Country & Economic Information
Selected Resources for Economics

Country information: best starting points

• Background Notes.  U.S. Department of State.
  Provides information on the history, economy, foreign relations, political conditions, and government for over 190 countries. Also available through Stat-USA  (Stat-USA -> Globus & NTDB -> International Trade Library -> Background Notes.)  Also check the regional Country Information sections for maps and more links.
• Europa World Plus.  (UST subscription database)
  Europa World Plus covers economic and political information in more than 250 countries and territories.  
• Country Reports in Business Source Premier.  (UST subscription database)
  Choose the Country Reports link. Country reports include Country Monitors, Country Profiles, and Country Reviews (EIU Country Reports are under the title "Country Report {Country Name}"; Datamonitor Country Profiles are under "{Country Name} Country Profile." Some reports have a six-month delay due to publisher restrictions. 
• Economist.com's Country Briefings. 
  News, country profiles, and more on 60 countries.  Not all content is free.
• Library of Congress Country Studies.  (Area Handbook Series.) 
  Each country study includes information on the economic, political, and social systems of a particular country. The people, their beliefs and values, and their interpersonal relationships are discussed.  Published between 1986 and 1998, the studies cover 102 countries and regions.  Also available through Stat-USA   (Stat-USA -> Globus & NTDB -> International Trade Library -> Army Area Handbooks.)  Also available in print for individual checkout; check the CLICnet library catalog for the Area Handbook series.

See also Country Information: Selected Resources.

Economic information: best starting points

• International Financial Statistics. (UST subscription database)
  Standard source of economic and financial data for most countries of the world.  From the International Monetary Fund.  Also available in print in OSF Library.
• OFFSTATS.  University of Auckland.
  Links to many country web sites for statistics, as well as organizational data (United Nations, etc.) and resources by topic.  Economic and general data from official or similar 'quotable' sources.
• Political Risk Yearbook. (UST subscription database)
  Reports on economic and political conditions in 106 countries.
• World Bank Data & Statistics.
  Data profiles from the World Development Indicators database.
• The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency.
  Summary statistics and background information on different countries of the world (per capita GDP, inflation rate, unemployment rate, and more.)

Additional sources for economic information

• Country Commercial Guides through Stat-USA (UST subscription database)
  Information on the economic, political, social, and legal environment of a county.
• OECD Economic Surveys in Business Source Premier. (UST subscription database)
  A valuable series of one-volume studies of the OECD countries containing good economic and political data, with tables and graphs. To search for a specific report, click on Publications, enter OECD Economic Surveys into the Browse for search box, and click on the Browse button.  (These titles can also be found by searching the CLICnet catalog using a TITLE search: OECD Economic Surveys.)
• United Nations Statistics Division.
  An excellent site that gathers international statistics and indicators, links are also available to the statistical methods used by the source organizations.
• World Development Report.  Also Ref. HC 59.7 .W659 (at OSF Library)
  Published by the World Bank on a different topic each year.  World Development Indicators, the statistical portion, presents selected social, economic, and demographic data on 180 countries.
• Center for International Comparisons. University of Pennsylvania.
  Research center for comparisons across countries and regions.
• Direction of Trade Statistics Quarterly.  International Monetary Fund.
  Current data collected by the IMF on about 150 countries for values of imports from and exports to their most important trading partners. (Current issues on 2nd floor, OSF Library.)  Historical data is available in the Direction of Trade Statistics Yearbook, Ref. HF 91 .I65 (at OSF Library.)
• Penn World Tables.
  Database of statistics on countries worldwide, including GDP, cost of living, etc.  Versions include PWT 6.2 (September 2006) and PWT Mark 5.6 (updated through 1991.)

See also International Economics: Selected Resources.

Finding articles and news stories

• World Economics: Newsbank Special Report. (UST subscription database)
  Collection of newspaper and magazine articles covering global economic conditions and issues.
• Internet Public Library's Online Newspaper Links.
  Browse by country or title, or search the collection.
• Academic Search Premier. (UST subscription database)
  Articles from nearly 4,600 scholarly publications, including The Economist.
• Expanded Academic. (UST subscription database)
  Articles from a large selection of scholarly and general interest publications, including The Economist.
• Business Source Premier. (UST subscription database)
  Articles from scholarly journals & magazines, including The Economist; country economic data; international scope.
• Lexis-Nexis. (UST subscription database)
  News and business information from U.S. and international sources, includes The Economist.
• Proquest Newsstand. (UST subscription database)
  Full-text access to hundreds of newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal.
• Factiva. (UST subscription database)
  Access to 6000 U.S. and international news sources, including the Wall Street Journal and The Economist. Choose "Source" to find individual titles. 

See also Economics Databases.

Make an appointment for research assistance:
Marianne Hageman, 651/962-5404, mdhageman@stthomas.edu.

Updated July 2008.