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On-line Databases for Economics Research (by Colin Cameron)

There is an extraordinary amount of library material that can be obtained with minimal library visits.

Information Sources

There are three essential sources of information for economics research.

Journal articles. The most careful and rigorous but can be dated.
More recent articles. Often from magazines, newspapers and government agenices.
Data. Often from government agencies or special economics data sets.

Much of this information can be obtained on-line. By far the best source is using library databases on journals etc.

Using web search engines is generally less efficient, due to many hits and obtaining articles that are usually not as good as pieces in top journals or magazines. The best web search engine is Google (as of early 2001).

If having trouble getting information consult a university reference librarian.

To better learn how to use the electronic data sources take a one-hour course offered throughout the quarter by library staff.
All electronic sources can be accessed from the library. For access from elsewhere on campus or from home you may need to get free accounts and passwords from the library.

The U.C.-Davis Library web-site (http://www.lib.ucdavis.edu/) is the first place to go for all electronic information. Under ELECTRONIC RESOURCES you will see (at the time of writing this):

Databases to locate journal, newspaper and magazine articles.
Electronic Journals provide full-text journal online.
Electronic Reference provides dictionaries and encyclopedias.

This uses a web browser to get all the information you need, which is detailed further.
For experienced users it is quicker to use Telnet access once one learns the few simple search commands. To get Telnet Access to many of the commonly-used data bases (CC, ABI, NEWS, MAGS, PAIS, CARL) though not all, from the University Library Home Page choose MELVYL system via Telnet.

Databases to Locate Journal Articles

The first two places to look for economics articles are Econlit and Current Contents. In addition there are quite a number of other databases, also presented below.

Use the databases to locate journal articles. From the U.C.-Davis Library Home Page choose:

Databases. Scroll down to see the many data bases available, or click on the first-letter of the alphabet.

The simplest databases allow search of recent (last five years or so) journals, magazines or newspapers by title keyword, subject matter and author. Some return just the article, some will also return an abstract, and some will also return full text of the article.

For general research the most useful of the easily available databases are:

CC           Current Contents - 6,500 scholarly journals in all fields
NEWS     Newspaper Articles - five major U.S. newspapers
ACADEMIC UNIVERSE   Lexis-Nexis full-text and abstracts of comprehensive news
MAGS     Magazine & Journal - 1,500 magazines and journals
WEBOFSCIENCE    Gives citation indexes such as Social Sciences Citation Index
CARL      CARL Corporation has several databases including Uncover for journal articles

For economics specific research the most useful of the easily available databases are:
ECONLIT Economics Journals abstracted in the Journal of Economic Literature (not on Melvyl)
ABI ABI/Inform - 1,000 business, management & finance journals
PAIS PAIS International database - citations in public affairs

Current Contents covers all the major journals. To restrict attention to the major journals in economics chose the option to search social sciences journals. Current contents is very comprehensive and should always be searched, but it does not give abstracts.

ACADEMIC UNIVERSE and NEWS cover newspapers and MAGS covers magazines and some journals.

CARL does not appear as a menu item in Melvyl. Just directly type CARL. Connection can be slow, but Uncover includes the ability to have journal articles faxed to you for a fee.

ABI and Econlit complement CC by covering more economics journals than Econlit , and also have abstracts. Some of the databases, including ABI, also give actual text of the journal article for some of the journals they cover.

Currently CC, NEWS, MAGS, CARL, ABI and PAIS can also be obtained by Telnet connection to Melvyl while the others require web browser connection to the U.C.-Davis library. I actually find it quicker in most cases to connect by Telnet rather than use a web browser interface.

Journal Articles On-line

From the U.C.-Davis Library Home Page choose

Electronic Journals. This gives several ways to get journal articles.

The most useful ways to get journal articles via Electronic Journals are:

California Digital Library. Click on the CDL icon at the top of the Electronic Journals page. Then select Browse the CDL Directory and within this select Social Sciences, then select Business and Economics to get over 100 journals.
JSTOR. This can be entered in several ways, including directly from the Electronic Journals page and also from the CDL page. JSTOR has past journal issues going back a long time, rather than current issues. Usually it is missing the most recent five years.

Other sources for journal articles online are:

Melvyl. Some Melvyl databases such as ABI have articles on-line as text files that are not formatted and are often without tables.
Directly to Individual Journals. Some journals are available directly on-line without going through the University of California system. Use a web search engine to find the journal. In some cases to be given access you need to enter via a U.C. computer.

Government Sources and Data

Many of the government agencies and data sets can be obtained via the U.C.-Davis Library home page. From the U.C.-Davis Library Home Page choose:

Databases and then choose the database Statistical Universe.
Government Information (under Shields Library Reference and Collections).

Most government agencies provide their published data and reports on-line free of charge. Useful sources include:

Bureau of the Census (www.census.gov/) has data sets including the entire Statistical Abstract of the United States on-line. Also has links to other government agencies.
Bureau of the Census (http://www.bea.doc.gov/) has many macroeconomic data series including Survey of Current Business.

What to do with the Information

The key requirements for an economics essay or project are:

Analysis. Do not simply regurgitate the paper(s) read. Add something, especially arguments regarding the strengths and weaknesses of what you have read. You have to go out on a limb and actually give an opinion.
Objective. The analysis should be objective not subjective.
Economics. If paper is for an economics class bring in as much economics as possible. This is what you will be graded on. If the course is instead a sociology course, for example, then bring in lots of sociology.
Good Sources. Generally research journals will be best.
Current. Given the ability to easily gain current information, for example via NEWS or MAGS or web search engines, if the essay or project is about a current issue do not restrict yourself to journal articles on the state of the field several years ago.
English. A paper with spelling errors, punctuation errors, grammatical errors or poor expression will be penalized by any grader.
Bibliography. Needs to give complete reference so that the reader could locate the source without difficulty given the reference.

A. Colin Cameron / UC-Davis Economics / http://www.econ.ucdavis.edu/faculty/cameron