Back to Resources for Majors and Courses
Link to print-friendly version
E/M 280: Public Finance
This guide will point out places to find research by economists as well as public information about state and federal budgeting. Don't hesitate to ask a librarian for help - that's what we're there for. If you're not in the library, try our chat reference service, or send e-mail to me. I'll respond as quickly as possible.
Table of Contents:
Finding research and analysis by economists
- EconLit
The EconLit database, produced by the Journal of Economic Literature, includes subject indexing and abstracts to 685 journals, books, dissertations, and working papers in the field of economics and allied disciplines. This is the most important source of economics research. To make the most of your search, scan the headings at the bottom of anything that looks interesting - they are hotlinked categories that may produce additional relevant articles.
1969-present; updated monthly
- Social Sciences Citation Index
To search this enormous interdisciplinary database, first limit your search to the social sciences. One uniquely useful feature of this tool is that you can search by "cited reference," which means you can plug in the name of an economist and the year he or she published an influential paper and find out who has cited it since it was published. Though the interface is not easy to use, it can be a neat supplement to EconLit.
1997-present; updated weekly
- Google Scholar
This search engine points toward scholarly research rather than all Web-based sources. It is stronger in the sciences than in the humanities, with social sciences somewhere in between. One interesting feature of Google Scholar is that in includes a link to sources that cite a particular item. If you are using Google Scholar on campus, you will find articles available through the library's subscription databases linked, but those links don't appear off-campus. Not all of the articles in Google Scholar are free; the library can obtain many of them for you through interlibrary loan.
- Obtaining the Actual Articles
By clicking on the yellow "find it" button, you can check to see if an article that you're interested in is in our library, either in full text or in print. A third option available is to fill out a form to request it from another library - ILL or Interlibrary Loan. This takes a few days and usually results in your receiving an e-mail with a URL and pin number to retrieve your article from a web server.
NOTE: Many economists are making their articles available online through their own webpages or through online depositories such as SSRN. BEFORE you fill out an interlibrary loan form, copy and paste the title of the article right into a Google search. You may be able to find a copy immediately.
Finding current news
- LexisNexis Academic
Search current news, business information (including business news and corporate financials), and legal news, research, cases, and laws.
varies by title; mostly 1980s-present
- ProQuest Newsstand
This newspaper index provides full text of current major newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal (not included in LexisNexis).
1986-present (most from 1995 on)
Federal budget information
- Budget of the United States Government
United States. Government Printing Office
Prepared by the OMB, the budget includes the budget message of the president, information on the White House's priorities, and budget overviews organized by agency, along with a volume of analytical perspectives, historical tables, and an appendix.
- Economic Report of the President
2007
Prepared annually by the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, this publication explains the rationale for the president's budget submitted to Congress. Of particular interest are the tables that cover income, production, and employment in time series. The report is available in PDF format (1995 to the present).
1995-
- U.S. Congressional Budget Office
Offers material compiled by a non-partisan office for congressional decision-making. Includes federal budget analysis, economic outlook, analysis of specific topics on housing, health, education, national security, telecommunications, and more.
State budget information
Other government sources for statistics
- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
From the Department of Commerce. Offers regional, national, and international economic data. Includes working papers, surveys of current business, and interactive data tables.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Offers statistics on consumer price, employment, wages, inflation, productivity, the U.S. economy, etc. This is a gold mine of current statistical data and reports covering consumer spending, employment, wages, productivity, occupations, international trade, and industries. Also shows "The U.S. Economy at a Glance."
- U.S. Government Accountability Office
An excellent source of non-partisan in-depth analysis of issues from textbook prices to the cost of disaster relief. This congressional service provides "oversight of federal programs; insight into ways to make government more efficient, effective, ethical and equitable; and foresight of long-term trends and challenges."
State agencies
Page Coordinator: Barbara Fister fister@gac.edu
This URL: http://gustavus.edu/academics/library/libdata_pos/page.phtml?page_id=108
|
|
