Contents:
Country Reports | Encyclopedias & Statistical Sources | Library Subscription Databases
All library databases are linked from the library website at http://library.stmarytx.edu/acadlib/indexes/dblist.htm .
Business Source Complete
Business Source Complete (BSC) offers access to thousands of business
and economics magazines and journals with full-text for many titles.
BSC is the best database to search for scholarly articles regarding
world economic issues. In addition, BSC provides access to numerous
sources of country data including reports by the Economist Intelligence
Unit, CountryWatch, ICON Group International, and Business Monitor
International.
Global Road Warrior
A database of country profiles geared to provide practical information
for business people and travelers. Categories for each country profile
include country facts, climate, society and culture, business culture,
demographics, money and banking, travel essentials, business capitals,
points of interest, security briefing, health and medical,
transportation, communications, business services, technical/internet,
electrical, embassies/consulates, the businesswoman, essential terms,
and maps.
IBISWorld
Industry research database that includes Global Industry Research Reports. Each report is about 25-40 pages in length and includes data on market characteristics, segmentation, industry conditions, competitors, industry performance, and outlook. IBISWorld also offers more extensive coverage of China and Australia. International companies are also covered by the database's Company Research Reports.
Lexis/Nexis
Lexis/Nexis includes numerous country profiles in the "Business"
section of the database. You can search these profiles by going to the
"Business" section and clicking on the "Country Profiles" link. The
reports mainly focus on business opportunities, risk reports, and
economic and political news.
Stat-USA
Stat-USA is an online service provided by the US Department of Commerce
that provides business, economic, and trade data published by the
United States government. Stat-USA includes detailed economic data on the
United States and information about
international economics with a focus on foreign trade. Topics include U.S. imports and exports by country, country
commercial guides, and the CIA International Trade Statistics
publications. Access to Stat-USA is restricted to in the library use only. The Blume Library only has one license to the database. Ask
at the Reference Desk for assistance or call Reference at
(210) 436-3508.
Background Notes
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/
Publications produced by the
Electronic Information and Publications Office
include facts about the land, people, history, government, political
conditions, economy, and foreign relations of countries, dependencies,
and areas of special sovereignty. The reports also provide links to
additional information on each country.
BBC Country Profiles
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/country_profiles/
This BBC site presents overviews of countries and territories of the
world. The site also offers profiles of major international
organizations. Each profile provides a description of the country and a
timeline, a analysis of the current economic and political situation,
links to recent BBC News articles as well as audio and video links,
links to other BBC services when available (such as language
tutorials), and other related links to sources of information about the
country, territory, or organization.
Doing Business
http://www.doingbusiness.org/
The site, published by the World Bank Group,
"provides objective measures of business regulations and their
enforcement across 181 economies and selected cities at the subnational
and regional level." Topics covered include: starting a business,
dealing with licenses, employing workers, registering property, getting
credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders,
enforcing contracts, and closing a business.
Eldis
http://www.eldis.org/country/
An online index to research on world development and the environment.
Eldis includes country profiles for Africa, Asia, Latin America and the
Caribbean, and the Middle East. It also indexes a large amount of
material from government agencies and non-profit organizations; much of
this materials is full-text.
Export.gov
http://www.export.gov/
Portal to exporting information from the U.S. Department of Commerce. A account, provided for free to for students/researchers, provides access to the Market Research Library which includes Country Commercial Guides, Market Research Reports, and Best Market Reports; trade statistics through TradeStats Express,
information on trade regulations, standards, and certification
requirements; and a wealth of additional resources. Documents in
Export.gov may also be found in Stat-USA/National Trade Data Bank, one of the Blume Library's databases.
GlobalEdge
http://globaledge.msu.edu/
This international business portal publishes and links to detailed
information about other countries. Each individual country webpage
contains information on the country's history, government, economy,
statistics, and corporations. Country webpages also link to key
country-specific Internet resources and articles about the country. The
GlobalEdge resources is offered as a free service by The Center for
International Business Education and Research in The Eli Broad Graduate
School of Management at Michigan State University. You can register for a free account to gain access to the discussion boards and all sections of the site.
The Harvard Baker Library Country Guides
http://www.library.hbs.edu/guides/#country
An online index by country to research available through the Internet.
Some of the publications included in this index are freely available
via the Internet. This index includes governmental, non-profit, and
commercial sources that focus on international business information.
International Monetary Fund Staff Country Information
http://www.imf.org/external/country/index.htm
IMF reports and publications which provide detailed economic and
financial information for individual countries. Publications are
available going back to the early or mid-1990s.
The World Factbook
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook
The World Factbook, an annual publication of the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA), is a reference work that provides a brief overview of the
organization and economy of other countries.
The library's book collection include numerous titles that focus on a particular country and issues relating to foreign trade, economics, investments, politics, and history. To find these resources, try searching the library online catalog using some of the following subject terms: Business enterprises, foreign; Foreign trade regulation; Investments, foreign; Corporations, foreign; United States -- Foreign economic relations.
To search by keyword, try combining the country name with the following terms: historical dictionary, encyclopedia, or doing business. Example search: "historical dictionary" and Cuba.
Explore Government Documents: Statistics
http://www.lib.umich.edu/government-documents-center/explore/browse/statistics/260/search/
This database is a product of the University of Michigan that indexes statistical resources available through the Internet. The web site indexes statistics on a wide range of topics but a section of particular interest to country economic studies are Foreign Governments or Foreign Trade.
Government Databases in International Affairs
http://library.stmarytx.edu/acadlib/doc/electronic/dbint.htm
Resource guide developed by the Blume Library's Government Information
Librarian, this site describes and links to a "selected number of
government databases dealing with international issues that are
available on the Web."
LABORSTA Internet: an International Labour Office database on labour statistics operated by the ILO Bureau of Statistics
http://laborsta.ilo.org/
Freely-available online database of labor statistics from 200 countries
and territories. Provides yearly data on topics like total and
economically active population, employment, unemployment, hours of
work, wages, labor cost, consumer price indices, occupational injuries,
and strikes and walkouts. Also includes household income and
expenditure data. Some estimates available. Updates the library's print
subscription to the Yearbook of Labour Statistics.
Statistics in Latin America
http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/region/statistics/
A detailed list of statistical source that cover the region and
countries in Central America and South America. Statistical sources
compiled by the Latin American Network Information Center, affiliated
with the Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies at UT Austin.
UNdata
http://data.un.org/
Portal to "UN statistical databases ... from which users can now search
and download a variety of statistical resources of the UN System."
Databases cover topics such as education, employment, energy,
environment, food and agriculture, health, human development, industry,
information and communication technology, national accounts,
population, refugees, trade, and tourism. Also includes several
databases of various indicators.
World Development Indicators Data Query
http://ddp-ext.worldbank.org/ext/DDPQQ/member.do?method=getMembers&userid=1&queryId=135
"Free access to a segment of the World Development Indicators database,
an extensive collection of data about development: 54 timeseries
indicators for 207 countries and 18 groups, spanning 5 years. Choose
several ways of displaying the data: index, percentage change, and
graphs; export the result in standard formats."
Political Handbook of the World
In the library's CQ Press Political Reference Suite,
the Political Handbook of the World provides country overviews for over
200 countries. Entries provide basic facts about the country and
details on the history of the country, the government and politics,
political parties, communication, intergovernmental representation.
Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations
"Presents easy-to-understand information on 200 countries and
dependencies from around the world. Entries discuss a variety of topics
in detail, from banking and securities to climate, from government data
to demographic statistics. Also includes biographical essays on
national leaders."
Annual Report on Exchange Arrangements and Exchange Restrictions
Reference K 4440 .A13 I57
This annual publication provides detailed information on the exchange
arrangements and exchange/trade restrictions of individual
International Monetary Fund (IMF) countries. The data is presented in a
tabular format. Some of the topics address include: type of currency,
exchange rate structure, resident and nonresident accounts structures,
import and export regulations, etc.
The Europa World Yearbook
Reference JN 1 .E85
The Europa World Yearbook is an annual publication that describes the
countries of the world. Each country profile provides an analysis of
the country's history, social structure, and economy. Each profile also
includes a statistical survey of the country and a directory of its
political and social organizations.
The Handbook of Country Risk: a Guide to International Business and Trade
Reference HC10. H337
"Provides up-to-date analysis of the risks involved in trading in over
140 countries, giving each a unique risk rating, highlighting key
economic indicators, likelihood of payment, risks and opportunities in
emerging markets, and industrial sector performance overviews." Some of
the data is also available online.
International Financial Statistics
Reference HG 61 .I57
International Financial Statistics is a one-stop source for statistics
on international and domestic finance. Subjects include exchange rates,
interest rates, prices, production, government finance, and national
accounts. The Blume Library purchases the annual yearbook and monthly
updates. The monthly updates are retained for two years.
Russia and Eurasia: Facts and Figures Annual
Reference HA 1446. U17
This annual publication gives detailed statistics and some analysis of
the countries that made up the USSR. Each state has its own chapter
that details information on basic economic indicators, history, the
state and its politics, military, security and crime, health and
welfare, economy, industry, agriculture, energy and the environment,
and foreign trade and aid.
The Statesman's Yearbook
Reference JA 51 .S7
The Statesman's Yearbook provides a general overview on the countries
of the world. While the information given covers a variety of topics,
the economies of profiled countries are discussed. The yearbook is
published annually.
Statistical Abstract of Latin America
Reference HA 935 .S8
The Statistical Abstract of Latin America provides statistics on
numerous topics including foreign trade, financial flows, national
accounts, government policy and finance, and prices. The Blume
Library's collection covers the years 1990 to 2002.
Statistical Yearbook
Reference HA 12.5 .U62
A annual publication of the United Nations, the Statistical Yearbook is
a compilation of international statistics for most countries. It
presents information on a variety of topics including finance, labor
statistics, national accounts, etc.
Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific
Reference HA 1665 .S73
The Statistical Yearbook is an annual publication that provides a wide
range of statistics on countries in Asia and the Pacific. Countries are
profiled individually. The Blume Library's collection includes
yearbooks from 1986-2004.
World Development Indicators
Reference HC 59.15 W656
Published by the World Bank, World Development Indicators provides
country statistics on a variety of issues including international
economics indicators, exports and imports, and national markets. The
Blume Library's collection includes reports from 1997-2004.
Yearbook of Labour Statistics
Reference 4826 .I63
The Yearbook of Labour Statistics is an annual publication that
provides detailed labor statistics for over 190 countries. The contents
include data on employment, unemployment, wages, hours of work, labor
costs, consumer prices, strikes and lockouts, and occupational
injuries. Updated by LABORSTA Internet (description above).
All library databases are linked from the library website at http://library.stmarytx.edu/acadlib/indexes/dblist.htm .
Business Source Complete
Business Source Complete (BSC) offers access to thousands of business
and economics magazines and journals with full-text for many titles.
BSC is the best database to search for scholarly articles regarding
world economic issues.
CIAOnet-Columbia International Affairs Online
The CIAOnet database provides a wealth of information on international
issues, including economics. Places to start for country research
include "Policy Briefs" and "Atlas". The Atlas section provides access
to country data collected by the Economist Intelligence Unit. For
additional information on countries, students can search the CIAOnet
database for journal articles, working papers, etc.
Lexis/Nexis Academic
Economic and other information about countries can be found on the
Lexis-Nexis database. Under the "News"search, the sources that will be
of use for country research are "Major World Newspapers", "Major World
Publications ", "Non-U.S. Newspapers and Wires", and "Non English
Language News" as well as non-English language news categories for
specific languages including Spanish.
Wall Street Journal
Searchable full text of the Eastern edition of the Wall Street Journal,
January 2, 1984 to the present. Search the WSJ for international
business, international economics, and other country research topics.