Econ 315: Public Economics
Non-exhaustive list of some sources for term paper
1. Journals publishing literature reviews (accessible through MU Library Website http://mulibraries.1cate.com)
- Journal of Economic Perspectives - Least technical among the three
- Journal of Economic Surveys
- Journal of Economic Literature
- The Economists' Voice
Sometimes also the more technical economic journals (like American Economic Review) publish articles (e.g. presidential addresses on a given topic) that are a valuable non-technical resource.
You can sometimes find working paper versions of literature surveys by just searching online via www.google.com or similar search engine (you should do this web-search anyway). With web searches you are bound find interesting material for your project. However, when citing material from the web, please think critically (this is important always, but especially when using material from the web): Who published the material? Do they have a vested interest on the topic or are they objective researchers (naturally, this is hard to evaluate and the objective researchers often have a vested interest on the topic)? What are the institutional affiliations and what are the credentials of the authors?
2. Think-thanks and private foundations: most of the organizations (albeit not all) below are partisan or at least more sympathetic to one point of view, and this should be taken into account when citing their research papers:
- Brookings Institutions www.brookings.edu
- Urban Institute www.urban.org
- Tax Policy Center Joint initiative between Brookings and Urban Institute
- Heritage Foundation www.heritage.org
- Cato Institute www.cato.org
- American Enterprise Institute www.aei.org
- Rand Institute www.rand.org
- Century Foundation www.tcf.org
- Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation www.kff.org
3. Pure Interest Groups
- AARPwww.aarp.org
- Concord Coalition www.concordcoalition.org
4. Academic and professional organizations
- National Academy of Social Insurance www.nasi.org
- National Tax Association www.ntanet.org
- National Bureau of Economic Research www.nber.org (Working Papers can be very technical)
5. Government Resources
Depending on the topic chosen, several governmental agencies publish research on relevant topics. Some of them are listed below, especially CBO and GAO have excellent resources.
- Congressional Budget Office www.cbo.gov
- Government Accountability Office www.gao.gov
- Social Security Administration www.ssa.gov
- Environmental Protection Agency www.epa.gov
- Office of Management and Budget http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/
- Council of Economic Advisors http://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/
- US Government Portal Site http://www.firstgov.gov/
5. International Organizations: The following international organizations sometimes publish general (non-US specific) articles on several topics that are relevant for the course:
- International Monetary Fund www.imf.org
- Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development www.oecd.org
- World Bank www.worldbank.org
6. Financial/Economic Newspapers/Magazines (online versions require subscription):
- The Economist www.economist.com
- Sometimes has broad surveys on general topic. Often a very reliable source.
- The Wall Street Journal www.wsj.com
- The Financial Times ft.com
Also excellent sources for finding information from newspapers are:
- Lexis-Nexis
- (Professional database, goes back many years, has also legal and medical information link)
7. Resources from Academia
- University of Michigan Office of Tax Policy Research Their Tax Policy 101 is an excellent introduction to many topics