Economics Resources

Subject Librarian:
LeRoy LaFleur

Location:
Rush Rhees Library

Email:
llafleur@library.rochester.edu

Phone:
585-275-9354

Office Hours:
By Appointment

	Finding:		Related resources:
	Books and more - do the libraries own it? check Voyager Catalog Databases for Economic Research E-Journals and Handbooks Find Course Resources and Reserves International Economic Information U.S. Economic Information       Federal banking system Working Papers in Economics & Business		Calculators & Converters Comprehensive Web Sites Meetings & Conferences Associations, Departments, Organizations Job Sites for Economics Majors Other Subject Guides to try:       Data and Statistics       Government Information
	Help - tutorials on YouTube:		More Help
	EconLit How to use My account (in Voyager) Don't run around - request it! Interlibrary Loan - if we don't have it, we'll get it for you		DVDs on Economic concepts

Databases for Economic Research

RePEc - IDEAS the world's largest, freely available bibliographic database of work in Economics.
Note: if the record includes the message: "Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers" and you are working at home, I recommend setting up VPN and always using that connection from home. VPN makes it look like you're on campus to our subscription-only resources.

Good background, overview resources
Give these resources a try when you are just starting to explore an idea, need an explanation of a term or concept, or other general research:

Resources for Data

Note: here is a handout on Adjusting Data in the Global Financial Data database.

These and more related databases: Databases for Economics, Databases for Data and Statistics.

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Sources for International Economic Information

Note if you are looking for some data sets or time series to download and work or experiment with, look for the items marked with the icon, or go to the list of Databases for Data & Statistics.

•   Center for International Data at UC Davis - data on US and World imports and export activity, tariffs and trade; a few Asian economic data sets, mostly available for downloading.
• Euro Homepage - maintained by Giancarlo Corsetti at Yale; articles and working papers on the EMU and its currency.
•   European Economy Published two times a year, this journal offers almost 100 time series for the EU-15 countries, plus US and Japan for comparison. Figures are annual, from 1961 to current. Current issues in the Periodical Reading Room, past issues in the 3rd floor stacks, HC241.2.A272
• Foreign Labor Statistics from the (U.S.) Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• International Accounts Data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis; table and PDF formats.
•   International Data Base (IDB) - from the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Current and historical (1950- ) data, mainly demographic; construct your own report and view or download the data.
• International Monetary Fund
  • IMF Country Reports on the web
  • World Economic Outlook Database List
•   Latin American Network Information Center (LANIC)
•   OECD Statistics Portal (see also OECD iLibrary listed with databases above: full subscriber access to all OECD publications and data)
• Penn World Tables - choose and manipulate datasets for 152 countries and 29 subjects.
• United Nations Statistics website
• The World Bank. Many of their publications are available in PDF format, plus information on regions and countries. See also World Development Indicators, listed under databases above.
• The World Factbook from the CIA: very useful compilation of a wide range of current facts and figures, plus maps, for all the countries of the world.
• Haven't found quite the right link? You may also want to try the International sections of the UR Libraries' subject guide to Data and Statistics.

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Sources for U.S. Economic Information

Note if you are looking for data sets or time series to download and work or experiment with, look for the items marked with the icon.

•   Bureau of Economic Analysis - National (GDP and related data), International (BOP and related data), and Regional data.
• Bureau of Labor Statistics
  Quick statistics from the BLS:
  • Consumer Price Index
  • Producer Price Index
  • International Price Indexes
  • Need a historical number or conversion? Try the CPI homepage or the "Calculators & Convertors" section at the end of this page.
• Census Bureau homepage
  Also from the Census:
  • American FactFinder
  • 2007 Economic Census information now on the web (the Economic Census only appears every 5 years)
  • County Business Patterns - useful for finding data on industries, number of establishments, and employment. 
• CRB Commodity Yearbook - our best available source for historical commodity price and production information, e.g. aluminum, corn, gold, lumber, paper, even pork bellies.  Print & CD-ROM: latest edition in Business & Government Information Library HC 14.C73.
•   Current Population Survey homepage
  
  • NBER also offers a selection of historical CPS datasets; some time series going back into the 1960s.
•   Economic Policy Institute's Datazone
•   EconoMagic: The Economic Time Series Page - over 100,000 sets of time series data! The ultimate resource for the "I just need some data" situation.
•   Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) - a vast resource for monetary time series data.
• Federal Reserve System Beige Book - commentary on current economic conditions; the Beige book is a way to tune into current economic trends.
• Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research - ICPSR. A motherlode of social survey data! Massive collection, but be warned: requires knowledge of SAS, SPSS, Stata, or similar statistical package to work with these data sets. This is not the source for a project that's due tomorrow (or even next week!). Suitable for major, in- depth, long-term research.
• Journal of Applied Econometrics Data Archive - data sets associated with the articles published in the journal.
•   NBER Online Economic Data available for downloading
• The New Economy Index - provides "a new set of economic indicators, gathered from existing public and private data, to illustrate fundamental structural changes in the U.S. economy." Site explores what's new about the "new economy", what impact it is having, and what the future holds.
•   Social Science Data on the Net
• Statistical Abstract of the United States; hard copy is available in Rush Rhees stacks.
• Statistical Resources on the Web - Comprehensive Economics

Haven't found quite the right link? You may also want to try the U.S. sections of the UR Libraries' subject guide to Data and Statistics.

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Federal Banking System

Most journals, newsletters, and working papers published by the Federal Reserve Banks (FRBs) are available at their websites.

Links to other U.S. Government sites are listed at the University of Rochester Libraries' Business & Government Information Library website.

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Calculators & Converters

• Multi-purpose Sites
  • How much is that? - Part of the Economic History Services web site, sponsored by the Economic History Association and others. Provides a whole list of calculators concerning the US dollar and British pound; growth rates, GDP, earnings, and financial indicators (interest rates in the US and UK; DJIA daily closing values, 1885-present).
    New!
  • Financial Calculators: Mortgage Loans, Credit Cards and More: CalculatorPlus is a comprehensive source of free online financial calculators; also includes Savings, Retirement, and Business calculators (break even, cash flow, financial ratios, profit margin, etc.)
  • Mortgage and Finance Calculators - "Over 100 Personal Finance Calculators;" a long list of calculator sites for mortgages, home and auto loans/leases, CDs, debit, credit, college savings, taxes, and retirement. Emphasis on mortgages, but plenty for all the other topics as well.
• Currency Converter - current exchange rates
  • XE.com - just a quick, easy currency converter.
• CPI / Inflation
  • Annual Consumer Price Index for the United States, 1774-2008 - CPI time series data.
  • The Inflation Calculator - Use this calculator to adjust any given amount of money, according to the Consumer Price Index, from 1800 to the present.
  • Quick CPI Inflation converter from the BLS. Conversions from 1980-2000.
• Salaries / Cost of Living
  • The Salary Calculator - Use this calculator to compare the cost of living in hundreds of U.S. and international cities. Includes several other tools for figuring relocation costs, etc. Compare to:
  • Cost of Living Comparison - A calculator to compare cost of living between US cities.

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Comprehensive Web Sites/Guides

• Bill Goffe's Resources For Economists On The Internet
• EconLib.org - the Library of Economics and Liberty. A notable new resource: offers full-text of classic economics texts, articles and essays on contemporary topics, a citation generator with choice of formats, reading lists and reviews of material to help you start further research, quote of the day, etc. Lauren F. Landsburg is the editor, Prof. Mark Bils is on the advisory board.
• Liber8 - international, national, and regional resources, commentary, and data from the Research Library of the St. Louis Fed. Includes FRED, International Economic Statistics (IES) database, national economic indicators, etc.

Associations, Organizations...

• American Economic Association
• Economic Departments, Institutes, & Research Centers
• NBER - National Bureau of Economic Research

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  DVDs on Economic Concepts available in the Multimedia Center: