Barnard College Library Research Guide
BC3061: Senior Thesis in Economics
Professor Kristin Mammen

 

This guide is intended as a starting point in your research; the databases and reference tools listed here are a selective list. Always remember that you can ask for assistance at the Barnard Reference Desk at any point in your research, and you can always request a consultation.


CONTENTS

ONLINE INDEXES AND DATABASES
  • Access these indexes and databases from the Databases (reference works & indexes) list
  • Using an index to find journal articles is a two-step process; first, find citations in the index, and second, click on "e-link" to find the full text online or do a Journal Title search in CLIO to find out which library has the paper version  

These indexes and databases will probably be the best places to start your research:

EconLit -- citations and abstracts for articles in economics periodicals and other publications.

JSTOR -- full-text articles from more than 322 scholarly journals.

LexisNexis Academic -- full-text coverage of general news, business, legal, governmental and other topics.

ProQuest Direct -- full-text, citations, and abstracts from periodicals in many disciplines plus major U.S. newspapers.


These resources are nothing to sneeze at either:

Business Source Premier -- articles, business and industry reports.

CountryWatch -- up-to-date news, data, background briefings, & analysis on every country of the world.

CountryWatch Forecast -- detailed economic forecasts and models for each country of the world.

Dissertation Abstracts (Digital Dissertations) -- citations and abstracts for dissertations and theses covering all academic subjects.

The Economist Intelligence Unit -- EIU publications including Country Reports, regional newsletters, and an economic time series database for 115 countries.

Global Insight (Formerly DRI) -- economic and financial data for U.S. and international economies.

Handbook of International Economic Statistics -- economic statistics for countries of the world.

Handbooks in Economics -- development economics, income distribution, international economics, labor economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, public economics, regional and urban economics, and health economics.

International Bibliography of the Social Sciences -- citations for publications related to the social sciences.

ISI Emerging Markets -- full-text news and financial information from emerging market countries.

JOLIS: Joint World Bank & IMF Libraries Online Catalog -- citations to materials in the Joint World Bank-IMF Libraries.

NBER: National Bureau of Economic Research -- working papers in economics.

United Nations Common Database (UNCDB) -- statistical tables covering many topics for countries worldwide.

WorldTradeLaw.net -- Full texts of the WTO, NAFTA, & GATT agreements, reports, & decisions.

For a more complete list of electronic databases for economics check Columbia's Databases: Business & Economics list.

 

E-JOURNALS

Many scholarly journals are available on the Web. The journal often is included in a searchable collection of journals supplied as a package by the publisher or by another vendor. These collections are included on the list of Databases (Reference Works & Indexes) on the Barnard Library home page. If you have a particular journal that you want to access electronically, enter the title in CLIO, omitting the initial article (a, an, the, la, le, un, etc.). In the Quick Limits box below the Search For field, select Electronic Journals/Magazines/Serials, the click search. If we have an online subscription or database access, one or more links will be provided in the record.

 

FINDING DATA

Columbia: Electronic Data Service -- operated jointly by the Columbia University Libraries and Academic Information Systems (AcIS) to support instruction and research that involve numeric and geo-spatial data resources.

County and City Data Book -- statistical tables on numerous subjects by small geographic areas.

Economagic -- is meant to be a comprehensive site of free, easily available economic time series data useful for economic research, in particular economic forecasting.

EIU Country Data -- statistical and financial data on 115 specific countries of the world.

Resources for Economists on the Internet -- including data; from the American Economic Association, the economists' professional association.  

Statistical Abstract of the United States -- prepared by the chief of the Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department.

See also the statistical reference works cited below in the PRINT RESOURCES section.

 

PRINT RESOURCES

Reference Books
Use for:

  • an overview of a topic
  • background information
  • bibliographies
 TITLE BARNARD REFERENCE
CALL NUMBER
Demographic Yearbook HA17 .D39
The Economist Guide to Economic Indicators: Making Sense of Economics HA29 .E28 1998
International Historical Statistics HA154 .I67 2003
Encyclopedia of Political Economy HB61 .E554 1999
The New Palgrave: a Dictionary of Economics HB61 .N49 1987
The Routledge Critical Dictionary of Global Economics HB61 .R68 1999
The Handbook of Economic Methodology HB131 .H354 1998
World Economic Situation and Prospects HC59.15 .W67
Handbook of United States Economic and Financial Indicators HC106.8 .O47 2000
Handbook of U.S. Labor Statistics : Employment, Earnings, Prices, Productivity, and Other Labor Data HD8051 .A63
The World Economy: Historical Statistics HF1359 .M333 2003
Routledge Encyclopedia of International Political Economy HF1359 .R68 2001
Statistical Record of Women Worldwide HQ1150 .S73 1995
The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics and the Law K487.E3 N48 1998
 Europa Yearbooks
  Africa South of the Sahara
  Central and South-Eastern Europe
  Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia  
  The Europa World Year Book
  The Far East and Australasia 
  The Middle East and North Africa
  South America, Central America and the Caribbean
  South Asia
  Western Europe		   
DT351 .A35
DAW1009 .C437
DJK1 .E22
JN1 .Eu741
DS1 .F3
DS49 .M58
F1408.29 .S68
HC412 .S688
HC240.A1 W4

Searching CLIO
 CLIO (Columbia Libraries Information Online) is the on-line catalog for materials added to the Columbia University Libraries since 1981.  

  • For a title search, leave off the initial article (the, an, le, etc.)
  • For an author search, put last name, then first name
  • For a keyword search, you must use and, or or not between the terms, or quotes for a phrase
  • Only use a uniform title search for anonymous works
  • You can limit to books in the Barnard library using the More Limits or Post Limits options

Other Library Catalogs
Those with Columbia ID have access to the libraries of the Columbia Law School, the Jewish Theological Seminary, Teachers’ College, and Union Theological Seminary, but they are not included in CLIO. CUID also provides access to the libraries of New York University. Anyone who lives, works, or goes to school in New York is entitled to a New York Public Library card. Use the Catalogs list on CU LibraryWeb, or the following links:

 

USEFUL WEB SITES

Course website https://courseworks.columbia.edu/cms/outview/courseenter.cfm?no=ECONX3061_003_2005_3

Barnard and Columbia Subject Guides
Barnard Politics/Government
Barnard/Columbia Women's Studies
Columbia Economic Indicators
Complete list of Columbia guides

ArgMax: Economics News, Data, and Analysis Created by an economics professor at Amherst College, this searchable site provides "economics news, data, and analysis, as well as various other economics related services." The site's main feature, a blog, is searchable and can be browsed both by date and by topic (such as monetary policy, microeconomics, recession). Also includes message boards, a directory of links to economists' Web pages, links to economics news and commentary, and a glossary. (description from http://lii.org)

B&E Datalinks: econ & financial data sources Sponsored by the American Statistical Association, this site is organized into four sections: finance, business datasets, macroeconomics, and labor & general microeconomics. Sections can be searched individually or together.

Bureau of Economic Analysis This U.S. Department of Commerce site provides regional, national, international, and industry data. Results are in a variety of full-text formats (e.g. html, pdf, xls, zip), and methodologies are explained. There's even a site index.

Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy The purpose of this site, which is a companion to a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) series, "is to promote better understanding of globalization, world trade and economic development, including the forces, values, events, and ideas that have shaped the present global economic system." The site features the complete six-hour television program, a timeline from 1911 through 2003, dozens of country reports, material about key individuals, a glossary, links, and more. (description from http://lii.org)

Economic Policy Institute (EPI) Contains discussion, analysis, and links to other sites about current economic matters, including statistics, labor, income, economic snapshots and indicators, opinion pieces, unemployment, foreign trade, and demographics. Searchable. (description from http://lii.org)

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Website of the IMF has articles, reports and working papers, on economic issues, policy analysis, countries and news.

RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) A "collaborative effort of over 100 volunteers in 41 countries to enhance the dissemination of research in economics." The site provides a database of bibliographic records with links to thousands of working papers, journal articles, software components, book and chapter listings, and other resources related to economics. "IDEAS" provides access to the complete database, or browse and search specific database sections. (description from http://lii.org)

World Bank As a provider of economic assistance to more than 100 developing countries, the World Bank coordinates with private, government, multilateral, and non-government organizations to ensure that resources are used to full effect in supporting a country's efforts toward stable, sustainable, and equitable growth. This Web site provides information on health, education, the environment, private sector development, poverty, urban development, gender, and economic reform issues. Includes factual data on the countries that are assisted by the World Bank. Of particular usefulness is the searchable WDS database of the 6,000 plus World Bank publications, select full-text reports, and learning resources for teachers and students. (description from http://lii.org)
 

ENDNOTE

EndNote bibliographic software is available for downloading, free of charge, to all current Barnard and Columbia students from the AcIS software server at http://www.columbia.edu/acis/software/endnote.

EndNote allows you to
  • search for citations in library catalogs and databases using the EndNote software, or export results into EndNote from remote catalogs and databases
  • store the citations in libraries you create within EndNote
  • search through the citations you have stored using keyword searches
  • cite them in papers and bibliographies using any citation format you choose using the EndNote "Cite While You Write" feature

Consult the page EndNote at Columbia for more details, the EndNote Manual (particularly Chapter 3) that is downloaded to your computer along with the program, and the online tipsheets that deal with specific topics.

Last Modified 9/13/04
Jenna Freedman
Coordinator of Reference Services
Barnard College Library