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Online Databases and Websites in Business and Economics


Business News 
Databases - scholarly material, citation only and full text
General Web Resources - selective sites in all aspects of business & economics
Industrial Reports
Massachusetts - local business and economics resources
Newspapers and other media outlets for local and regional covergae
Statistical Data -
Web Directories - subject guides to selective and carefully chosen sites on the Web

Web Search in a Nutshell - getting started in library research

Subscription Databases Available Only to the WSU Community:

  • Credo Reference – Cross search over 600 full text online reference books with a single search; find speedy, simple answers in authoritative, in-depth articles. Click a button and your search can be continued in our other reference databases, the WSU Library's Online Catalog, or article databases. Also has concept map interactive software to map out and focus your chosen research topic. Also contains images, sound files, animations, videos and much more.(WSC users only)
  • Business Source Complete - the world's definitive scholarly business database, indexing and abstracts for the most important scholarly business journals back as far as 1886 are included. Coverage in all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and economics. Additional full text content includes financial data, books, monographs, major reference works, case studies, investment research reports, industry reports, market research reports, company profiles, SWOT analyses, and more.
  • ABI Inform - offers business and financial information for researchers at all levels. The database includes in-depth coverage for over 2,860 publications, with more than 1,885 available in full text. Coverage includes business conditions, management techniques, business trends, management practice and theory, corporate strategy and tactics, and competitive landscape. Also provides information on 60,000 companies.
  • Regional Business News - This database provides comprehensive full text coverage for regional business publications. Incorporates coverage of 75 business journals, newspapers and newswires from all metropolitan and rural areas within the United States and is updated on a daily basis.
  • General Business File ASAP - Analyze company performance and activity, industry events and trends as well as the latest in management, economics and politics. Access to a combination of broker research reports, trade publications, newspapers, journals and company directory listings with full text and images available. Coverage from 1980 to present.
  • Public Affairs International.  Public affairs and world issues with coverage from 1972 to the present. An index to over 1/2 million articles, books, government documents, Internet sites and documents from more than 120 countries. Obviously useful for global issues in business and economics. 
  • International Directory of Business Biographies - 4 volumes, St. James Press, 2005. Search through our online subscription to the Biography Resource Center for profiles of business leaders worldwide. more biography resources
  • Mergent Online  (Moody's Manuals) - comprehensive suite of authoritative financial information. Contains data and annual reports for 10,000 public companies and their SEC filings; international companies and their annual reports. Expanded, in-depth, and detailed descriptions of public companies as they appear in the Mergent Manuals.
  • New! Full text access to the Encyclopedia of Business and Finance (2nd ed., 2 vols, 2006) and Encyclopedia of Small Business (2nd ed., 2 vols, 2002). Accessed through the Gale Virtual Reference Library - click on Business.

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Other Web Resources - selective list of free sites

General

  • Annual Reports - look for a company alphabetically, by company name, ticker symbol,  sector, industry, exchange, and by index. Reports can be viewed in either HTML or PDF format.
  • Brookings Institution - non-profit public policy organization with high-quality, independent research
  • Business.com -
  • Business.gov - managed by the U.S. Small Business Association
  • Currency Converter - for 164 currencies, filtered for validity
  • Economic Policy Institute - nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that seeks to broaden the public debate about strategies to achieve a prosperous and fair economy
  • EDGAR - the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system, performs automated collection, validation, indexing, acceptance, and forwarding of submissions by companies and others who are required by law to file forms with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
  • Financial Data Finder - database of websites targeted for finance researchers and scholars
  • Hoovers Online - company directories and other corporate information
  • Rand Economic Policy Center - non-profit with objective analysis
  • Thompson's Register of Manufacturers - (Requires free registration) search companies by product or company name. ThomasNet is the free version and allows you to do your preliminary searching or job estimation
  • Thomas: Legislative Information - Information about the activities of the U.S. Congress, primarily from 1995 to the present. Some material from earlier years and some historical documents are also included.
  • Trade.gov - the website of the International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce. Provides information on trade promotion, investment, and compliance with trade laws and agreements.
  • Urban Institute - non-partisan economic and social policy research

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Business News and General Interest

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Industrial Reports

Massachusetts

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Statistical Data

  • American Fact Finder - From the U.S. Census Bureau. Offers population, housing, economic and geographic data.
  • Bureau of Economic Analysis - Provides information on economic growth, regional development, and the United State's role in the world economy. This Website makes available articles and statistical data from the BEA's international, national, and regional programs on production, purchases, prices, personal income, government finances, inventories and balance of payments. Issues of the monthly Survey of Current Business are also available beginning in 1994.
  • Bureau of Labor Statistics - Many labor topics covered including statistical data, the economy at a glance, regional information and research. Statistical data series chronicle employment and unemployment, prices and living conditions, compensation and working conditions, and productivity. Issues of the BLS' Monthly Labor Review are available from 1988 to the present.
  • Economic Data - FRED - Provides up-to date financial and economic data, historical U.S. economic and financial data, including daily U.S. interest rates, monetary and business indicators, exchange rates, balance of payments and regional economic data.
  • Economic Report of the President -
  • Fed Stats - one stop shopping for Federal Statistics; collects statistics from over 100 U.S. government agencies
  • Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970
  • Statistical Abstract - published since 1878, the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States.
  • USA.Gov - easy, one-step access to all online U.S. Federal Government resources
  • USA Trade Online - offering the most U.S. foreign trade data
  • US Industry & Trade Outlook 2000 -
  • United States Economic Indicators - Available from April 1995 forward, this monthly compilation is prepared for the Joint Economic Committee by the Council of Economic Advisors and provides economic information on prices, wages, production, business activity, purchasing power, credit, money and Federal finance.

    More U.S., International, and state government sources

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Web Subject Directories

There are excellent subject directories on the Internet that can point you to the best online resources in specific areas of business and economics. These human guides to the Internet are a great way to find the best of the Internet/Web, and often find sites that can't be accessed by search engines. The best ones to use for scholarly material are:

  • IPL2 - Carefully chosen links to thousands of the best Websites for research information. You can search sections divided by Resources by Subject, Newspapers and Magazines, or Special Collections Created by the IPL2 – or simply enter your topic in the search box. Site formed by the Jan. 2010 merger of the Internet Public Library [IPL] and Librarians Internet Index [LII].
  • InfoMine - Virtual library of scholarly Internet resources. Features well organized access; notable for its collection of annotated and indexed links.
  • Academic Info - gateway to freely available academic resources on the web, with annotated entries. General links, related topics, in the news sections.

More subject directories on the web

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