Online subject resources
Subscription resources
Within this guide
FAQs: how do I...
Evaluate website content
Web pages need to be viewed at least as critically as any journal article or book chapter. Ask yourself by whom, where, when, and why the page was created. To develop your web content evaluation skills try the following tutorials:
Access online resources
We recommend that you always access our subscription resources through the links on the Library website. Login with your University of Kent login details.
Most of the resources below are freely available on the internet. In addition, the Library subscribes to a vast range of online resources: see other pages within this guide for subscription e-books, and bibliographic databases.
General economics resources
- Resources for economists
- Economists Online: research results from over 20, mainly European, academic institutions; includes journal articles, working papers, book chapters, theses, datatsets and conference proceedings
- Higher Education Academy: Economics Network
- Welcome to internet economist: online tutorial to enhance internet skills of economics students
- Virtual library Business and Economics
- Eurostat: the statistical office of the EU
- Institute for Development Studies (University of Sussex)
- RGS Economics web site
- ESDS (Economic and social data service): includes data from the Data Archive, the Institute for Social & Economic Research, the IMF databanks and much more
- UN Comtrade database: access to free data about commodities markets
- Historical Statistics of the United States: fully searchable database of US historical statistics, which allows users to create customised tables reflecting their own areas of interest
Online reference works
- New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics: standard reference work for the discipline
- Oxford Reference Online: a large collection of subject and language dictionaries, and other general reference works
- Oxford English Dictionary (OED): online version of the authoritative dictionary of English
Working papers
- NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research): click on Publications to access their collection of working papers
- EconPapers: provides access to RePEc (Research Papers in Economics), 'the world's largest collection of on-line Economics working papers, journal articles and software'
- IDEAS (Internet Documents in Economics Access Service): bibliographic data for 180,000 working papers, journals articles and book chapters and full text for ca 90,000 of them.
Economic Data Sources
- Economic & Social Data Service (ESDS) - registration required - access to macro data from world institutions such as World Bank (e.g. indicators), IMF, UN and OECD, plus Time Series Indicators. See ESDS International for an overview
- The NESSTAR catalogue includes information from the Labour Force Survey and other important datasets, although if you wish to work with the actual data, and it is not provided in NESSTAR, you may have to request it from the Secure Data Service (adademics and research PGs only)
- IMF Data and Statistics - data from the International Monetary Fund
- OECD iLibrary - data and statistical publications from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, includes OECD Economic Outlook, OECD Employment Statistics and Journal of Competition Law and Policy
- Office for National Statistics - national statistical collation and interpretation service. Provides overview analysis of important national datasets. E.g. see these themes:
- United Nations Statistics Division - general statistics compendiums (e.g. the Statistical Yearbook and World Statistics Pocketbook), plus collated statistical publications on international trade, national accounts, demography and population, social indicators, gender, industry, energy, environment, human settlements and disability
- see also UN Statistics Databases - data collections for different areas - e.g. such as the UN Comtrade database (commodity trading)
- World Bank Data - raw data and statistical publications from the World Bank
- Use the World Databank if you want to create your own data tables from the full range of WB indicators
See the Statistics, maps and demographics page for further resources
Business Intelligence Sources
- Business Insights: market reports (includes Access Asia): approximately 150 in depth Market Reports on all areas of business worldwide
- FAME: company reports and information service
- GMID (Global Market Information Database): business intelligence on countries, companies, markets and consumers. An integrated online information system covering over 350 markets and 207 countries
- Morningstar Company Intelligence (formerly Hemscott Company Guru Academic): financial data for the worlds to 300,000 companies. Includes detailed data on all directors of UK listed companies. Kive Regulatory and AFX News Feeds. Share Prices, Trades and Charts
- Key Note Market Reports: full text of the market report series
For further resources, see the relevant section of the Business School subject guide
United Nations (including UN programmes and agencies)
- United Nations
- United Nations yearbook (1946 to date)
- UN Economic Commission for Latin America & the Caribbean (ECLAC)
- UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
- UN Development Programme (UNDP)
- Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
- UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO)
Other international organisations
- International Monetary Fund (IMF)
- World Bank
- Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
- SourceOECD
- International Labour Organisation (ILO)
- World Trade Organisation (WTO)
- Bank for International Settlements (BIS)
- Europe: economic and monetary union (EMU)