Economic Literature

How do you find and use the literature of economics?Economists report the result of
their studies in published essays and books. Several guides help readers search for
information by subject, author, title, and individual words.
Essays published in formal academic journals have typically been carefully reviewed by two
or more other scholars who are expert in the subject matter as well by the editor of the
journal who is also usually a successful scholar. The process of evaluation is called peer
review. Essays that have passed through peer review are likely to be of high quality.
Formal essays are careful to include references to other published works used in developing
ideas. Each essay makes an original contribution to an on-going stream of essays, creating
a cumulative body of work from many scholars that, taken together, represent what is
known about economic phenomena.
By going to the references listed at the end of an essay, a reader can see what's needed to
read backward to see where ideas first appeared and how they have developed. Some
electronic indices noted below identify subsequent publications that include a reference to
an article a reader has identified. The forward-looking citations allow a reader to read
forward to see where an idea has gone.
Peer-reviewed essays normally document carefully the logical chain of deduction, the steps
used in a mathematical derivation, and the data and methods used in a statistical
investigation so that other scholars can replicate the evidence provided. Sometimes the
details are in appendices.
The Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) publishes review essays, that is, essays that
summarize, integrate, and critique dozens and sometimes well over a hundred essays on a
given broad topic. Reading a review essay is a convenient way to get acquainted with what
is known on a topic and where controversies arise. JEL also publishes reviews of recent
books in economics, an annotated list of new books, and a list of current dissertations from
North American universities.
Although some economic journals publish only highly specialized essays, that is essays that
require a significant amount of prior knowledge in order to be understood, some journals
and books are accessible to a wider audience. One such publication is Challenge: The
Magazine of Economic Affairs.
Readers use the following tools to identify publications that address specific topics in
economics.
EconLit
"EconLit is the AEA's electronic bibliography of economics literature throughout the
world. EconLitcontains abstracts, indexing, and links to full-text articles in economics
journals. It abstracts books and indexes articles in books, working papers series, and
dissertations. EconLit also provides the full-text ofJEL book reviews. EconLit is available at
libraries and on university Web sites throughout the world."
There are several ways to use EconLit. A general search on subject terms will yield a list of
publications that relate to the topic, although some of the items may be tangential. Once a
relevant article is in hand,EconLit will identify other works by the same author, help locate
items in the first essays reference list, and search on terms used in the first article.
Many libraries provide access to the EconLit database through campus networks.
JSTOR JSTOR is an online service that makes available articles for economics journals as
well as journals in other disciplines. It presents the articles as page images of the original
print and allows searching of the full-text of the articles for the full back file of each journal.
Some publishers do not make the most recent years available so as to retain a market for
their direct subscriptions. JSTOR is available by subscription through academic libraries. For
example, all issues of the American Economic Review from 1911 to within three years of the
present are available on JSTOR.
RFE - Resources for Economists on the Internet "This guide is sponsored by
the American Economic Association. It lists 2,100 resources in 97 sections and sub-sections
available on the Internet of interest to academic and practicing economists, and those
interested in economics. Almost all resources are also described.
Those searching the Internet for economic information might also wish to try the Economics
Search Engine (ESE). It indexes 300,000 pages on 10,000 economics web sites from around
the world. Searches with it only return their contents."
RePEc IDEAS "RePEc is the largest bibliographic database dedicated to Economics and
available freely on the Internet. Over 350,000 items of research can be browsed or
searched, and over 250,000 can be downloaded in full text! This site is part of a large
volunteer effort to enhance the free dissemination of research in Economics."
Google Scholar Scholar is not limited to economics but is often a useful tool for locating
publications in economics. It provides a count of the number of times an item has been
cited by other works in the Google database and allows forward-looking to see where the
historic work has been cited. Because Scholar includes works from many disciplines, a
search on scholar tends to return some extraneous material along with useful things. Not all
of the works in the Scholar database have been through a peer-review process and for this
reason the quality of the work is less assured.
PAIS International PAIS selectively indexes many journals, books, government
documents, and materials from trade and interest groups that report information about
policy issues. Many libraries make this service available to their patrons. When economists
write about issues of public policy for a wide audience, a government agency, or an interest
group, the work is likely to be indexed in PAIS. PAIS includes material from over 120
countries.
Catalog of US Government Publications Economists who write for US government
agencies are likely to have their work indexed by the Government Printing Office. The GPO
catalog is available online and with other search engines through many libraries. Many
agencies are particularly important in creating and publishing economic data, including
the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Federal Reserve
Board. The Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis maintains a website of economic data
called FRED. Fedstatsprovides a gateway to statistics from over 100 Federal agencies.
Access to News and Wider Interest Publications
Lexis/Nexis is a library subscription service that provides access to a large volume of
literature from newspapers, government documents, and legal materials. Proquest is
another provider of electronic indices to libraries by subscription. It indexes many national
and international newspapers, magazines, and other publications.
Internet Blogs
Blogs are an informal method of discussing economic ideas. Craig NewMark who created
Craigslist ranksblogs written by economists. Among leading blogs are Brad Delong's Semi-
daily Journal, Freakonomics Blog and Crooked Timbers among many others. Gregory
Mankiw has a blog for the introductory economics course at Harvard.
Economic Policy Think Tanks
A number of independent research enterprises sometimes called think tanks have Internet
websites that develop varied points of view about current policy debates. Steve Gardner at
Baylor University provides a partial list with weblinks. Some of the better known
independent institutes are The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, The
Brookings Institution, The National Bureau of Economic Research, and The RAND
Corporation.
Submitting Manuscripts
Authors of original essays on topics relevant to and similar in style to articles appearing in a
journal should submit their manuscripts to the editors for consideration for publication.
Submit an essay to only one journal at a time. Each journal publishes its own submission
guidelines and usually makes them available online as well. Typically, about one-third of
submitted manuscripts from all sources are accepted for publication. Revising a manuscript
in light of comments from other economists who have published related essays improves an
essay's prospects for publication. Manuscripts may be presented to a wider audience at
professional meetings before publication. The Opportunities page notes associations that
encourage undergraduates to present their essays.
In addition to the work they produce for other economists and the textbooks they write for
students, economists also write popular books including broad reviews of global
developments and focused works on specific policies, as well as novels.
As students gain skill by studying economics, more of the literature will be useful.