Economics
From Simmons Library Research Guides
We have selected these resources to help you find relevant information on your research topic. Please contact a librarian for help using the resources listed in this guide or for help with your research process.
Contents |
Reference and Background Information
Search for Reference sources that contain information about your specific research topic here:
You may also consult the resources below for overviews of the topic that you have chosen to research. Use these resources to help you to put your topic in context and give you the big picture of what information exists about your topic. These resources may have bibliographies at the end of each entry that can help further your research.
- The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics
Level 1 Reference HB61 .P17 1987
This dictionary does not just simply define a term -- it explains the terms in great detail, illustrating difficult concepts, and providing additional works for further reference. It also provides an abbreviation chart, and detailed index.
- Critical Dictionary of Global Economics
Level 1 Reference HB61 .R68 1999
This source operates as both a dictionary and primer, putting modern economic theory into a global context. Economic theory is explained through essays and terminology is defined in entries that include graphs and tables.
- Dictionary of Economics
Simmons Eresources
This source provides clear, jargon-free definitions for thousands of economic terms, including up-to-date entries on topics such as e-commerce and the Euro. The dictionary covers all aspects of economic theory, from microeconomics to public finance and international trade with definitions of mathematical and statistical terms widely used in economics, as well as words from related areas such as business and finance.
- The Elgar Companion to Feminist Economics
Level 1 Reference HQ1381 .E44 2000
This volume provides background information, literature, and critiques of economic theories on feminist economics. It is broken into several categories: schools of economic thought, economic fields, policy issues, and institutions of economics. At the end of each of the 99 entries, a bibliography provides further resources for exploration.
- The Penguin Dictionary of Economics / by Graham Bannock
Level 1 Reference & SOM Reference HB61 .B33
This concise and detailed dictionary supports is accessible, wide-ranging and informative, up-to-date, international and practical; and it also contains extensive cross-references. The entries cover general economic terms, economic theory, applied economics, history of economics, and entries on individual economists who have made a definable contribution to contemporary economic thought.
- Value of a Dollar
Level 1 Reference HB235.U6 D47 2005
An excellent resource on the wage and price structure of America, these volumes are statistical summaries that focus on what things cost and how much workers made from 1600 to 2004. They provide comprehensive coverage of nearly every item necessary for everyday life, as well as commodity values, investment data and income opportunities.
Economic Indicators
- Guide to Economic Indicators
Level 1 Reference HC103 .F9 2000
This book is an essential tool for the economics novice - or for the pro who needs a refresher. Explaining most basic features of American economic measures, this volume also advises the reader on where to find statistics of a specific type and provides relevant resources for further study.
- Census Economic Briefing Room
Free Online
A web page with a large collection of different economic statistics, including census information on housing, manufacture and sales. Statistics are available in both Excel and PDF formats.
- IMF Dissemination Standards Bulletin Board (DSBB)
Free Online
Provides key information about economic and financial data disseminated by member countries. Information includes labor market, consumer prices, interest rates, exchange rates, debt, balance of payments, and more than 15 other categories. Also has explanations of how each country measures their data. From the International Monetary Fund.
- Economic Indicators
Simmons Eresources
This monthly compilation is prepared for the Joint Economic Committee by the Council of Economic Advisors and provides economic information on prices, wages, production, business activity, purchasing power, credit, money and Federal finance. Available from 1991 - present via Academic OneFile database.
- Economic Statistics Briefing Room
Free Online
Available on the White House website, the purpose of this service is to provide easy access to current Federal economic indicators. It provides links to information produced by a number of Federal agencies. All of the information included in the Economic Statistics Briefing Room is maintained and updated by the statistical units of those agencies. All the estimates for the indicators presented in the Federal Statistics Briefing Rooms are the most currently available values.
- EIU Country Reports
ON CAMPUS ACCESS ONLY Simmons Eresource
The EIU (Economist Intelligence Unit) is one of the leading publishers of in-depth information on countries world-wide. Country Reports contain background and historical context of current economic and political events, analysis of the infrastructure and major industrial sectors of each economy, and tables of key economic data for the past 5 years. Simmons subscribes to the following 77 Country Reports: Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Coted'Ivoire, Croatia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Namibia, Netherlands, Nigeria, North Korea, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Swaziland, Sweden, SyriaTaiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zambia.
NOTE: Business Source Premier contains full EIU country reports for an additional 100 countries. These reports are one edition older than the EIU site itself. Generally this means reports are about 6 months old, and still quite useful for those countries that we cannot get directly from EIU itself.
- FRASER
Free Online
The Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research (FRASER) is a project by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis to expand on its mission to provide economic information and data to researchers interested in the U.S. economy. On this web site you will find links to scanned images (in Adobe® Acrobat® PDF format) of historical economic statistical publications, releases, and documents.
- International Financial Statistics
Simmons Eresource
The IFS database contains approximately 32,000 time series covering more than 200 countries and areas and includes all series appearing on the IFS Country Pages; exchange rate series for all Fund member countries, plus Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles; major Fund accounts series; and most other world, area, and country series from the IFS World Tables. The IFS database contains time series data from 1948.
- Main Economic Indicators; Principaux Indicateurs économiques
Simmons Eresource
Presented in French and English by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), this resource contains general statistics of use to member countries and the recapitulative tables published in the Organisation's Bulletin of foreign trade statistics.
- National Accounts
Level 1 Reference HC79.I5 O67
This three volume set is a collection of financial accounting statistics for OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries around the world. Volume I provides recent information on the main aggregates for each account, while volumes IIa and IIb give complete national account information. All volumes are written in French and English.
- New England Economic Indicators
Free Online
A monthly publication of the New England Public Policy Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. It provides current and historical economic data for the six states in the first Federal Reserve District (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont), large metropolitan areas in the region, New England as a whole, and the United States.
- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Free Online
An online resource of United States economic statistics, including national, regional, and international data. The website allows the user to create dynamic maps and tables to suit his or her specific needs. Very convenient and intuitive to use.
- World Bank: Countries and Regions
Free Online
Data and research on countries from the World Bank, including national and international statistics, cross-country, cross-sector, thematic research, and analysis of global trends in the world economy.
- World Economy: Historical Statistics
Level 1 Reference HF1359 .M333 2003
This book offers a collection of economic statistics on a global level. Population and GDP statistics for multiple countries are tracked through the last two centuries.
Finding Articles
Below are suggested databases and indexes for articles on the topic that you have chosen to research. These databases include articles from newspapers, magazines and scholarly journals. Articles are shorter and more narrowly focused than books or reference materials so you should use them after you have narrowed your topic.
- EconLit
Simmons Eresources
Provides citations and abstracts for articles in more than 620 journals, books, and the Cambridge University Press Abstracts of Working Papers in Economics (AWPE). Provides citations for dissertations and articles in more than 620 collective volumes per year. Updated monthly.
- EconPapers
Free Online
EconPapers provides access to RePEc, the world's largest collection of on-line Economics working papers, journal articles and software.
- ABI/Inform
Simmons Eresource
Find in-depth coverage of business conditions, trends, corporate strategies and tactics, management techniques, competitive and product information, and a wide variety of other topics from more than 1800 leading business and management publications, most of which are fulltext or page-image. Includes fulltext Wall Street Journal.
Enter your search terms:
Use the Advanced Search for a more precise search:
- Type in a word or phrase in the search box (use the * to truncate; and to link separate concepts;or to group similar concepts)
- Consider selecting a search field name in the drop down menu, or accept "Citation and Abstract" as the default. The most specific search would use the "Subject" field. Other Search Fields include article title, author, company name, personal name, source, SIC code, ticker
- Click an operator (AND, OR, AND NOT, WITHIN 3, PRE/1) to link your search terms
- Specify limits such as Date, full text only, or scholarly/peer reviewed
- Results are available as: citation, full text, text and graphics and/or page image (like a photocopy of article). Articles can be emailed to you.
- Business Source Premier
Simmons Eresource
A comprehensive business periodical database that includes scholarly journals and business periodicals covering topics such as management, economics, finance, accounting, international business and more. BSP provides more than 8,800 full text scholarly publications, some as far back as 1922, such as the Harvard Business Review.
Use the Advanced Search for a more precise search:
- Type in search terms in the Find search box
- group similar concepts in ( ) linked with "or". For example: (women or female or gender)
- Truncate word variants with *. For example: instead of typing (manage or management or managing or manager) just type manag*
- Link separate concepts with "and". For example: (women or female or gender) and (manag* or executiv*)
- Consider selecting a specific "Field" to limit the search. The most specific and generally most accurate is a SU Subject Heading search. Also common TI title, AB abstract, CO company.
- Refine your search with Limits such as: Full Text only, from a specific Journal, Peer Reviewed (more scholarly), Date Published.
- Refine your search with Expanders To search within the entire fulltext of an article, check the "search with within full text articles". To take advantage of the built in thesaurus, check the box "also search for related words"
- Type in search terms in the Find search box
- Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO)
Simmons Eresource
The most comprehensive source for theory and research in international affairs. It publishes a wide range of scholarship that includes working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, proceedings from conferences, books, journals and policy briefs. All sections are updated monthly.
- PAIS
Simmons Eresource
The PAIS International database from CSA contains references to more than 553,300 journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference reports, publications of international agencies, microfiche, Internet material, and more. This resource includes publications from over 120 countries throughout the world. In addition to English, some of the indexed materials are published in French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.
- Social Sciences Index
Simmons E-resource
A database of abstracts and full-text articles from several social science publications. Updated weekly.
- Academic Search Complete
Simmons Eresource
Academic Search Complete is a great place to start your search for both popular and scholarly articles, no matter what your topic is! It contains journals from almost every topic and is designed specifically for academic institutions. It provides more than 5,300 full-text periodicals, 4,400 of which are peer-reviewed journals. This resource also features content as far back as 1865.
- Academic Onefile
Simmons Eresource
Academic Onefile contains 8,000 academic journals, the majority in full-text, available in HTML and PDF formats. In addition it contains hundreds of podcasts and transcripts from NPR, CNN, and the CBC.
- Expanded Academic ASAP
Simmons Eresource
From arts and the humanities to social sciences, science and technology, this database meets research needs across all academic disciplines. Access scholarly journals, news magazines, and newspapers - many with full text and images. Updated daily.
TIP: Use the Advanced Search for a more precise search!
- Social Science Citation Index -- ISI Web of Science
Simmons Eresource
This resource finds article citations and abstracts from almost two thousand scholarly journals related to the social sciences, and the fields that make up the social sciences, such as economics and political science.
Note: Full text of the cited articles is not available through Social Science Citation Index. Click the link that says "Check for Full-Text Availability" to determine if the library has access to the article. Remember, if we do not have the entire article, it can be requested through Interlibrary Loan.
Searching the Web
Simmons librarians have created a customized search engine that allows you to find Economics information on the free web. Use this Economics Google Custom Search Engine box to search all select, quality free web sites at the same time:
You can also go directly to, or bookmark the Economics Google Custom Search Engine
Tips for Searching the Internet:
- Use the advanced search function, which is available from most search engines:
- Google - See also "Advanced Search Tips"
- Ask - Click "Advanced." See also "Advanced Search Tips"
- Live (MSN) - See also "Options"
- Exalead - See also "Exalead FAQ"
- Yahoo! Search
- Limit your search to .edu and .gov sites. These often provide quality research, statistics, and commentary. Sites ending in .org often have good information, too, but are likely to espouse a strong stance or bias on the issues they cover and may not be objective.
- Try Scandoo, which presents search results from Google, Yahoo! Search, or Live (MSN) with an evaluation about the objectivity, credibility, and overall reliability of the site.
- Consider using a directory of pre-screened, annotated sites:
Writing Style and Citation
For more information on style and citation for this discipline, please contact the Simmons College Writing Center
You may also consider consulting these resources:
- Writing Resources
Free Online
The Writing Center provides online resources for citing your research. If you are unsure of which citation style to use, consult your professor and consider the following:- Use APA (American Psychological Association) when your topic is in the Social Sciences
- Use ASA (American Sociological Association) when your topic is in Sociology
- Use MLA (Modern Language Association) when your topic is in the Humanities
- Use Chicago/Turabian when your topic is in Literature, History or the Arts
- Use CSE (Council of Science Editors) when your topic is in the Sciences
- RefWorks
Simmons Eresource
RefWorks is a great program for organizing articles, books, and other materials you need for research. You can also use RefWorks to create bibliographies, create in text citations in your paper (Write-N-Cite), and share your research with others. Access RefWorks from the A-Z list of resources on the library's web page, and then follow the instructions to create your own username and password. We hold RefWorks Clinics throughout the semester. For more information, ask a reference librarian
