Economics

Purpose: Economics materials purchased for the library support teaching and research on the undergraduate level, the graduate level through the Ph.D., and post-doctoral and faculty research. The Economics Department has a strong focus on quantitative economics and economic theory. Interest in economics is also found in most social science departments, in particular Business Administration, Engineering, Mathematics, and Agricultural Economics.

1. Languages: English is the primary language of the collection. Works published in French or German are purchased, except when in English translation. Normally no special effort is made to acquire the original. Works published originally in languages other than French, German, or English are ordinarily purchased only in English translation. However, major works in economic thought from ancient times to present as well as statistical yearbooks are purchased no matter the language.
2. Chronological Guidelines: Emphasis is on the 21^st century with a strong secondary focus on the 18^th and 19^th centuries. Works dealing with other periods are acquired selectively.
3. Geographical Guidelines: Primary emphasis is on the United States and Europe. Works on economics in other foreign countries, especially those on the former Soviet Union, China, Japan, and the developing countries are collected extensively. Works on the economies of the Pacific Northwest are collected extensively.
4. Treatment of the Subject: Lower division textbooks are normally purchased only on faculty request. Popular works and upper division texts are purchased selectively.
5. Types of Material: Most materials acquired are in the form of books and periodicals. Pertinent reference works, proceedings of conferences, transactions and reports, statistical publications of governments, the United Nations and related agencies such as OECD, IMF, other supra-national entities such as EEC, NAFTA, GATT, ASEAN, OPEC, etc., and statistical yearbooks from all countries of the world are collected extensively. Electronic resources and datafiles are collected selectively.
6. Date of Publication: Primarily current publications. No preference is given to original editions over reprints. Microforms and electronic media are acceptable alternatives for journal backfiles and for materials prohibitively expensive in original format.
7. Other General Considerations: The University of Idaho's "full depository" documents library and the UI Law Library provide additional resources for students of economics (especially in the fields of regulatory economics and public finance). The WSU Library provides access to electronic-readable datasets in economic behavior and attitudes and related social science data through full membership in the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). Students of the Department of Economics also have participated in the ICPSR summer training program in quantitative methods.