EconLit

EconLit
Title	EconLit
Description	Bibliographic database of economics literature
Producer	American Economic Association
History	1969–present
Coverage	1886–present
Format	Bibliographic records, abstracts, journal article links
Access	Subscription via vendors (e.g., EBSCOhost, ProQuest, Ovid Technologies)

EconLit. It is a comprehensive bibliographic database and the premier literature index for the field of economics, produced and maintained by the American Economic Association. The database provides citations, with selected abstracts, to an extensive range of economic research dating back to 1886, covering academic journals, books, dissertations, and working papers. It is an indispensable tool for researchers, students, and policymakers seeking to navigate the vast scholarly output in economics and related disciplines.

Overview

EconLit serves as the digital equivalent to the print *Index of Economic Articles*, providing a structured and searchable gateway to global economic literature. The database is managed by the American Economic Association under the guidance of its editorial office, often in collaboration with academic advisors from institutions like Vanderbilt University. Its core function is to support literature reviews, meta-analyses, and research discovery by systematically indexing materials from hundreds of sources, including prominent series from the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Centre for Economic Policy Research. The indexing employs a controlled vocabulary from the *Journal of Economic Literature* classification system to ensure precise subject retrieval across complex topics such as monetary policy, international trade, and labor economics.

History and development

The origins of EconLit trace back to 1969 with the creation of the electronic database, evolving from the long-standing print publication, the *Index of Economic Articles*, which itself began in 1886. A major milestone was reached in the 1990s with the development of a CD-ROM version, dramatically increasing accessibility for academic libraries and research institutions like the Federal Reserve Board and the International Monetary Fund. The transition to online access through major vendors such as EBSCOhost and ProQuest in the late 1990s and early 2000s marked a significant expansion in its user base and functionality. Continuous development has incorporated indexing for dissertation abstracts from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global and links to full-text articles in services like JSTOR and Project MUSE.

Content and coverage

EconLit's coverage is international in scope, indexing articles from over 1,200 academic journals, including all journals published by the American Economic Association such as the *American Economic Review*, the *Journal of Economic Perspectives*, and the *Journal of Economic Literature*. Beyond journals, it includes citations for books, collective volume articles, dissertations, and working paper series from major organizations like the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the European Central Bank. The database's historical reach to 1886 allows researchers to trace the development of economic thought from the era of Alfred Marshall and John Maynard Keynes to contemporary debates involving economists like Esther Duflo and Paul Krugman. All records are enhanced with detailed bibliographic data and subject descriptors.

Access and usage

Access to EconLit is primarily through institutional subscriptions held by universities, research institutes, and government agencies worldwide, facilitated by platform vendors like EBSCOhost, Ovid Technologies, and ProQuest. Individual members of the American Economic Association typically receive access as a membership benefit. The interface allows for sophisticated searching using keywords, JEL classification codes, author names, and geographic descriptors, enabling users to filter results by document type, publication date, and language. Many records include links to full text within proprietary aggregators or through OpenURL resolvers connecting to institutional holdings like ScienceDirect or Wiley Online Library.

Impact and reception

EconLit is universally regarded as an essential resource in economic research and education, forming the foundational dataset for systematic reviews and bibliometric studies. Its structured classification system, derived from the *Journal of Economic Literature*, has shaped how economic knowledge is organized and taught in graduate programs at institutions like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Chicago. The database's reliability and comprehensive coverage are frequently cited in scholarly publications and are instrumental for agencies such as the Congressional Budget Office and the Bank for International Settlements in their policy analysis. It is considered the gold standard for economic bibliography, akin to the role of PubMed for medicine or ERIC for education.

Related resources

Several other disciplinary indexes serve analogous functions in adjacent fields, such as Sociological Abstracts for sociology, PsycINFO for psychology, and Business Source Complete for business administration. For more focused financial literature, resources like RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) provide an open-access complement. General multidisciplinary databases like Scopus and the Web of Science also index economic journals but with different coverage criteria and analytical tools. Historical economic research may also be pursued through digital archives like JSTOR, while current working papers are often disseminated through the Social Science Research Network and institutional repositories of bodies like the International Monetary Fund.

Category:Bibliographic databases Category:American Economic Association Category:Economics websites