Research Guides: Economics: ECON 1102

Finding Scholarly Sources

EconLit
Index of journal articles, books, collective volume articles, dissertations, working papers and book reviews from the American Economic Association, with links to full-text when available. JEL Classification System / EconLit Subject Descriptors can be used in Subject searching.
NBER Working Papers
If you're having trouble searching NBER, try searching in Google. Just add site:nber.org at the end of your search terms

Citation chaining is a great way to use one article to find more.

Scopus
An abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature and tools to track, analyze and visualize research in the fields of science, technology, medicine, social sciences and arts and humanities.

Google Scholar
Search the title of your paper in Google Scholar, then click on the cited by number. Once you're on the page with all the citing articles, check the box at the top (under the search box) to "search within citing articles."

Finding News

U.S. Major Dailies
Searches the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, and Los Angeles Times. 1980-present.

The Economist
This weekly news magazine focuses on topic related to economics.
Financial Times (FT.com)
Full-text of the Financial Times website, 1994 - present.

Fact check news items from sources that may be unreliable.

Use the SIFT Method:

1. Stop. Check your emotions.

2. Investigate the source. You can search for the source on Wikipedia to find out more about its reputation, possible conflicts of interest, or past controversies.

3. Find better coverage. It's good to find support for information you plan to share in at least two reputable sources.

4. Trace claims, quotes, and images to their sources.

Wikipedia: Reliable sources
Wikipedia provides this list for their editors that gives some guidance on things to look for when determining whether a source is reliable.

Wikipedia also provides this list that is not authoritative, but can be used as a quick reference for the reputation of a given source:

Wikipedia: Reliable sources/Perennial sources

Finding Data

U.S. Government Data Sources

U.S. Census Data
From the U.S. Census Bureau, includes a wide range of demographic and economic data across time. This platform is best for recent data, if you are looking for older census data, you may consult Bowdoin Library's census research guides.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Data related to employment, compensation, inflation, etc.

Social Explorer
Use tables to find downloadable data.
Current and historical census data and demographic information, national and international. Includes interactive maps 1790-2010, US Census 1790-2010, American Community Survey 2005-2015, FBI Uniform Crime Report 2010-2015, American election results 1912-2016, Religious Congregations and Membership Study (1980 and 2010), Vulcan Project carbon emissions data (2002), US Business Patterns (2014), and County Health Rankings and Roadmaps Program data (2010-2016). International data resources include the United Kingdom Census (2011), Canadian Census (2011), Eurostat (1990, 2000, 2010-2013), World Development Indicators (2013), and Irish religion and population data (1911 and 2001): 1790-Present.

Data.gov
This site provides a wide range of government data. Probably not a place to start, but can be helpful if you know data should be available, but you are not sure where to look for it.

International Data Sources

DataBank from World Bank
Find data from the World Bank member countries, including coverage of World Development Indicators from 1960 to the present. A good source for GDP data.
IMF Data Explorer
Access to macroeconomic and financial data, including International Financial Statistics, Balance of Payments Statistics, Direction of Trade Statistics, and Government Finance Statistics. From the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
ILOstat
From the International Labor Organization. Includes labour market indicators, population and labour force, employment, unemployment and labour underutilization, working time, earnings and labour cost, labour productivity, social protection, safety and health at work, industrial relations, labour migration, and consumer prices. Some data available back to 1969.
OECD Data Explorer
Statistics for Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries and selected non-members. Subjects covered include: agriculture, environment, education, development, finance, health, labor, national accounts, science, demography.
UN Data
United Nations statistical databases. Databases, tables and glossaries containing over 60 million data points cover a wide range of themes including agriculture, crime, education, employment, energy, environment, health, HIV/AIDS, human development, industry, information and communication technology, national accounts, population, refugees, tourism, trade, as well as the Millennium Development Goals indicators. Also provides access to data from other IGOs.
Eurostat
Data from the EU. Includes economic and financial data, demographic data, trade data, etc.

General Data Sources available through the Bowdoin Library

ProQuest Statistical Insight
100,000 U.S. government publications from 1973, state and private sources from 1980, and approximately 2000 documents from international organizations from 1983: 1973-Present.
Sage Data
Statistical data in a wide range of subject areas, with tools for searching, analyzing and visualizing.

This list is by no means exhaustive. It is designed to help you get started. Other data can be found from countries, states, national banks, governmental and non-governmental organizations, etc. Feel free to make an appointment with Linnea Minich if you are having trouble finding the data you are looking for.