Issue Analysis – Research & Data Sources

My clear, number one recommended resource for students researching comparative economic systems, economic history, or economic geography is Gapminder.org.  It is a fantastic resource that let’s you create your own analyses.  You can create your own dynamic, animated graphics that you can use in your webpages (like your essay!) that look just like the ones Hans uses.  Get a glimpse of how powerful this tool is by clicking the following link to watch a 5 minute video of Hans Rosling using gapminder to explain the last 200 years of the world

Number two on my list is the World’s Top Incomes Database.   Find out about income distribution in many of the world’s countries.  You can find out where the rich are really, really rich vs. where they are only rich.

Number three on my list is Worldmapper.org.   It puts a  whole new data spin on world maps.

Other Research links for Comparative Economic Systems:

Highly Recommended:

Europe World Online (start here if you have a specific country in mind!)

PBS Commanding Heights supplemental Resources Links

Wikipedia Lists of Countries by type of data

CIA – The World Factbook

Economist.com | Country Briefings

Countries of the World – historical data & comparisons

Data Sources

CIA – The World Factbook
IMF — International Monetary Fund Home Page
UNCTAD.ORG Home
Economist.com | Country Briefings
CountryReports.org — Country Information
RFE
Research tools: information in depth | The Economist

Geography, Maps, Comparison

Worldmapper: The world as you’ve never seen it before
Google Earth
Google Maps

Documents-Historically Important

THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO
Smith: Wealth of Nations | Library of Economics and Liberty
Smith: The Theory of Moral Sentiments | Library of Economics and Liberty
Capital (Das Kapital), Vol. I
The Economic Consequences of the Peace

Articles

Joseph Schumpeter’s Theories and Swedish Experience
Origins of the joint-stock corporation
An Economic System Out of Control
What Is an Economy For?

Ideas and Explanations

Business and Ethical Thinking: Capitalism, the Entrepreneur and the Invisible Hand
The Capitalism Site: Laissez-faire Capitalism is the social system based on the principle of inalienable individual rights.
Marxism Page
Post-Autistic Economics Network and Post-Autistic Economics Review (heterodox economics)

Other Lists of Links

Steve Gardner’s Links for Comp.Econ
Systems at Baylor Univ.

Funny

World Economic Systems

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