USAFA Library Guides: Economics: Working Papers

Working Papers in Economics

What is a working paper?

Working papers are pre-published academic or technical articles very common in Economics to share preliminary research with colleagues and the wider scholarly community. Research is typically published much later in traditional sources such as academic journals and collected works.

Research Papers in Economics (RePEc) is a huge clearinghouse of economics literature. IDEAS offers full access to RePEc.

Working Papers
Browse or search the full RePEc database for papers
EconPapers
Access collection of economics working papers in RePEc by series
NEP: New Economics Papers
Notification service for download of new reports in specific fields
Rankings in RePEc / IDEAS
Features the top download & abstract views of working papers

Access more working papers from several notable institutions below:

Bank of International Settlements
Written by BIS economists and some central banks and institutes
Bureau of Economic Analysis
Find papers and presentations prepared by BEA staff
FED In Print
Browse working papers from all Federal Reserve banks
Harvard Business School
Browse to access HBS working papers & other publications
Hoover Institution
Featured content for working papers in economics
Institute for New Economic Thinking
Explore new approaches to understanding economic processes
International Monetary Fund
IMF working papers, plus other resources by publication series
NBER Working Papers
Quality papers via the National Bureau of Economic Research
SSRN Research Papers Series
Find papers from various Social Sciences Research Networks for economics, financial economics, health economics, et al
The World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
Click on Section 8 for working papers in official collections

Working Papers in Databases

EconLit provides excellent indexing of working papers, together with other databases for independent searching.

EconLit with Full Text (Ebsco}
How to find working papers in EconLit:
1. Under Search Options, select "Working Paper" as a Publication Type, and include term(s) to search.
2. After a search, refine your results using the filters from left side. Select "Working Papers" in Source Types below Refine Results.
ABI/INFORM Collection
Do a Basic Search, then refine your results from left side filters. In Source Type, include "Working Papers" and apply, or narrow results by choosing "Working Paper/Pre-Print" in Document Type.
Business Source Ultimate (Ebsco)
Uses the same search options for workings papers as EconLit
Social Science Premium Collection (ProQuest)
Refine results the same way as ABI/INFORM

Additional Content and Resources

Cambridge Working Papers in Economics
Series of papers by the Faculty of Economics with early research findings on a wide range of economic themes
CSAE Working Paper Series in EconPapers
Papers from Centre for the Study of African Economies at Oxford
EconLit Content Type
American Economic Association introduces EconLit database content of working papers in economics
RAND Corporation
Publishes reports (and working papers) in many research areas
RAND Education and Labor: Working Papers
Presents economic development & labor issues, 1994-present