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Economics

Reference

Dictionaries, Directories, Handbooks, Encyclopedias, etc. - Reference works are useful when you need to obtain quick facts, define the terms and scope of your search, or get a broad overview of a topic. Best Bets! are marked with aBest Bet!.
Products available to registered McMaster Students/Staff/Faculty Only are marked with a McMaster Use Only.

Canadian Business and Economics: A Guide to Sources of Information
 3rd ed. 1992.
An extensive annotated listing of Canadian related books, pamphlets, government publications and periodicals (but not periodical articles). Arranged by broad subject areas including the Canadian economy, finance, government and primary industries.
INNIS Ref. ZHF 3226 .C23

Canadian Dictionary of Business and Economics
1993.
Especially useful because of its Canadian content. Includes in alphaetical order entries for Canadian government bodies and programs, economic agreements, legislation and general economic concepts.
INNIS Ref. HC 112 .C72

Guide to Economic Indicators
 1990.
Consists of chapers on commonly cited indicators of the American economy such as balance of trade, gross national product and monoey supply. Contains sample tables from American government data sources. No subject index.
INNIS Ref. HC 103 .F9

Historical Atlas of Canada
3 v. 1987. D. G. G. Kerr.
MAPS G 1116 .S1H58

International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences
2001. Neil J. Smelser, Paul B. Bates, eds.
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) H 41 .I58 2001

McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Economics
2nd ed. 1994. Douglas Greenwald, ed. in chief.
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) HB 61 .E55

MIT Dictionary of Modern Economics
4th ed. 1992. David W. Pearce, ed.
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) HB 61 .P4

New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economists
4 v. 1998. John Eatwell, Murray Milgate, Peter Newman, eds.
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) HB 61 .N49 1998

Who's Who in Economics: A Biographical Dictionary of Major Economists 1700-1986
2nd ed. Mark Blaug, Rodney Paul Sturges, eds.
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) HB 76 .W46

Social Science Reference Sources: A Practical Guide
3rd ed. 2000. Tze-chung Li.
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) ZH 61 .L5

Economics Working Papers: Bibliography
1973-1991. John Fletcher.
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) ZHB 30 .U58

Economic History of Canada: A Guide to Information Sources
1978. Trevor J. O. Dick.
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) ZHC 113 .D5

New Practical Guide to Canadian Political Economy
1985. Daniel Drache, Wallace Clement, eds.
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) ZHC 115 .D72

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History
5 v. 2003. Joel Mokyr, ed.
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) HC 15 .O94 2003

Worldmark Encylopedia of National Economics
4 v. 2002. Sara Pendergast, Tom Pendergast, eds.
MILLS Ref. (2nd floor) HC 15 .W67 2002

Books

Use McMaster's Library Catalogue to find books on your topic. Click the Help link for searching tips & strategies.

Some basic subject headings for Economics include:
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Data and Statistics

 

Data and Statistical resources are available from various sources such as Statistics Canada, Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), SourceOECD, IMF etc. The links below will help you to identify data and statistical resources available for your research.

           

 

Statistics
Data
...facts or figures
...raw material used to calculate statistics
...proves a point using totals, sums or averages
...used with software like SAS or SPSS
- Canadian
- Canadian
- US & International
- US & International

 

 

Statistics:

  Canadian
 
CANSIM II (Canadian Socio-Economic Information Management System): provides access to time series statistics on a broad variety of subject areas including Economic Accounts, Labour, Income, Health etc.
       
E-STAT: offering Census profile data for 1986 - 2006 at various levels of geography. Historical Census data is also available for 1665 -1871 censuses. CANSIM time series tables are available on a broad variety of subject areas including Economic Accounts, Labour, Income, Health etc.
       
Canadian Census Analyzer: provides access to Census Profile Data for 1981-2006 at Enumeration Area level and Census Tract level; 1991 – 2006 at Provincial and Federal Electoral District level; and the 1971 - 2006 Individual Microdata Files.
       
Labour Force Historical Review: monthly and annual data on a wide range of subjects, including labour force status by demographics, education and family characteristics, trends in the labour markets of metropolitan areas, employment and unemployment levels by economic regions, data by industry and occupation, wages and union membership.
 
US and International
 
SourceOECD: access OECD publications and statistical databases online and build your  own tables in real time.
       
International Financial Statistics: current data on exchange rates, international liquidity, international banking, money and banking, interest rates, prices, production, international transactions, government accounts, and national accounts.
 
Global Market Information Database (GMID): Key business intelligence on countries, companies, markets and consumers around the world.  
 
Penn World Tables: provides purchasing power parity and national income accounts converted to international prices for 179 countries for some or all of the years 1950 – 2000.
 

Data:

Canadian
 
Labour Force Survey (LFS): household survey carried out monthly. Data provide information on major labour market trends such as shifts in employment across industrial sectors, hours worked, labour force participation and unemployment rates. 1976 – 2008.
 
Survey of Household Spending (SHS): detailed information on household expenditures, dwelling characteristics, and ownership of household equipment such as appliances, communications and entertainment equipment, and vehicles. 1997 – 2006.
 
Survey of Labour and Income Dynamcs (SLID): household survey to provide national data on the fluctuations in income that a typical family or individual experiences over time. 1996 – 2005.
 
Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF): complete set of Labour Force Survey variables and detailed labour force characteristics of all persons aged 15 years and over. Also adds detailed information on 23 sources of income and income tax for the preceding calendar year. 1974 – 1998.
 
Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS): provides data for health regions across Canada including alcohol consumption, chronic health conditions, fruit and vegetable consumption, general health, use of health services, height and weight, injuries, physical activity, restriction of activities and smoking. 2000 – 2005.
 
General Social Survey (GSS): data on family, social support and retirement for Canadians aged 45 years and over. 1985 – 2006.
 
National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY): survey follows the development of children in Canada and paints a picture of their lives. It monitors children's development and measures the incidence of various factors that influence their development, both positively and negatively. 1994 – 1999.
 
Canadian Census Microdata Files: Census data and microdata from 1901; 1961 – 2006 reference years of the Census.
 
National Population Health Survey (NPHS): sample of approximately 20,000 households starting in 1994 and conducted every two years. The survey is designed to collect information on the health of the Canadian population and related socio-demographic information. 1994 – 1998.
 
US and International
 
Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR): provides access to a vast archive of social science data on a variety of subject areas such as Education,  Health Care and Facilities, US Censuses, Consumer Spending etc.
 

More Data and Statistics Resources:

Please visit “Odesi”, which houses Statistics Canada datasets, data files from Gallup Canada and other polling companies, public-domain files such as the Canadian National Election Surveys and selected files from the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR).

 

The files can be searched, browsed, analyzed and downloaded in various formats. You must be currently registered student, staff and faculty at McMaster University.

 

Articles/Databases

Use article databases to find out which journals, magazines, and newspapers have published articles on your topic. Most useful when recent information is required, or when the topic is too specific to be covered in a book. Best Bets! are marked with aBest Bet!.
Products available to registered McMaster Students/Staff/Faculty Only are marked with a McMaster Use Only.

Article Databases / Indexes

EconLit
A comprehensive indexed bibliography with 904,309+  selected abstracts of the world's economic literature. Covers more than 750 major economic journals as well as collected volumes (essays, proceedings, etc.), books, book reviews, dissertations, and working papers.
1969 - present

Factiva
A multi-disciplinary research tool that provides a single point of access to current and archived news and business information.
Maximum concurrent users: 6

PAIS International
An index to the literature of public affairs, covering topical public and social issues and the making and evaluating of public policy.
PAIS Archive: 1915-1976; PAIS: 1972 to present

Social Sciences Citation Index
Citations, author abstracts and cited references from over 1,700 scholarly social sciences journals, and individually selected, relevant items from approximately 3,300 science and technology journals.
1976 to present

Websites

The Internet is home to useful web sites on many subjects. Unlike the resources on other tabs, the following resources are selected from the free web. Remember to critically evaluate web resources, since web site content is usually unmonitored and unregulated.

 

Government Sources

Governments (national, provincial, local and regional) and inter-governmental organizations (like the United Nations) publish documents, reports, articles and books relevant to many fields of study.
Use McMaster's library catalogue and/or consult our guides to government publications to find government sources.

CANSIM (Canadian Socio-Economic Information Management System)
http://datacentre.chass.utoronto.ca/cansim/cansim.html

Job Patterns for Minorities and Women in Private Industry
United States. Equal Opportunities Commission.
MILLS Gov Pubs UD1 IG -E62

Survey of Current Business.
1921 - present. United States Department of Commerce.
MILLS Gov Pubs US1 DC130 -S71