Subject Guide School of Business and Economics: Content

The university library makes several databases available for staff and students looking for socio-economic, financial, geographic, or demographic data. Please consult the Libguide Finding Data for more information on these databases and how to access them.

The Libguide Working with data has useful tips on how to work with these databases, for example for combining data from different sources or for doing event studies.

Finding Journal Articles in Economics and Business

Almost all recent publications — and many older ones — for journals in economics and business are available online through LibSearch, the VU Library system. If a journal volume is only available in print, you can request it through LibSearch as well.

• Looking for a specific article?
  Use the title of the article as your search term.

• Looking for a specific journal?
  Use the journal title as your search term.

• Looking for articles on a topic?
  Use subject databases like Scopus or Business Source Elite to search by keywords or combinations of keywords.
  (See also the tab on Literature Databases).

💡 Tip: The library offers direct access when you search via Google, Bing, Google Scholar, and PubMed. To make access even smoother, install the Lean Library browser extension — it alerts you when access is available through VU and searches for Open Access versions if not.

Good Starting Points: High-Quality Journals

The journals below are highly regarded and often offer broad overviews of current research — perfect if you're new to a topic:

• Academy of Management Annals (AoM)
  Publishes in-depth, up-to-date, and integrative reviews of advances in management research.

• Annual Reviews (AR)
  Annual overview articles across many fields, including economics.
  ➔ See the list of Annual Reviews available at the VU

• Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)
  Designed to help economists stay updated with the vast flow of new research.

• Journal of Economic Perspectives (JEP)
  Aims to bridge the gap between general interest media and highly technical academic journals in economics.

• Harvard Business Review (HBR)
  Accessible articles on management practices, strategy, and organizational leadership.

• INFORMS Journals
  The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences publishes 17 peer-reviewed journals on operations research, analytics, and management science.

Working papers are unpublished scholarly articles that haven't yet been peer-reviewed. Researchers — especially in economics and social sciences — use them to share ideas and get early feedback. They allow research to be available much faster than traditional journal publications. Searching working papers alongside published articles can help you discover new trends and ongoing research.

Indexes to Working Papers

IDEAS
 IDEAS is the largest freely available database for economics literature. It focuses mainly on working papers and research not yet published in academic journals. The platform is based on the RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) database.

RePEc - Research Papers in Economics
 RePEc is a global volunteer-driven project across 85 countries, aimed at improving the dissemination of research in economics and related fields. It offers a decentralized bibliographic database, covering working papers, journal articles, books, and more.

SSRN - Social Science Research Network
 SSRN hosts abstracts and full-text working papers and forthcoming papers in fields like accounting, economics, financial economics, law, and management.

Important Working Paper Serier

NBER – National Bureau of Economic Research

• Focus: U.S. economic behavior, policy impacts, projections.
• Access NBER Working Papers

CEPR – Centre for Economic Policy Research

• Focus: Wide range of economics discussion papers.
• Access CEPR Papers

IMF – International Monetary Fund

• Focus: International economics; papers available from 1997 onwards.

• Access IMF Working Papers

 VU-Related and Additional Resources

• Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers
  Access Tinbergen Papers

• Netherlands Research Network on IDEAS
  View Dutch Research Papers

Books and E-books
Find printed books and e-books easily via LibSearch, the VU Library system. To enhance your access to online materials while browsing, we recommend installing the Lean Library browser plugin, which connects you directly to VU Library resources.

Digital Book Collection
The library offers a wide range of online books and reference works through LibSearch and the Lean Library plugin. Many online books allow PDF downloads by chapter or volume, though some have page limits or restrictions on simultaneous users. Please note that course literature and textbooks are often not available digitally because of publishers restrictions.

Selected Online Reference Collections

Handbooks in Economics Series

The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics

Encyclopedia of Finance (Springer)

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History

International Historical Statistics

Oxford University Press reference works on Economics

Springer reference works on Business and management

Springer reference works on Economics

Printed Books
Many books, including textbooks, are only available in print. Textbooks and course materials are located on the first floor of the main building. For books on business administration, management, organization, innovation, and entrepreneurship, visit the study room on the seventh floor.
Some books are stored in our warehouses and can be requested via LibSearch. To borrow books, make sure your your student card is activated as a library card. For details, check the general Library information.