Economics & Public Policy Extra

We now have access to the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR).  ICPSR acquires, preserves, enhances and distributes original social science research data for research and instruction.  You will need to create an account in order to download data.

 “Our data advance scientific knowledge by making it possible for students, policymakers and researchers to conduct secondary analyses.  We are a leading training resource in quantitative analysis methods.

 Membership benefits

• A wealth of data.  ICPSR provides access to important data in the social sciences and benefits all faculty and students across a campus.
• Access to training and instruction at discounted rates.  Members of ICPSR receive discounted tuition and travel stipends toward ICPSR’s renowned Summer Program in Quantitative Methods of Social Research.
• User support.  ICPSR has over 45 years of experience in supporting data use.”

“The British pound, also now known as the pound sterling, is generally considered to be the world’s oldest currency that is still actively used and circulated. It originated during the 760s when King Offa of the Mercian kingdom (present-day Staffordshire) introduced the silver penny into the coinage of the time. Inspired by the Carolingian system, 240 of the new pennies equaled a pound in silver. Additional subdivisions of coins included farthings and shillings. Shortly after introducing this system in Mercia, the surrounding Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of the Heptarchy followed suit and also adopted it. Eventually the pound became the standard monetary unit in the region.”  Read more

Many thanks to the Lexington Middle School History Club in Nebraska for the suggestion!

“At Open Book Publishers we are changing the nature of the traditional academic book. Our books are published in hardback, paperback, pdf and ebook editions, but they also include a free online edition that can be read via our website, or embedded anywhere. We are proud to say that our online editions are currently being accessed by thousands of readers each month in over 120 countries. In addition, our digital publishing model allows us to extend our books well beyond the printed page. On our website, we produce online supplementary material, including extra chapters, reviews, links, image galleries and other digital resources — these can be found on the individual product page for each book.”

Economic Fables by Ariel Rubinstein can be read for free online here:

http://www.openbookpublishers.com/reader/136

Is Behavioral Economics Doomed? by David K. Levine is available here:

http://www.openbookpublishers.com/reader/77

And Peace and Democratic Society by Amartya Sen is here:

http://www.openbookpublishers.com/reader/78

“StatsLC provides support for learning and teaching statistics in various settings and media.

Our materials are correct and based on current research on how statistics is best taught and learnt. StatsLC provides support for learning and teaching statistics in various settings and media.

“As you may know, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has funded a new national service that will consolidate and incorporate four established data services and websites:

• Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS)
• Census.ac.uk
• Secure Data Service (SDS)
• Survey Question Bank (SQB)

This week the new UK Data Service launched its website, which will affect how you find and access data and related resources. Most notably:

• The ESDS website will remain during the transition, however content there will not be maintained and could become out of date.
• These remaining websites will have automatic redirects to the new UK Data Service website, however those redirects may not exactly match the pages you currently use.
• Survey Question Bank (SQB)

We encourage you to visit the UK Data Service website and get acquainted with what you can find there. Here are the main links you should be aware of. All links are live as of Friday 22 March 2013:

We appreciate your patience as we transition services to the UK Data Service. We also encourage you to read the FAQs for answers to specific questions and concerns that will affect regular users. As always, get in touch if you need personal support.”

The EuroPhoto project aims to digitise historical pictures from the archives of 10 leading European News Agencies and to make them available to Europeana.  Pictures will be free of charge for educational or private use.  Partners include: Agenzia Ansa, Italy; Agence Belga – Agence telegraphique Belge de presse sa Belgium; Berlingske media a/s Denmark; Dpa Deutsche presse agentur gesellschaft mit beschrankter haftung Germany; Magyar tavirati iroda rt Hungary; Expert system s.p.a. Italy; Polska agencja prasowa sa Poland; Lusa – Agencia de noticias de Portugal sa Portugal; Agencia efe s.a. Spain; Stichting Anp Foundation the Netherlands; European Pressphoto Agency b.v. epa the Netherlands.  Available already are many historic images relating to the Cold War, Spanish civil war, and women participating in political movements and campaigns.
Source: LIS-SOCIALSCIENCE@JISCMAIL.AC.UK

Oxford Business Group is a publishing, research and consultancy firm providing information, analysis and advice to the global investment, academic and government communities through our series of economic intelligence reports.　　

As part of our investment in Academia, we are pleased to offer students and academics free, online access to all our content.  This subscription regularly retails for £500 per year, however we are offering students 3 years of free access to support your studies. Some key features of this subscription are:

• Over 40,000 articles from 7 years of primary research in over 30 global markets, searchable by keyword.
• Interviews and viewpoints from Heads of State, Ministers and key individuals in each sector
• Overviews from our experienced analysts, who are embedded in each country up to a year to produce the reports.

Register with your UCL email address at: https://www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com/content/ucl-library

“Anyone, anywhere can now access OECD full-text content following the launch of Read on the OECD’s global knowledge platform, OECD iLibrary – right down to the level of individual chapters and tables.  Read content is optimised for browser-enabled mobile devices and can be read online wherever there is an internet connection*. They are also shareable and embeddable.

“Our mission is to maximise access to and dissemination of OECD’s knowledge,” said Toby Green, OECD’s Head of Publishing, “and by offering Read at the level of individual chapters, we call on our readers to help us in this mission. Since you don’t have to share the whole book, but can pick a chapter or even a single table, we hope this feature will stimulate more dissemination and discussion about OECD’s research, policy advice and data.”

With tablets likely to displace laptops and desktops as the main reading device for many patrons in the coming years, adding a tablet-friendly version to OECD iLibrary means the needs of Librarians are met too: patrons will discover, share and use subscribed OECD resources more easily, encouraging usage. Sharing OECD knowledge with class and colleagues is simpler than ever, thanks to the social media tools included.

The Read service demonstrates OECD’s continuing commitment to making its content accessible for all, whether at a subscribing institution or not. Using Read, anyone can fact-check and access OECD full-text material.  OECD iLibrary is delivering more and more OECD knowledge, with downloads 40% higher than last year. Now, with the introduction of Read on OECD iLibrary, OECD knowledge is not only accessible for everyone, but shareable too.”

Launched more than 40 years ago, ABI/INFORM remains the gold standard when it comes to business research databases. Its massive content set includes important full-text journals and much sought-after titles from the business press as well as key trade publications, dissertations, conference proceedings, and market reports.

A database of comparable financial information for public and private companies across Europe. Amadeus contains comprehensive information on around 19 million companies across Europe. You can use it to research individual companies, search for companies with specific profiles and for analysis

Just nine months after its creation, UK-based ‘gold’ open access publisher Social Sciences Directory announces the publication of its first issue on September 24^th 2012. Social Sciences Directory is a multi-disciplinary journal that is published online-only.

It brings together both scholarly peer-reviewed research and additional value-added content (such as case studies, presentations, reports and conference proceedings), on a platform that is easily navigable and responsive to changing user behaviour. A central concept is that most research is now carried out online using keyword searches, and Social Sciences Directory simplifies the process by: removing individual journal titles in favour of a large repository; and by making the resulting content freely available. Submissions have been received from the UK, Australia, France, Brazil, India, Ethiopia, India and Kenya, whilst editors and reviewers from all over the world have offered their services, demonstrating an appetite and widespread support for the initiative.

The first issue will contain papers on:

• Making successful transition to retirement in Australia
• Knowledge, attitude and belief of pregnant women in India
• Gender equality in the work place