Economics Research Tips

The Internet will be valuable to you in a number of ways. First, you can do research on key topics (e.g. Keynesian fiscal policy, the state of the automobile industry, consumer preferences for national or regional markets) by using microeconomics, macroeconomics, or a key curriculum topic in your search engine. Second, the scope of the research available to you is enormous; it is a worldwide network of resources. Third, it is time and cost effective, meaning you quite possibly don't have the resources to visit a range of libraries, especially if you do not have ready access to information on library holdings.

Internet Sites for the Microeconomics Student

The first specializes in information on market models, and the government regulation that exists, particularly with respect to monopoly and oligopoly. If you are interested in the pros and cons of government regulation, check out this site.

Monopolistic Competition, Oligopoly, and Product Differentiation

http://sorrel.humboldt.edu/~microeco/oligop.htm

The second site analyzes the behaviour of individual economic units as they participate in society.

The third is a page in WebEc, and it contains links to other Internet resources related to microeconomics.

Internet sites for the Macroeconomics Student

One of the most popular Canadian sites provides links to resources concerning quantitative macroeconomics, with an emphasis on business cycles and the Real Business Cycle theory, in particular.

Keynesian economic theory, especially the concept of equilibrium income, where planned aggregate spending equals the level of actual production of output, is a major theme in almost all macroeconomics courses. You can learn about Keynesian economics and terms from this site.

Most texts provide a comprehensive glossary of terms and key concepts. However, if you are looking for a term you can't find in your text, or if you want to try a few mini tests, check out the following site:

Internet Sites for all Economics Students

If you are doing research in which you have to take a look at census data (e.g. on population, immigration, income in various Canadian regions), you will want to go to the following site. It contains free data on the economy; a section called Concepts, Definitions, Methods; a section on Economics research, and information on job opportunities.

Statistics Canada : http://www.statcan.ca/

If you are doing research which relates to the 2001 tax cuts, fiscal and monetary policy, recent budget speeches of Minister Paul Martin, Department organization information, publications, and careers in finance, go to

the Finance Department's site : http://www.fin.gc.ca

The Governor of the Bank of Canada, David Dodge, has recently been giving some interesting speeches on the state of the Canadian economy, and the reasons for recent interest rate cuts. If you want to review what he has said, look at the central bank's Annual Report, use their investment calculator, search for key monetary rate or statistics, or read some of their research papers or books, frequently written by some of the Bank's economists, then visit this site.

The Bank of Canada : http://www.bank-banque-Canada.ca

The World Bank has played a major role in international affairs in recent years, helping Asian countries such as Thailand, for example, get back to prosperity. The World Bank's motto is, "Our Dream is a World Free from Poverty." They run a program called World Links for Development, in which they are trying to provide poorer income people with Internet connectivity. They also provide jobs and scholarships to students.

The World Bank Group : http://www.worldbank.org

If you are searching for specific country economic information, particularly related to finance, go the following site. They also have a Publications section, financial policy information, and information on jobs availability with their organization.

The International Monetary Fund : http://www.imf.org

If you are doing research in the area of trade international trade agreements, trade policies, or trade disputes (for example, the current softwood lumber dispute between the United States and Canada), go to

The World Trade Organization site. (http://www.wto.org)