Economics Research and Resource Support

The US Energy Information Administration (http://www.eia.doe.gov/) goal is to: provide policy-neutral data, forecasts, and analysis to promote sound policy making, efficient markets, and public understanding regarding energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment. (Source: EIA)

OPEC Revenues Fact Sheet
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/OPEC_Revenues/Factsheet.html

Based on projections from the EIA December 2009 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) could earn $575 billion of net oil export revenues in 2009 and $759 billion in 2010. Last year, OPEC earned $965 billion in net oil export revenues, a 41 percent increase from 2007. Saudi Arabia earned the largest share of these earnings, $284 billion, representing 29 percent of total OPEC revenues. On a per-capita basis, OPEC net oil export earning reached $2,671 in 2008, a 38 percent increase from 2007.

Source: Docuticker

Do you need information on economic issues related to climate change? Research institutes and think tanks are excellent resources.

I have created a Google Custom Search Engine (below) that will let you search across 43 Canadian Think Tanks

Enter your search terms in the search box.

If you need assistance with your research on climate change issues please contact me HERE.
Or, email the research help desk HERE.

Just as you are nearing the end of your essay assignment you wonder: "how do I acknowledge the sources I have used?"

To help you answer this question Western Libraries has brought together a number of citation quick guides and provides access to numerous resources to help you determine how to cite a journal article from a database versus an article from print journal, how to cite a book with one or more than one author, how to cite a Royal Commission report...

To find the most common citation style guides use the Essay Help Quick Link on the Library Home Page. Click on Style Guides to get access to Online Guides for MLA, Chicago/Turabian, APA, ASA, Legal Citations and more.

MLA and APA have both recently published new editions with some important changes. Make sure you familiarize yourself with the new guides.

A key resource for effective and efficient bibliographic management is RefWorks.

• RefWorks is easy to learn and available anywhere.
• Available to authorized Western users, and it's FREE!
• Can be used with MSWord to create formatted footnotes/in-text citations and reference lists.
• Can be used to capture citation information and documents directly from Web-pages
• Provides a tool for reference sharing. Great for collaboration!
• Ideal for coursework, group and research projects.

To set up a RefWorks account Click on RefWorks on the Western Libraries Home Page and follow the straightforward instructions. NOTE: You must use your Western email account as verification of affiliation with Western.

RefWorks has a series of excellent tutorials that will take you through the process of collecting, storing, and managing your reference information.

If you would like to help with a particular citation style or if you need assistance with RefWorks please contact the Research Help Desk or me.

From the British Library, a series of industry research guides.

The Business & IP Centre has located the best information for researching key industries. The guides provide information on useful databases, publications and websites.

There are 22 Guides. They can be accessed Here (PDFs)
http://www.bl.uk/bipc/dbandpubs/helpfind/industry.html

Here is a sample of the available Guides:

• Advertising Industry Guide


• Alcoholic Drinks Industry Guide


• Book Industry Guide


• Construction Industry Guide


• Fast Food & Snacks Industry Guide


• Furniture Industry Guide


• Green and Ethical Business Opportunities


• Insurance Industry Guide


• Organic Food Industry Guide


• Packaging Industry Guide


• Pharmacy Industry Guide


• Sports Industry Guide


• Travel & Tourism Industry Guide [


• TV and Film Industry Guide

Occasionally I have offered information on websites of interest for the study of Economics Once again, I have two sites I wish to draw to your attention.

• Library of Economics and Liberty
• Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

Library of Economics and Liberty

The Library of Economics and Liberty offers full texts of a large collection of economics books and essays.

The site brings together important commentators on a variety of issues in economics.

From the site: The website is provided by Liberty Fund, Inc., a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals. The Foundation develops, supervises, and finances its own educational activities, with the goal of fostering discussion and thought on enduring topics pertaining to the creation and maintenance of such a society.

Site: http://www.econlib.org/

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

This website lets you browse questions (and the answers) submitted by readers.
Contains "Fed in Print," a comprehensive index to Federal Reserve System economic research publications.
A keyword search on "recession," for example, returns 343 published articles. An Advanced Search options let you search by Title, Author, Bank and more.
Another section, Economic Letters offers short essays on current topics by Research economists.
This is an excellent resource for students and faculty.

Site: http://www.frbsf.org/

Stay current with the latest news using Factiva. (Licensed for Western Users Only). Factiva provides access to news from over 8000 sources, available from 118 countries in 22 languages. There are 96 Canadian publications including The Globe & Mail, Toronto Star and National Post. Factiva also provides extensive company and industry search capabilities.

To access the current headlines, business reports, editorials and more, go to Factiva (either via Databases by Title (Here) or from the Shared Library Catalogue (Here).
Click on News Pages. On the drop down menu select country or area of interest, e.g., Canada or United States or United Kingdom, etc. OR, Energy, Financial Crisis, Investing/Securities etc., to get the Top Publications in the selected country or on the selected issue.

As part of an irregular series highlighting interesting commentaries on economic issues here is a Working Paper from the Harvard Business School Working Papers.
Feeling Good about Giving: The Benefits (and Costs) of Self-Interested Charitable Behavior
PDF File

By: Lalin Anik, Lara B. Aknin, Michael I. Norton, and Elizabeth W. Dunn
September 10, 2009

Executive Summary:
Helping others takes countless forms and springs from countless motivations, from deep-rooted empathy to a more calculated desire for public recognition. Social scientists have identified a host of ways in which charitable behavior can lead to benefits for the giver, whether economically via tax breaks, socially via signaling one's wealth or status, or psychologically via experiencing well-being from helping. Charitable organizations have traditionally capitalized on all of these motivations for giving, with a recently emerging focus on highlighting the mood benefits of giving--the feelings of empowerment, joy, and inspiration that giving engenders. Indeed, if giving feels good, why not advertise the benefits of "self-interested giving," allowing people to experience that good feeling while increasing contributions to charity at the same time? HBS doctoral candidate Lalin Anik, Professor Michael I. Norton, and coauthors explore whether organizations that seek to increase charitable giving by advertising the benefits of giving are making claims supported by empirical research and, most importantly, whether such claims actually increase donations.

Source: Docuticker, September 14, 2009