Economics

The collection’s primary function is to support research and teaching in the Department of Economics and its research centers.

Statistical publications are a special strength of the library’s collection. Online statistical resources include Datastream, Bloomberg, EIU Country Data, OECD Library, World Bank E-Library, National Bureau of Economic Research working papers, and other intergovernmental organizations’ statistical products. See the Government Documents and Information collection development statement for more information. 

Departments and Programs

Degree programs supported include the B.A. in Economics and a Ph.D. program. The Economic Growth Center offers a one-year M.A. program in International and Development Economics, designed for students who have had prior experience in central banks, economics ministries, statistical offices, national planning agencies, etc.

Subject areas include a full range of economics and cover development, economic history, economic theory, econometrics, industrial organization, international trade, macroeconomics, public finance, and labor economics.

There are two research centers in the department of economics: the Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics and the Economic Growth Center (EGC).

The Cowles Foundation “seeks to foster the development and application of rigorous logical, mathematical and statistical methods of analysis and concentrates on econometrics, economic theory, macroeconomics and structural microeconomics.”

EGC’s objective is “studying and promoting understanding of the economic development process within low-income countries and how development is affected by trade and financial relations between these countries and those developed earlier.” There is a program of economic history in the EGC.

Formats and materials acquired generally

• Scholarly serials (online preferred)
• Scholarly monographs (print and online)
• Conference proceedings
• Reports of international economic organizations.
• The Economic Growth Center Collection primarily collects statistical materials published by the governments of developing countries, their central banks, and intergovernmental organizations. Of special interest are development plans, censuses (population, housing, and agricultural), economic surveys, statistical yearbooks, budgets, and national accounts. 

Formats and materials collected selectively or by request

• Papers and research reports from nongovernmental institutes, research institutes, and universities with emphasis on material related to environmental, rural, or agricultural economics.
• New editions of collected works of economic theorists
• Significant reprints
• Material with a strictly local emphasis

Formats not collected

• Ephemera
• Instructor’s manuals
• Hardware and software manuals
• Juvenile works
• Pamphlets
• Preprints
• Manuscripts
• Microform
• Consumable workbooks

The monograph and journal collections are predominately in English, with some major Western European languages represented.  The Economic Growth Center Collection acquires publications in all languages. Those in Roman script are added to the collection at Marx Science and Social Science Library; with a few exceptions, material in non-Roman script are in the International Collections at Sterling Memorial Library.  

Periods covered are primarily 20th/21st-century along with some 19th-century material; current materials are emphasized.

Materials from Western Europe are limited to main statistical yearbooks and censuses. The Economic Growth Center Collection does not collect publications from Canada and the United States of America.  

The Economic Growth Center Collection collects statistical materials from the national/federal to the state/provincial level.

• Librarians from the Department of Areas Studies and Humanities Research Support, School of Management, Political Science, International Affairs, Anthropology, Data, and Law.
• Economic Growth Center