)
Sponsored by the American Economic Association, RFE is a comprehensive web subject directory for economic with a listing of over 1,500 resources on the Internet.
SSRN: Social Science Research Network (http://www.ssrn.com/)
Social Science Research Network is a searchable archive of downloadable research papers in economics and other fields such as accounting, finance, information systems and e-business, legal scholarship, management, marketing, negotiation, social insurance.
Social Science Information Gateway (http://sosig.esrc.bris.ac.uk/economics/)
Provides free access to high quality resources on the Internet. Each resource has been evaluated and categorised by subject specialists based at UK universities.
WebEc: WWW Resources in Economics (http://www.helsinki.fi/WebEc/index.html)
"WebEc is an effort to categorize free information in economics on the WWW."
Economic Analysis
- The Dismal Scientist
Presents a non-technical view of economic data and trends for the U.S., with analysis from corporate and university economists.
- Economic Report of the President [DOCS REF HC 106.5 .A272]
This annual review of the U.S. economy is submitted to the Congress by the Office of the President. The online version is available in PDF formats, with statistical tables in spreadsheet format. The library has the print in Document Center.
- First Union: Economic Commentary
Includes sections on Economic indicator analysis, Weekly economic commentary, Monthly economic forecast, Country reports, Special reports, Regional economics, Consumer Price Index Data Bank, and Economist biographies.
- Morgan Stanley Global Economic Forum
Provides daily commentary on the global economy, especially fiscal and monetary policies, from Morgan Stanley Chief Economist Stephen Roach and other analysts. Registration is required but free.
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Statistics
Social Science Data
- Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (http://www.icpsr.umich.edu)
Provides quick and easy access to a vast archive of data for social science research comunity.
- Lexis-Nexis Statistical (UO Access)
Indexes statistics in government publications, web resources, trade publications, international reports.
- Social Science Data on the Net (http://odwin.ucsd.edu/idata/)
Search or browse a listing of 361 Internet sites of numeric Social Science statistical data, data catalogs, data libraries, social science gateways, addresses and more. This site is developed by the University of California, San Diego.
Census
General Tools
- American FactFinder. Census Bureau tool for accessing data from population and economic censuses.
- Data Sets U.S. Bureau of the Census. Provides direct access to search tools and FTP downloads of data sets for the Decennial Census (1990 and 2000), American Community Survey, Economic Censuses, and Population Estimates.
2000 Census of Population & Housing
1990 Census of Population & Housing
Economic Censuses
Historical Census Data
Economic Data for Oregon
Economic Data for the United States
International
- The Europa World Year Book
[REF KNIGHT D2 .E8 42nd ed. 2001]
Comprehensive listing of international organizations and countries of the world. Includes summary information about the history, economic & government affairs of each country and statistics on economy, demographics, and industry.
- EuroStat The statistical agency of the European Union.
- FAOstat Online databases from the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
- Handbook of International Economic Statistics, 1998 Central Intelligence Agency.
- Office of Trade and Economic Analysis (U.S)
- SourceOECD (UO Access)
Provides access to information produced by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Information includes a variety of statistical databases and the full texts of many OECD books and periodicals, in the fields of economics, labor, energy, social issues, and international trade and development.
- World Bank Data and Statistics
- World Economic Outlook Databases International Monetary Fund.
- World Development Indicators (UO access)
A source for international and economic data for developing countries and emerging markets. Consists of six sections covering: worldview, states and markets, people, global links, economy and environment. Print version at Document Center Reference [DOCS REF CDROM HC 59 .W62]
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Economic Organizations
- American Economics Association (AEA)
Provides information about the AEA, its publications and activities.
- Econometric Society
"An international society for the advancement of economic theory in its relation to statisticsw and mathematics."
- International Monetary Fund (IMF)
IMF is an international organization of 184 member countries. Its web site provides selected statistics, working papers, country reports and other publications.
- National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
NBER is a private, nonprofit research organization. Its web site includes three categories: Publications, Research, and Data.
- Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
An organization of 30 countries working together on issues of economic and social policy. Its web site provides statistics and research, information about the organization, and its activities.
- United Nations Economic and Social Development
Provides statistics, research and other aspects of this area of the UN's efforts.
- The World Bank Group
Includes a wide range of research, data and other information about developing countries.
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Country Research
- Asia Regional Information Center. Asian Development Bank, Australian Agency for International Development. Provides information about the economic performance and prospects of 16 Asian nations.
- Background Notes - U.S. Department of State.
- Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments. Directory of government officials published weekly by the Central Intelligence Agency.
- CIA World Factbook
- Country Development Data, from the World Bank.
- Country Reports on Economic Policy and Trade Practices- U.S. Department of State. (ceased 2002)
- Country Reports on Human Rights Practices- U.S. Department of State.
- Country Studies- Area Handbook Series. Produced by the Library of Congress for the Defense Department.
- Foreign Embassies of Washington, D.C. provides a listing of embassies of foreign governments located in Washington.
- Handbook of International Economic Statistics, 1998 . Central Intelligence Agency.
- InfoNation: A United Nations site that can provide a variety of demographic, social and economic statistics on user-selected countries.
- International Data Base: U.S. Bureau of the Census. Contains statistical tables of demographic, and socio-economic data for 227 countries and areas of the world.
- Nations of the World. Law Library of Congress. Contains links to legal instruments (Constitutions, laws, regulations, etc.) as well as official government sites and general sources of information about each country.
- Statistical Agencies (International): U.S. Bureau of the Census links to the main statistical agencies of various countries.
- Countries and Regions
These profiles from the World Bank Group focus on developing countries, with snapshots of their development progress and more detailed reports of key indicators tracing the trends in social and economic development.
- Library of Congress Country Studies
A series of country studies that describe and analyze the political, economic, social, and national security systems and institutions of a country and examine the inter-relationships of those systems and the ways they are shaped by cultural factors.
- U.S. State Department Country Commercial Guides
"These reports present a comprehensive look at countries' commercial environments. "These guides are divided into areas of Economic Trends and Outlook; Political Environment; Marketing U.S. Products and Services; Leading Sectors for U.S. Exports and Investment; Trade Regulations and Standards; Investment Climate; Trade and Project Financing; and Business Travel.
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