ECONOMICS
Economics is going to share a lot of resources with finance, although this certainly does not mean that they are the same. Economics focuses on the dynamics of supply and demand, which is a huge part life on earth, not to mention Capitalism. Economics is also related to the social science, and has as much to do with behavior as it does with finite resources.
The subject guides for business, finance, insurance, and accounting or others may be of interest as well.
DATABASES
EBSCO
As ever, EBSCO is a great way to do research. It is actually an aggregator, and that means that it searches lots of different databases at the same time. For business-related information, one might want to select these particular ones (to avoid getting irrelevant hits):
Academic Search Premier
Business Source Complete
Environment Index
Legal Collection
Newspaper Source
Regional Business News
Military & Government Collection
Vente et Gestion (business journals in French)
Economia y Negocios (business journals in Spanish)
Hospitality & Tourism Index
Academic Search Complete
Electronic Journals
This allows you to browse ULM's available journals by name, so you can know very quickly whether or not we have the publication you want.
JSTOR - The scholarly journal archive
There are many journals on JSTOR-- it means "Journal storage." You can search by issues and genres, and inside the article text itself. JSTOR brings you journal pages just as they appear in print-- and just about as usefully.
LexisNexis Academic Search
LexisNexis has devoted a specific part of its powerful database interface to Business research (accessible by clicking the corresponding link on the left of the front-page). Using it will be extremely useful as it has detailed company information, news, journals, and more. Also, don't forget the general news or the Legal Research option.
Mergent Online
This resource can produce a lot of things, including very detailed profiles of companies with codes, numbers, recent stocks, contact information, summaries of what they are, financial info, competitors, and more. Do remember, though, that it only goes back as far as 1997. If you want to dates earlier than that, you'll have to use the print version. As this time, they are shelved in the stacks.
GOVERNMENTAL INTERNET RESOURCES
The CIA World Factbook
The CIA World Factbook is useful even for general reference purposes. It is a very fast way to find out about the economic condition of a country and other useful things, like transportation, in surprising detail. This resource is also sometimes available in print.
Economic Census
A part of the Census website which has data on the US economy and is updated every 5 years. Its data is accessible by industry, year, and NAICS codes, and there are FAQs and other ways of getting questions answered.
Economic and Demographic Fact Book
The 2007 Edition of the Annual Economic and Demographic Fact Book for Northeast Louisiana-- ULM's very own! This has market data related to Ouachita Parish and is accessible to the public.
International Economic Accounts
This site carries information on trade, investment, financial flows, and more. This data can be displayed in text in MS Excel or in the browser, and there is news in plain text. This is a part of the Bureau of Economic Analysis , which is also rather useful itself.
Quarterly Financial Report (QFR)
A part of the U.S. Census site, this "provides up-to-date aggregate statistics on the financial position of U.S. corporations." It is meant to be used to monitor the strength of the U.S. economy.
Survey of Income and Program Participation
Here is more information from the U.S. Census Bureau. This website has information on "the income and program participation of individuals and households in the United States, and about the principal determinants of income and program participation." This can be used to indicate how well a government program is doing considering its costs.
TradeStats Express.™
This site displays data on U.S. merchandise trade statistics (exports) using graphs, maps, and text. One can choose what data should be on the visuals, and they will be made to show those fields. Data is available from 1989 onwards, and the data covers individual U.S. states and other countries as well.
INTERNET RESOURCES
Economic Data - FRED®
This database, which is free to access, has data on more than 3000 U.S. economic time series and for different categories (economic data, employment, banking, etc.). \Data can be displayed on a graph in your browser, or downloaded in Excel or text form.
The Library of Economics and Liberty
This website has articles, news, links, and various other things (like famous economists' birthdays). On its "books" page there are many out-of-copyright classic books which are browse-able by various fields but can also be searched). This can be useful if ULM doesn't have the book you want or if you are unable to visit.
Macroeconomic Time Series Data Source Locator
If you can't find the time series data you need using other resources, this website may be able to help you find out where you need to look by data, location, and category. A link at the end of the category check boxes will also show a short glossary defining those categories.
The Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID)
This organization keeps demographic statistics on the effects of economic conditions on families and individuals. There is detailed information on how to use the site and on PSID itself. Data can be accessed by selecting fields or in entire archives. There is also a bibliography showing where PSID data has been quoted.
Resources for Economists on the Internet (RFE)
This like a portal for economics information, and is sponsored by the American Economic Association. The links are grouped by category, and there are sub-categories for some ("Data" has several, of course). Apart from the very useful links, there is also a section with listings for conferences.
Of course, the topic you are researching will probably require more specific books and articles. Don't feel limited to materials in your field alone, as others may be just as relevant for what you need to write.
I must acknowledge the assistance of these useful pages:
http://www.bc.edu/libraries/research/guides/s-economics/
http://www.libraries.psu.edu/business/finance/default.htm
Also, please report promptly any ridiculous errors on this page to me: niemla@ulm.edu