Faculty of Economics and Social Science
Internet Resources on Economics
Document 1
One of the most powerful search engines on the Internet at present is Alta Vista. On 07/06/96 it recorded 30 million WWW pages in its database. The search string Economics yielded `about' 200,000 entries. As both organisations and individuals with a presence on the Internet, particularly on the Web, frequently tend to collate a diversity of links in terms of subject-matter in their Web presentations, it is virtually impossible to draw up a list of resources which is `purely' economics, or business, or financial, any more than it is possible to draw a clear demarcation line between these fields of academic and practical inquiry.
With the above in mind, my coverage of economics resources will inevitably be somewhat incomplete. It should, however, be a sufficiently adequate launching platform for those who wish to locate such resources. The compilers of specialist economics Web presentations are always on the lookout for new items of interest, new links which they can incorporate in their pages, and new Internet developments they can absorb, embelish or comment upon. Hence the permanent revolution in page design and site organization. If you monitor some of the better sites, those which have a comprehensive selection of links, employ an adequate classification scheme, and check and update their presentations regularly, these should provide you with a satisfactory overview of the current situtation on the Internet with respect to those resources. In addition, you can also monitor those sites which chart Internet resource changes and additions, one of the best of which is Gleason Sackman's Net Happenings [There are frequently interruptions in this unequalled service in June/August as Gleason attends conferences and takes a break.]
I will discuss economics resources accessible over the Internet under the following
headings:
There are a large number of mailing lists dealing with economics, financial, and business matters. As with printed journals, they range from those dealing with very specific sub-areas of economics, to those which are more general in nature. The earlier documents in the series dealing with mailing lists give precise information on how to locate the names, subject-matter, and addresses of relevant lists, as well as details concerning how to subscribe, unsubscribe, etc. One of the easiest methods of obtaining a subject specific list of electronic mailing lists is to use one of the search engines that have been developed for this purpose. For a listing of mailing lists focusing on economics topics yielded by the LISZT search engine in mid-April click here. New mailing lists in all subjects appear regularly; others fold. If you want an updated list, click here, enter your search string and follow the online instructions. Another useful source of information on mailing lists is Bill Goffe's Resources for Economists on the Internet, section 40/Mailing Lists, which can be accessed from the list of sites given below. Yet another way of obtaining information about mailing lists in economics is to enter an appropriate search string in one of the search engines accessible through the document WWW Search Engines.
As I noted in the document on Internet Search Engines, if you key the same search string (eg.economics) into a number of different search engines, although there will be some overlap, the data returned will not be perfectly congruent. Another resource on electronic serials always worth consulting is the Directory of Scholarly and Professional E-Conferences, a product of the work of Dianne Kovacs and her team. The list returned on 07/06/96 included thirty items. For more detailed information on the lists you need to download the files by selecting.
If you subscribe to one of the more established and prominent lists you will be appraised when new lists are founded, as list owners usually publicise this on relevant lists. One of the more useful things about mailing lists is that the contributions made to many of them are archived, allowing you to search for past contributions on the range of topics which have been discussed by contributors. Subscribing over an extended period of time to some mailing lists can be burdensome in terms of time taken up by opening, reading, or even just deleting messages. Moreover, many economists may not be interested in the majority of topics discussed on a particular list. They might, on the other hand, occasionally require information which falls within the terms of reference of a particular list, and which may have been discussed by subscribers at some time. To obtain such information it may be necessary to subscribe to the list, search the archives for the required data, and then unsubscribe. Subscribing and unsubscribing takes only a matter of minutes. For details on accessing data from the archives of mailing lists see the document on mailing list archives.
Economics is less well served by USENET newsgroups than it is by electronic mailing lists, serials, or journals. The two most prominent are:
The first, sci.econ is unmoderated and deals with the whole range of topics that fall under the rubric economics, and probably more besides. The sci.econ.research is focused on current rersearch in economics and is moderated. For detailed information on accessing Usenet Reources see the document on Usenet Newsgroups.
Up to the minute economic news can be obtained from general Internet news sources, and from those which specialise in providing information of particular interest to practising economists and business persons. The distinction between the two is analogous to the differences in coverage between the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. Both provide information on economic issues, differing substantially, however, in the extent, orientation, and depth of coverage. As noted in the document dealing with News on the Internet, there are hundreds of newspapers from around the world whose contents are published in part or in full on the Internet. Similarly, the printed versions of headline radio and television news coverage, originating in various countries are also placed online. A good starting point for such information is INFOSEARCH Broadcasting Links which currently, 29/05/96 includes 988 links to television and radio Web sites.
Media services, both press agencies such as Reuters, and television news services like CNN, provide up to the minute headline news, as does the Voice of America and many other radio sources on the Internet. CNN Financial Net (CNNfn) provides relatively comprehensive financial news on a daily basis. The home page relates the top stories of the day and links to other CNNfn resources. It provides on a daily basis news covering the US Stock market, providing up to the minute information on each of the major U.S. indexes. U.S. indexes are updated throughout market hours. You can also get actives, gainers, losers, high, low, and volume alerts, and 52-week highs and lows. CNNfn also maintains an archive of daily U.S. market news reports. In addition, CNNfn provides World Stock Market Indexes. The world markets page follows major exchanges in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. The numbers are updated at the end of the trading day, market local time. There is also extensive information on currencies, interest rates, and commodity prices. The US Stock Market Reports for 1995 and 1996 are arranged in monthly tables. There is a summary of each day's highlights, with a graph of the Dow Jones Industrials. Finally, the Almanac, which is archived, lists the major economic events of the day, including expected publications of data. Overall, the coverage is extensive, and is global in orientation.
In any document dealing with comprehensive coverage of current economic news, reference should be made to STAT-USA/Internet, which provides extensive information on aspects of US and global business on a daily basis. Although the data, provided courtesy of the US Department of Commerce, is understandably skewed toward providing information with a US focus, much is included which is of general interest. One of the pages in their Web presentation is the Daily Economic, Business and Trade News, which you can customize by selecting from the on-screen form those data categories you are interested in scrutinizing regularly. You can choose from such data series as US imports/exports by country and commodity, Industry Reports, Press Releases relating to specific subject matters, etc. You can also add three links to other sites of your choosing. Next time you download information from the site, the page will include links to the categories of information that you specified an interest in. Special Reports of interest include the US Budget, Survey of Current Business, Global Trade outlook, and the Economic Report of the President. Finally, there is a link to Frequently Requested News Releases, arranged by subject matter. The Almanac, which is archived, provides information on major economic events of the day, including meetings and visits of heads of state, and a list of expected publications of financial/economic indicators.
Two of the world's leading economic and financial newspapers publish much of their content on the Web. The Financial Times is available at no charge although you are required to register, which involves providing the usual personal and demographic information which is the mainstay of marketing departments. Immediately after you have registered, or when you next login, you can go direct to its home page. The information provided is divided into three sections. "News & Comment provides coverage and comment on the main international business and news stories of the day. The section includes a bulletin which will be updated several times a day, end of day equity and fund prices, plus other key market information, and a diary that provides a rolling brief on the next seven days." The second section, "Themes & Topics organises information under specific subjects to provide a focused news reference service. Subjects include Britain,Technology, Work and Personal Finance." The third section, "Connect & Respond is an area where users can talk to the FT, each other and, in the future a wide range of experts in their fields." A valuable feature of the site is the search engine which allows you to track down reports on particular topics by entering an appropriate search string. Although no information is provided, it appears that the data accessible is archived for a month . Information on how to employ the search engine is provided. For current economic information this is an excellent resource.
Across the Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal is also available free online, although only until August 1, 1996. It then becomes available to subscribers. However, for the present, the Interactive Edition is online. As with the Financial Times, it is necessary to complete a registration process the first time you desire to access information. Subsequently, you enter your user-id and password. The Front Section provides a synopsis of the major news stories of the day and links to the full account. The major subsections are Market Place, Money, Sports, and Personal Journal. The important subdividisions include World Wide, Asia, Europe, Economy, Politics and Policy, Leisure and Arts, Editorial and Weather. Although a Table of Contents is provided, which includes collation of material by country, there is no search engine, and archived materials are not accessible. The reportage is of high quality, the connection is good even in the middle of the day, and overall this must be rated an excellent resource for current business, industrial and economic news.
In addition to these renowned financial newspapers, there are many published in other countries on the Internet whose coverage is focused principally on economic and financial issues. There are too many of these to reference in detail. Here is a listing of those I have identified recently.
The Economist magazine, published weekly in the United Kingdom, enjoys a high reputation worldwide, and is another important source of news and commentary on national, regional and global economic and financial matters.
Banks which publish on the Web are also useful sources of current economic and financial data. The Bank of America is a particularly useful stopping point for information on the United States economy, as well as on some global economic and financial matters. Its coverage includes various reports and indicators relating to the US and OECD economies. Of particular interest is the Weekly International Economic Briefing, which references market highlights (Forex, Money, Bonds), upcoming data and events, and forthcoming economic indicators in tabular form for the US and other OECD economies. It also features information relating to interest and currency rates. Other reports of interest include the Weekly US Economic Briefing, the Monthly Survey of Wall Street Economists' predictions concerning the state of the US economy, and special reports on a variety of subjects.
The Bank of Montreal's Web service News Watch provides a regularly updated account of current market and economic data with particular focus on the Canadian economy. Information is provided under a number of headings, including Economics Daily, this being a commentary of the Bank of Montreal and Nesbitt Burns INC, Week in Review, North American Economic Calendar, Canadian Indicators, and US Indicators. In Europe, the Dutch Rabobank provides extensive information in English on economic and financial affairs in The Netherlands. This includes a bi-weekly survey of the economy, and data relating to foreign trade, the balance of payments, and an extensive economic survey of The Netherlands. Many other banks have a presence on the Web and are useful sources of information relating to national and regional economies. A comprehensive list of banks with pages on the Web can be found at http://www.wiso.gwdg/ifbg/banking.html, arranged by geographical region and country. As noted below, this site also includes other useful material on banking.
Another useful source of information on current economic and financial issues is the Financial Information Link Library which includes more than 400 links to worldwide sources of financial information including banks, stock exchanges, and commodity services, and is arranged by country. Many of the links provide up to date information relating to a variety of economic indicators, policies, and programs, on a country or regional basis.
There are very few economic journals being published online at present, and even fewer that are available without charge. The main one that falls into the latter category is B-Quest which focuses on applied topics in business and economics, and is published by the School of Business, West Georgia College. Although the Journal is still in its early days, in the latest edition Professor Carole Scott, who edits the journal, demonstrates the advantages of the medium by employing hypertext effectively in surveying various theories of ecomics in an article which probably would provide introductory students with an interesting overview of some schools of economics. One of the directions that economics journal pulishing is likely to take in the future is that of refereed journals published on the Web which can be accessed by subscribers. MIT press is publishing Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics and Econometrics, edited by Bruce Mizrach of Rutgers University, in this format, the subscription rate being $40 per individual subscription, and $130 institutional. The Demonstration Issue which includes three articles is currently online. A much bigger venture is that of the Social Science Research Network, which is the parent network for the Financial Economics Network(FEN), the Legal Scholarship Network(LSN), and the Economics Research Network(ERN). ERN has recently announced the formation of thriteen new Internet electronic abstracting journals:
The Economics Research Network is directed by Martin Feldstein, George F Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard, and Michael C Jensen, Professor at the Harvard Business School. Other abstracts of interest may be found in the Law and Economics Abstracts. These abstracts include reference to the Internet addresses of the home pages of many of the authors of the articles, and many can be downloaded from these sites. For a trial period access to all parts of the network are free, the only requirement being the completion of a subscription form. At present you can test the system by searching the Journal of Financial Abstracts database which includes some 1500 records at present. The fees for the Finance Research Network probably give a good indication of those that will be in force for the Economics Research Network:
| Membership Class: | Student | Personal | Institution | Library |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MembershipFee | $10 | $25 | $50 | $50 |
| SubscriptionFee Per Journal | $5 | $10 | $20 | $20 |
Student and Personal memberships must be paid by personal check or credit card. Institutionalmemberships are single user only and apply to subscriptions paid by institutionalcheck or credit card. Library subscriptions are for one single DeskTop.
Although there are not many economics journals which are freely available on the Internet at present, there is no dearth of information relating to those which are available in hardcopy. The information generally includes data concerning subscription rates, primary academic focus, publication details, submission of manuscript details, and readership. Many of the journals also include abstracts of contents; some include abstracts of past issues. The most comprehensive listing of economics journals is provided by WebEc. The abstracts given in relation to many of the journals are sufficiently detailed to provide an adequate indication of contents. See, for instance, the Quarterly Journal of Economics. An alternative source of similar information is the Electronic Journals Catalog, which is a search engine. Type the subject you are interested in (eg, economics, microeconomics) and a list of journals on which there is information acccessible from Web sources is downloaded. This page also includes a link to publishers online, which, if you know the name of the publisher of a particular journal, will lead you to the required information if it is published on the Web.
Another very useful source of information on abstracts of economic journal contents is ECONbase, a database which currently includes some 4000 records of articles published in the 32 economics, business and finance journals of Elsevier North-Holland. [I have found that the link to the Netherlands is slower than to the mirror site in the United States, so you may prefer the longer route occasionally.] Access to abstracts is available to those who have a personal subscription to one of the journals, or, in the case of institutions, to staff in establishments which subscribe to at least three of the journals. As many of these journals are highly respected, many institutions of higher education will probably meet the latter requirement.
Blackwell's provides a similar service, though without the detailed abstracts available from Elsevier North-Holland. At present, 6 June 1996, the database includes the articles included in their journals for 1993 and 1994. It is not clear why in this electronic age there should be such a time lag between material in the database and that available on the Web. The details provided give the title, author, journal and publication date. There are no detailed abstracts, despite the fact that most journal articles are accompanied by one. In addition, the records in the database categorizes records in terms of the Journal of Economic Literature classification system. In order to establish which area of economics corresponds to which letter of the Index, you have to scroll through a very lengthy document with many sub-categories. Although you might have thought that if you selected M you would find articles relating to microeconomics, you will be disappointed. M designates Business Administration and Economics, sub-category Marketing and Advertising, which apparently includes Accounting as well. Confused? Don't worry, you are not the only one. A search engine and more up-to-date cataloguing would not go amiss on this Web page.
No account of journal article titles in any subject would be complete without reference to one of the most useful services freely available to scholars on the Internet, the UnCover search engine. UnCover is a commercial venture, being an online periodical delivery service. It indexes approximately 17,000 English language periodicals in its database. As the information is entered in the database immediately the journals are distributed, it is completely up-to-date. Articles in the database are usually faxed within twenty-four hours, frequently, UnCover claims, in under an hour. The cost is $8.50 per article, plus a copyright royalty fee. However, for most academic staff, the most interesting aspect about this service is that a search of the database is free. You enter the search term, and an up-to-date listing of all articles in the database with entries which match the search string is downloaded virtually immediately. The information includes the journal and author names, the date of publication, and the article title. There is a selectable index number which allows you to order the article online if you wish to pay by credit card. For those who want to check, without cost, except that of online connectivity, whether anything recent in their subject area has been published, there is nothing to equal it other than spending some time on a search in the library. If you want to obtain the article rapidly, this is also probably an unequalled service.
One drawback needs to be mentioned. The search engine is, to my mind, somewhat primitive in that it does not allow search by year of publication. This is not a substantial problem if you can devise a search term which adequately targets your interests, but which has a limited number of entries in the database. If the search string returns less than 300 records, then these will be ordered in terms of receny of publication. If however, the search string identifies more than 300, they will be listed in reverse order of recency. If the number is quite large, it can take a substantial amount of time to get to those published most recently, which are those likely to be of greatest interest to most academic and practising economists. On the other side of the scales, the search engine does allow selection by journal title and author as well as by search string. The information returned for entering the journal title is not, as you might expect, a list of the most recent articles appearing in the journal, but publication particulars. As these include the address of the publisher, using the search engine is one way of making tracks to the home page of the publisher where more detailed information about content may be forthcoming. Invaluable though the UnCover facility is, a revamped search engine to match the size of the database is urgently called for.
Another useful and relatively inexpensive facility which UnCover provides is their Reveal service:
More information about UnCover and how it works can be obtained from its home page
Economics Resources on the Internet: Document II
Document compiled by Dr S D Stein