Library Resources in Economic History

This guide serves as a basic research tool for locating information on library resources in economic history with an emphasis on the 20th century and issues relating to globalization.

Secondary Sources: Search Engines & Catalogs | Economics Databases | International & Regional Databases

Primary Sources: Electronic Texts & Digital Archives | Government Information | Newspapers | Poverty Resources | Economic Statistics | Scholarly Web Content

Secondary Sources

The following sources can help you in finding to books, journal articles, government documents, newspapers, microfilm and other resources. Use these sources to familiarize yourself with your topic and consult the reference section or bibliography to help you identify primary source materials.

Pathinder and Gladis. UC Berkeley libraries catalog. The telnet version Gladis has some features like detailed holdings information that can be important for historical research, e.g. volume numbers for large sets or reels of microfilm.

Melvyl. Catalog for all UC Campus libraries. Includes libraries on campus not in Pathfinder, e.g. the Boalt Law Library and Institute of Governmental Studies.

Resources for Economists Search Engine. Custom economics search engine (powered by Google) of over 12,000 economics web sites.

Google Scholar. This search engine functions as both a key word database for articles and books. It automatically connects you to some licensed content held by the UC libraries. Search this source before all others.

Economics Databases

The UC Berkeley library databases are listed in the Electronic Resources Finder. Look under as Economics as a subject type to get a listing of article databases. Configure your browser according to the library proxy server service for access to databases from off campus.

America History & Life. Indexes journals worldwide on the history of the US and Canada. Includes English-language history journals; selected international journals, state, and local history journals; and a selection of journals in the social sciences and humanities.

Econlit. Comprehensive index to scholarly journal articles in economics. It also lists books and dissertations, and indexes articles within 'collective works' (books consisting of collections of essays or individual papers).

Geography. Database with excellent coverage of the international literature in international economic development and public policy issues. Coverage from 1990 to the present.

Historical Abstracts. Indexes journals, book reviews and dissertations worldwide about all aspects of world history (excluding US and Canada) from 1450 to the present

IDEAS. Largest bibliographic database on economics on the Internet, this site offers citations to thousands of full-text economics working papers and articles from peer-reviewed economics journals.

International Bibliography of the Social Sciences. Multidisciplinary database indexing journals, books, chapters, and reviews in economics, political science, and sociology, from more than 100 countries.

JSTOR. Full text of nearly 600 scholarly journals, including more than 70,000 issues, on a wide range of scholarly subjects.

PAIS International & Archival. International database for materials in public affairs. Topics include agriculture, banking, demographics, the environment, finance, government, law, and political science.

Policyfile. Index to public policy in the areas of economics, politics, the environment, and social issues, taken from reports from a wide range of thinks tanks, Non-governmental organizations, international governmental organizations, and other institutions worldwide.

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts. Indexes books, journals, and dissertations in the field of political science and related to international relations, law and politics, political economy, public administration, and public policy.

Bibliography of Asian Studies. Contains records on all subjects (especially humanities and social sciences) pertaining to East, Southeast, and South Asia published worldwide from 1971 to the present.

Handbook of Latin American Studies. Citations in the area of Latin American studies from journals, books, and conferences. Coverage from 1935. Sources are selected and annotated by scholars from the Library of Congress.

HAPI (Hispanic American Periodicals Index). Indexes books, journals, conference proceedings, and official documents on Hispanic America (North, Central, and South), Mexico, the Caribbean basin, the United States-Mexico border region, and Hispanics in the United States.

Index Islamicus. Indexes literature on Islam, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Over 3,000 journals are monitored for inclusion in the database, together with conference proceedings, monographs, multi-authored works and book reviews. Journals and books are indexed down to the article and chapter level.

Quarterly Index to Africana Periodical Literature. Index published by the Library of Congress Nairobi Office, covers over 300 selected periodicals from 29 African countries. Also includes publications of non-governmental organizations.

Primary Sources

A primary source is widely defined as an account of an eyewitness to an historical event, but in practice it can include diaries, pamphlets. letters, newspapers, and government documents. The library has an exhaustive research guide on the topic as well as a guide to finding and evaluating primary sources on the web. The following are some sources of interest to this class.

Electronic Texts & Digital Archives

Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics. Reprints of the Yale University Cowles Foundation author's articles and contributions to books.

Economist's Papers Projects at Duke University. Papers of over thirty eminent economists in the history of economic thought, particularly 20th century economic thought.

Goldsmith's Kress Library of Economic Literature. Digital collection of more than 61,000 books from 1460-1850 and pre-1906 serials. Focuses on economics collections in banking, finance, transportation and manufacturing. Combines the Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature at the University of London Library, the Kress Library of Business and Economics at the Harvard University, along with materials from the Seligman Collection in the Butler Library at Columbia and the libraries at Yale.

McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought. Attempt to collect in one place a large number of significant texts in the history of economic thought.

House of Commons Parliamentary Papers. Provides full-text access to thousands of 19th Century Parliamentary Papers. Includes all the "sessional papers" of the British Parliament: bills, reports of committees, papers presented by Royal Commissions and government departments, treaties and international agreements, command papers, and statistics.

University of California E-scholarship Repository. Free, open-access journals, peer-reviewed series, postprints, and seminar papers from University of California faculty and researchers.

US Congressional Serial Set. Database of key publications of the United States Congress. The Serial Set is a critical resource for the study of all aspects of American history including international relations, explorations, commerce and industrial development, and political, social, cultural, military and ethnic history.

The government documents collections at the UC Berkeley comprise a huge collection of primary sources from all over the world. See the Government Information Pages for more information. The following topical and subject guides may be of special interest:

European Union Internet Resources. Comprehensive guide to EU information sources.

International Monetary Fund Research Guide. Basic research tool for documents and statistics of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Introduction to Globalization. Basic research guide on researching globalization.

International Organizations, Economic Development & Poverty. Research guide on the work of international organizations in economic development & poverty.

International Trade & Financial Institutions. Basic outline of information resources from international financial institutions, e.g. Bretton Woods Organizations and regional development banks.

World Bank Research Guide. Comprehensive guide for researching the World Bank.

United Nations Internet Resources. Comprehensive research guide for the United Nations by subject and organizational structure

Newspapers and News Databases

Doe library has an immense collection of current print and historical newspapers on microfilm housed in the newspaper and microfilm collection the first floor of Doe library.

See the library page on finding newspapers for information on how to find world newspapers. A useful source for finding lists of newspapers by country is the Newspaper Title Database from the International Coalition on newspapers.

Access World News. Full text of U.S. and international news sources from over titles worldwide, most in English. A clickable may enables the user to view and select individual countries and news sources. Dates of coverage are provided. Sources are sometimes limited to the BBC and international wire services.

LexisNexis Academic. Over 6,000 individual titles of international, national and local newspapers and wire services; radio and television transcripts; and business, medical, industry, and legislative magazines, journals, and newsletters. Wide geographic coverage and translations from foreign-language sources.

Newspaper Titles Database. Database of more than 20,000 newspaper titles from over 150 countries dating back over 350 years. This is a useful source for identifying the titles of newspapers from a region during a given time period. Once you have a title use Pathfinder or Melvyl to find library holdings.

World News Connection. Translations of radio and television broadcasts, periodicals and news articles from nearly every country in the world. The material is translated to serve the needs of US government agencies, so is especially strong in the fields of politics, economics, military affairs.

Poverty Resources

See also the research guide on International Organizations, Economic Development & Poverty.

Human Development Report Library. HD72.H8: Main. Latest in Doe Ref - Gov/Stat. The web site includes the UNDP flagship publication the Human Development Report, as well as national human development reports from over 250 countries and regions.

Least Developed Countries Report. HC59.7.L3219: Main - Latest in Doe Ref-Gov/Stat.

Rural Poverty Knowledgebase. Portal of projects and programmes on poverty issues affecting countries world wide. From the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

Rural Poverty Portal. Excellent portal also "powered by" the International Fund for Agricultural development on a wide range of poverty issues, country reports and development strategies, from international agencies world wide, including development banks and other international organizations.

PovertyNet. Gateway to World Bank Poverty measurement, analysis and reduction strategies. Includes topical and country listings as well as data on poverty and inequality.

United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD). UN agency conducting research on the social dimensions of world development. Includes hundreds of documents on a wide range of social development issues.

World Bank E-library (UCB Access Only). Database for hundreds of full-text World Bank publications. Topics covered include economics, public policy, education, international development, gender, the environment, and more.

Economics Statistics

The following is a very short list of some of the better databases for uncovering information on economic statistics - far from comprehensive. Please see additional pages on US Federal Government Statistics, Statistics from International Organizations, and the Doe Library Data Lab.

American Factfinder. Database on population, housing, industry and business statistics from the U.S. Census. Data is collected from the Census 2000, the 1990 Census of Population and Housing, the American Community Survey, and the 1997 Economic Census.

Eurostat.  Publications and statistics from the EU, with data in economics, population, agriculture, trade, transportation, and the environment.

FEDSTATS - Federal Interagency Council on Statistical Policy. Gateway to statistics from over 100 U.S. Federal agencies. Includes direct links to statistical data by topic.

Global Financial Database. Long runs of historical data (over 6,000 series) on security markets and macroeconomic trends for over 150 countries. Includes long-term financial data, interest rates, U.S. daily and global stock market data, and much more.

Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (UCB Only). Consortium of institutions sharing social science data. Includes survey and census data, elections, economic and political data.

Lexis/Nexis Statistical (UCB Only). Index and abstracts from the American Statistics Index (ASI), Statistics Reference Index (SRI)], and Index to International Statistics (IIS). Materials on ASI and IIS are on fiche in GREF. Materials in SRI are on fiche at the Business Library.

Official Statistics on the Web. Access to social, economic and general data from official government sources.  Includes statistical offices, central banks and government agencies. Features a good subject list.

Statistical Abstract of the United States. US national data book, containing a collection of statistics on social and economic conditions in the United States as well as selected international data. (Historical data is added as completed).

Stat-USA. Consists of two sections: State of the Nation (current and historical economic and financial releases and economic data from the federal government and other related entities) and GLOBUS and NTDB (current and historical trade-related releases, international market research, trade opportunities and country analysis).

SourceOECD (UCB Only). Data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Includes data on economics and finance, trade, telecommunications, development, foreign aid, migration, and other categories.

United Nations Statistical Common Database. Wide range of economic, social, cultural, and demographic indicators for most countries.

World Development Indicators. Time series data from 1960 for 207 countries in the areas of population, labour, education, economics, the environment and much more. First choice for many statistical indicators.

Selected Scholarly Web Content

Selected list of interesting economic history gateway sites

Grasping Reality with Both Hands. Witty and thought-provoking blog from Berkeley economist and historian Brad DeLong.

E.H.Net. Web site providing resources for scholars in economic history and related fields. Includes bibliographies, book reviews, databases, and historical datasets.

History of Economic Thought Web Site. Repository of collected links and information on the history of economic thought, from the ancient times until the modern day

Resources for Economists on the Internet. Sponsored by the American Economics Association. Includes an Economics Search Engine.

WWW Virtual Library on Economics and Economic History. Enormous gateway site of resources in economic history, from the Netherlands Economic History Archive

WWW Virtual Library on Labour History Gateway on labour history, maintained by the International Institute of Labour History in the Netherlands.

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