Financial Databases
Websites
Reference Sources

Databases

Catalog of Schaffer Library
Browsing by Selected LC Class Numbers
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Subject Research: Economics
Citation Guides and Style Manuals

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Off-Campus Access to Union Databases
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Introduction

This webpage aims to lead students of Economics 334 (and others) to sources of financial information on the firm, as well as to background information on corporate operating environments.  The headings and links above correspond to categories of

• Company-specific data
• Operating environment data, and
• Indexes to both types of data

This webpage also provides pointers on broadening your search in the Library's online catalog and leads to our page Subject Research: Economics.  That page gives access to Union's subscriptions to economics databases and journals, as well as important websites for economists.

Lexis-Nexis/Company Financial Information
Here is one of the "gold mines" of data about the firm. Note that the link above takes you to a number of choices with firm-specific information:
          Company Financial Reports,
          Company Profiles,
          Compare Companies,
          and SEC Filings and Reports.
  Most have an important but optional pull-down menu labeled "Source" that allows you to pick from a list of such corporate-information databanks as:

• SEC 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, 20-F reports, as well as annual reports and filings
• NAARS annual reports
• International company, U.S. public and private company reports
• Bankruptcy reports
• Standard and Poor corporate descriptions
• Disclosure reports
• Hoover's company reports
• Stock reports

Mergent Online (formerly FIS Online)
At the above link is the electronic database comprising the information traditionally to be found in the paper-format Moody's Manuals.  The user can retrieve data on a single firm or on several comparatively.  Typically the Website provides 10 years' worth of data, but a historical backfile is available on a cd-rom (please ask at the Reference Desk).

Websites
Below one reaches the Securities and Exchange Commission's data, accumulated from mandated corporate filings (the 10K, the 10Q, etc., reports).  Following the link to the SEC's "Edgar" are several commercial stock-picking sites that offer the same data repackaged, together with useful analyses.

EDGAR
The primary source of corporate financial data is EDGAR, found here at the Web-site of the Securities and Exchange Commission (http://www.sec.gov/).  Instructive as it may be to use the primary source, access to "EDGAR" information is offered by Mergent Online (above).

Selected commercial websites that offer research, analysis, and comparative information drawing upon the publicly filed data: 

Daily Stocks (http:www.dailystocks.com)

InvestorGuide (http://www.investorguide.com)

Reuters' Stock Information (www.investor.reuters.com/StockEntry.aspx?target=/stocks)

Zacks Equity Research (http://www.zacks.com)

Reference Sources
Here are several titles on the shelves of Schaffer Library's Reference Collection (except for most Moody's manuals, which have been moved to storage in this era of Mergent Online).  

America's Corporate Families: the Billion Dollar Directory (Parsipanny, NJ: Dun's Marketing Services)

Useful for identifying corporate affiliations, subsidiaries, and acquisitions.

CALL NUMBER: Ref HG 4057 .A143

Hoover's Handbook of American Business (Austin, TX: Reference Press)

Popular two-page treatments with some useful analysis and data.[Note: Other "Hoovers" can be seen directly adjacent on the shelf: Hoover's Handbook of World Business, Hoover's Handbook of Emerging Companies, Hoover's Handbook of Private Companies, Hoover's Masterlist of Major European Companies, Hoover's Masterlist of Major Latin American Companies.  Go to the Lexis-Nexis link above for the electronic version of the Hoover's Handbooks.  The online versions have less content than the print, in some cases.]

CALL NUMBER: Ref HG 4057 .A2862

Mergent's Handbook of NASDAQ Stocks (NY: Mergent)

Complements Mergent Online with investor information about the NASDAQ-listed firms.

CALL NUMBER: Ref HG 4501 .M58

Million Dollar Directory (Parsipanny, NJ: Dun's Marketing Services)

Although not a copious supply of data, a handy place to confirm an SIC code, or to make a start.

CALL NUMBER: Ref HC 102 .D8 

Moody's Industrial Manual (New York: Moody's Investor Service)

Offers substantial corporate history and description, balance sheet data and financials both current and retrospective. Note: Because of access to Mergent Online, "Moody's" volumes are no longer shelved in the Schaffer Library building but are in off-site storage.  These volumes, running back many years (see Library Web Catalog), remain useful for longitudinal studies. Besides "industrials", other "Moody's manuals" are similarly available for paging from the storage facility of Schaffer Library: Moody's Bank and Finance Manual, Moody's International Manual, Moody's Municipal and Government Manual, Moody's OTC Industrial Manual, Moody's Public Utility Manual, and Moody's Transportation Manual.

CALL NUMBER: qHG 4961 .M67 

Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys (NY: Standard & Poor's)

Specializes in comparative company analysis in major sectors, as well as sector overview and projection. [Note: Current issues at Reference Desk; earlier issues at qHC 106.6 .S74.]

CALL NUMBER: Ref HC 106.6 .S74

Value Line Investment Survey (NY: A. Bernhard)

The principal looseleaf investors' equities advisory service.

CALL NUMBER: Ref HG 4501 .V26
Current year kept at the Reference Desk

Websites

Here only a sampling can be attempted.  The public sector is a rich source of background economic data for analysis purposes, although (with the exception of SEC's EDGAR, above) one would not find firm-specific information here.  Try, for example:

Bureau of Economic Analysis (http://www.bea.doc.gov/)
includes regional, national, and international data, as well as an overview of the U.S. economy

Bureau of Labor Statistics (U.S.)--www.bls.gov--includes a great variety of time series viewable on screen, especially (un)employment and prices, some local.

Bureau of the Census (U.S.)--www.census.gov--data on the site is extensive and open to the creative imagination to apply it to the firm--such marketing and competition-related issues as projections of demographics, including household composition, nationally and by state can be addressed with census data.

County Business Patterns (U.S.)--www.census.gov/epcd/cbp/view/cbpview.html--under the auspices of the Bureau of the Census, this data site contributes substantially to uncovering local-level microeconomic patterns.

Department of Commerce (U.S.)--www.doc.gov--the umbrella organization to some of the above and as such an entree to many others one could try for background operating-conditions data.

Economic Indicators (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/indicators/browse.html)--annual monthly coverage of indicators for the U.S. economy since 1998.

Economic Statistics Briefing Room (http://www.whitehouse.gov/fsbr/esbr.html)
a service of the Executive Branch

Fedstats (http://www.fedstats.gov)

Federal Reserve Board (http://www.federalreserve.gov)
links to "the Fed"'s site, with full text research and discussion papers; minutes, testimony, and speeches of "Fed" officials; statistics

FERRET--www.ferret.bls.census.gov--represents the Federal Electronic Research, Review, and Extraction Tool, whereby the user can extract and compile datasets of one's own design out of data residing with the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

General Accounting Office (http://www.gao.gov)
offers the current (even daily) investigative reports of this "arm" of the Congress, in full text and in abstracts

Regional Economic Accounts (http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/regional/reis/)

Stat-USA/Internet (http://www.stat-usa.gov/)
Web version of the National Trade Databank, the Economic Bulletin Board, and several other government datafiles. Although use is free, a password is required for entering some files. Come to the Reference Desk for assistance.

Reference Sources

The print sources, cited below from the Schaffer Library Reference Collection, offer a rich array of quantitative information concerning the U.S. and international economies in which corporations must operate, as well as political and social climates present and past.

The American Marketplace : Demographics and Spending Patterns.   (Ithaca, N.Y. : New Strategist Publications). On-going.

CALL NUMBER: Ref HA214 .A60 

Business Statistics of the United States (Lanham, MD: Bernan Press). On-going.

Continues the former government-published series, in providing solid time series of macroeconomic data on the U.S. economy and its sectors.

CALL NUMBER: Ref HC101 .A13122

The Congressional portion of Lexis-Nexis

A significant online source of publications representing the work carried out in the U.S. Congress, including bills, reports, documents, hearings, and the Congressional Record.

Country Forecasts (Syracuse, NY: Political Risk Services). Current issue.

Useful for gauging political and economic stability in economies beyond the U.S.

CALL NUMBER: Ref HC 10 .C66 

County and City Data Book (Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of the Census). On-going.

Provides a local economic picture; time series can be constructed using earlier editions back to 1949; shelved adjacent is the County and City Extra, a commercial publisher's updating supplement.

CALL NUMBER: Ref HA 202 .A36

Economic Indicators Handbook  (Detroit: Gale Research)

Consolidates such data as found, for example, in Business Statistics of the United States, above.  Not necessarily as current.

CALL NUMBER: Ref HC 103 .E26  2000

Economic Report of the President  (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office)

A principal source of year-by-year macroeconomic indicators for the U.S

CALL NUMBER:  PR 43.9:2005 (at Ref. Desk; earlier editions in Government Documents Collection, though number varies by presidency)

Handbook of North American Industry: NAFTA and the Economies of its Member Nations (Lanham, MD: Bernan Press)

Useful to consult for any project involving trade or other operations with Canada or Mexico.

CALL NUMBER: Ref HF 1746 .H370  1999

Handbook of U.S. Labor Statistics (Lanham, MD: Bernan Press). On-going.

Continues the former government-published series, in providing solid time series of labor-economics data on the U.S. economy and its sectors.

CALL NUMBER: Ref HD 8051 .A630

Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios (NY: Dun & Bradstreet). On-going.

Ratio values for the upper, middle, and lower quartiles of four-digit SIC codes

CALL NUMBER: Ref HF 5681 .R25 I5250 (latest edition at Reference Desk)

International Marketing Data and Statistics (London: Euromonitor). On-going.

Marketing-relevant data for the U.S., side by side with other countries excluding Europe, for which there is a separate volume.

CALL NUMBER: Ref HA 42 .I56

Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys (NY: Standard & Poor's)

Offers industry sector overview and projection.

CALL NUMBER: (Ref) HC 106.6 .S74  (earlier issues at qHC 106.6 .S74)

Statistical Abstract of the United States  (Washington, DC: Bureau of the Census)

Single-most inclusive--and used--data source on the U.S. economy, with enormous time-series potential given the run of editions from the current back to 1928.

CALL NUMBER: Ref HA 202 .S680 (latest edition at Reference Desk)

The Statistical portion of Lexis-Nexis
 

A significant online source of statistical data in the Reference Collection.  It cites data and in some cases provides full-text; for the rest, it is backed up by microfiche, as follows:

The microfiche collections filed as ASI, IIS, and SRI (titles spelled out below) are on the main floor. Equipment to read, copy, and scan microfiche is provided nearby, and assistance is available at the Reference Desk. 

(Besides access through the Statistical portion of Lexis-Nexis, one may also consult

• American Statistics Index (paper volumes at Ref Bibliog Z 7554 .U5 A46)
• Index to International Statistics (paper volumes at Ref Bibliog Z 7552 I53), and
• Statistical Reference Index (paper volumes at Ref Bibliog Z 7554 .U5 S79) )

Statistical Yearbooks

Statistical yearbooks of the following countries and areas are found in Reference; many are represented by both current and previous years' editions to consult:

Britain: Ref HA1122 .A330
France: Ref HA1213 .A4
Germany: Ref HA1232 .A45
Latin America: Ref HA935 .S790
Israel: Ref HA1931 .A35
Russia and Eurasia: Ref HA1446 .U17
China: Ref DS779.15 .C48

Stocks, Bonds, Bills, and Inflation Yearbook (Chicago: R.G. Ibbotson Associates)

Lengthy time series in macroeconomic measures as well as in market and equity returns.

CALL NUMBER: (Ref) HG 4915 .S60 
(latest year at Reference Desk;
earlier editions at qHG 4915 .S60)

U.S. Industry and Trade Outlook (NY: McGraw-Hill)

A commercially published version of a former public document, valuable for its forecasting activity in major sectors of the U.S. economy.

CALL NUMBER: C61.48:
(latest year at Reference Desk;
earlier editions in Government Documents Collection)

Yearbook of International Trade Statistics (NY: United Nations Statistical Office). On-going.

Import and export data by commodity and trading partner; a long-standing title in the Reference Collection enabling one to construct time series or trade data or assess recent-year patterns.

CALL NUMBER: Ref JX 1977 .A2

The following databases sometimes lead to full-text articles and sometimes are designed to tell you which journals they cite are held here in Schaffer Library. But, some do neither. 

When the database does NOT lead to a full-text copy of the article, to check whether (and where) a title is to be found in the Library's collections, it is necessary to check the Find Journal Titles lists linked from here or on our Library homepage.  Note: you must check these lists before ordering an article on Interlibrary Loan.  Only articles not held by Union (print or electronic format) qualify for ILL.

ABI/Inform Global
Long the most highly-regarded database of business literature, "ABI" is part of the ProQuest service, described below. (The link opens the ProQuest site with all parts checked.  To open ABI/Inform Global alone, clear the other choices and check only "ABI/Inform Global".)

EBSCOhost
EBSCOhost offers a large (c.3500 titles) academic database called "Academic Search Elite" drawing from a great number of disciplines including economics. Many listings are full-text, and there is an auxiliary file called the "Business Source Elite", a database of business journals and newspapers.

Lexis-Nexis / Business News
One component of the Lexis-Nexis site (targeted by the above link) is geared to searching international, national, and regional newspapers, as well as trade publications, for corporate information, often in full-text format.

ProQuest
This cross-disciplinary database offers coverage of both newspaper and popular and scholarly journal literature, for a broad range of topics including economics and business. Of primary relevance to Economics 334 is ABI/Inform Global; however, a search of the other sub-files may well prove productive.  Many articles are available in full-text.

Book locations: Click on the red hyperlinked word in the box below "Location", and a map showing the book's location by floor and specific area will pop up.

Please note: For books that Schaffer Library does not own, or are checked out, please try ConnectNY, a service offered jointly by the libraries of Union, Vassar, St. Lawrence, Siena, RIT, RPI, and others in NYS to provide their borrowers with delivery in a few days of any books available in their combined collections.

Journal holdings: Use the Find Journal Titles link (on the Library's main webpage) to find if particular journals are present in any format.

Business forecasting Cash flow Corporations--finance Finance Investment analysis Investments Ratio analysis

 

Need to research more broadly in economics than the focus of this page leads to?  The link below is to the economics member of Schaffer Library's suite of webpages on doing subject research:

Citation Guides and Style Manuals

Style manuals and citations guides illustrate how to cite book, journal, and other research sources, including materials found in online databases and on the Web according to the conventional format of a particular discipline. Subject-specific citation guides are listed below, and a complete listing appears at Reference Sites: Citation Guides and Style Manuals.

Chicago:  Turabian Style Guide. [ Online ] Available: http://www.lib.usm.edu/~instruct/guides/turabian.html

Faculty using Blackboard are encouraged to incorporate links to Library resources (specifically the Research by Subject pages and the appropriate course-related Research Guides) into the Blackboard course pages. Your Departmental Liaison or Bibliographic Instruction Contacts can assist you.

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