Barnard College Library Research Guide

BC3061: Senior Thesis in Economics

Professor Sonia Pereira

Librarian Jenna Freedman

 
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.

Online Databases | E-Journals | Finding Data | Web Sites | Print Resources| Bibliography Resources

• 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.

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

These resources are also quite wonderful:

America, history and life -- citations for publications related to U.S. and Canadian history.

The American bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies : ABSEES -- Covers North American scholarship on East-Central Europe, Russia, and the former Soviet Union.

Bibliography of Asian studies -- contains more than 545,000 records on all subjects (especially humanities and social sciences) pertaining to East, Southeast, and South Asia published 1971 to the present.

Business & company resource center -- Provides access to a variety of business information, enabling users to research company profiles, brand information, rankings, Investext reports, company histories, chronologies, and industry news and periodicals.

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

China academic journals -- electronic versions of Chinese academic periodicals in literature/history/philosophy, economics/politics/law, and education/social science.

CJKV-English dictionary -- dictionary-database of CJK characters and compounds related to East Asian cultural, political, and intellectual history.

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.

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.

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

Historical abstracts -- bibliographical coverage of the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding the United States and Canada).

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.

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

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

PAIS international -- articles, books, conference proceedings, government documents, book chapters, and statistical directories in the area of public affairs.

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

USA trade online  -- Provides U.S. export and import information on more than 18,000 commodities presented in the Harmonized Tariff Classification System

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.

Eastview universal database of statistical publications -- Covers Russian and English language publications, reports and data sets from State Committee of the Russian Federation on Statistics and the Interstate Statistical Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

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

Economic statistics briefing room -- provides easy access to current Federal economic indicators.

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

Fedstats : the gateway to statistics from over 100 U.S. Federal agencies  -- Gateway to statistics and information produced by more than 100 U.S. government agencies.

International financial statistics -- contains approx. 32,000 time series covering more than 200 countries and areas and includes all series appearing on the IFS country pages

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 #
Europa Yearbooks   Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia     The Europa World Year Book   The Far East and Australasia	DJK1 .E22 JN1 .Eu741 DS1 .F3
Ukraine: a Bibliographic Guide to English-language Publications	DK508.12 W9 1990g
China Today: an Encyclopedia of Life in the People’s Republic	DS777.6 .C49 2005
China Facts & Figures Annual	DS779.15 .C48
St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture	E169.1 .S764 2000
The Economist Guide to Economic Indicators: Making Sense of Economics	HA29 .E28 1998
The Routledge Critical Dictionary of Global Economics	HB61 .R68 1999
The World Economy: Historical Statistics	HF1359 .M333 2003
Routledge Encyclopedia of International Political Economy	HF1359 .R68 2001

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:

• ALEPH for the Jewish Theological Seminary
• BobCatPlus for NYU libraries
• CATNYP for New York Public Library research libraries. NYPL Databases require library card number for access.
• EDUCAT for Teachers’ College Library
• Pegasus for Columbia Law Library
• WorldCat a catalog of catalogs, has holdings from libraries all over the world

USEFUL WEB SITES

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

Barnard and Columbia Subject Guides

• Advertising
• Business and Economics
• Economic and Political Development: Information Resources
• Economic Indicators
• Foreign Press Translations
• Journalism
• Marketing and Advertising
• New York City.   Government Documents
• Politics/Government
• Think Tanks and Policy Centers
• The World Trade Center Attack: the Official Documents
• 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)

Last Modified 9/26/06
Jenna Freedman
Coordinator of Reference Services
Barnard College Library