Economics Research Guide
Reference Materials

Reference materials provide background or factual information on a topic. Most reference sources reside in the Reference area on the Main Floor of the W.E.B. Du Bois Library (one flight down from the Entrance Floor). Some particularly useful Economics reference sources follow.

General

Abstracts and Indexes

Fed in Print: Economics and Banking Topics (Z7164.F5 F2) *Located on Floor 21.
Cumulative index to all publications of the Federal Reserve Research Departments. Primarily for economics majors.

Index of Economic Articles in Journals and Collective Volumes (Z7164.E2A51) *Located on Floor 21

Bibliographies

Economics Journals and Serials: An Analytical Guide (Z7164.E2 S49 1986)
Provides brief descriptions of hundreds of economics journals. Of interest mostly to graduate students.

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences 1930-1935 (H41.E6)
Classic in the field. Essays of varying length by well-respected scholars.

Fortune Encyclopedia of Economics (Ref HB61 .F67 1993)
1- to 2-page essays provide "a comprehensive yet readable survey of mainstream economic thought...of interest to economists and non-economists."

McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Economics (Ref HB61 .E55 1994)
2- to 3-page essays for economics majors and graduate students.

The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics (Ref HB61 .N49 1991)
Aimed at economics majors and graduate students. Contains many biographical entries.

Survey of Social Science. Economics Series (Ref HB61 .S94 1991)
Five-volume set has 5- to 6-page essays and bibliographies for the undergraduate and graduate levels, both majors and non-majors.

Research Guides

Finding & Using Economic Information: A Guide to Sources and Interpretation (Ref HC106 .J63 1993)
Excellent introduction primarily for majors just starting out.

Guide to Economic Indicators (At Ref Desk HC103 .F9 2000)
Gives 2- to 3-paragraph explanations of a whole range of statistical data. For majors and non-majors.

One Hundred Years of Economic Statistics: United Kingdom, United States of America, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden (Ref HC106 .L68 1989)
Unemployment, trade, inflation, national deficits, all compiled in one volume. Excellent for non-majors as well as majors.

Topic Specific

Finance

Banking and Monetary Statistics, 1941-1970 (Ref HG2493 .U54 1976a)
Cumulation of Federal Reserve banks annual reports in one convenient volume.

International Economics

Global Development: A Reference Handbook (Ref HC59.7 .S283 1995)
Contains articles and statistics for both the economics major and the non-major.

Routledge Critical Dictionary of Global Economics (Ref HB61 .R68 1999)
Provides "a useful grounding in main concepts, and an excursion into current thinking by economists."

Labor Economics

Handbook of US Labor Statistics (Ref HD8051.A63)
Employment, earnings, prices, productivity, and other labor data. Important statistics from many sources covering recent years, all in one place.

North American Labor Markets: A Comparative Profile (HD5724 .S678 1997)
Tracks N.A.F.T.A. developments.

Political Economy

Routledge Encyclopedia of International Political Economy (Ref HF1359 .R68 2001)
1- to 2-page essays on various topics for both the newcomer and the experienced student.

Socialism-Marxism

A Dictionary of Marxist Thought (Ref HX17 .D5 1991)
Many entries aimed at the beginning student. However, some material assumes previous knowledge of the vocabulary.

Historical Dictionary of Socialism (Ref HX17 .D63 1997)
Brief entries (2-3 paragraphs) for the new student.