Introduction
The following resources contain information, statistics, economic commentary
and analysis that will help students understand the economies of other countries.
Resources are arranged from simple to complex under each heading. At the top
of the list are resources designed for use in secondary school while at the
bottom are resources used by adults for finding out about other countries.
Many adult resources can be used by school students. Students should also
make use of travel commentaries and reports. These often impart an accurate
picture of what life is like on the ground in another country and usually
note any topical issues in the country you are researching. Examples of some
of these issues may diseases and terrorist threats.
General Country Guides
The following resources provide general information about the countries of
the world. The CIA world factbook is the model used by all of them, however
a few less detailed resources have also been inlcuded.
- Yahooligans!
- Around the World:Countries Resources This site has been developed
by Yahoo for students and provides links to the CIA world fact book and
other selected online resources for students.
- UN CyberSchoolBus This
site has been designed to provide basic information about the UN member
states for students. The country at a glance section offers short descriptive
information on member states, while the InfoNation section offers excellent
comparative statistics on Member states including environmental statistics.
- The
Yahooligans Country ReferenceThis is a link to Yahoo's own reference
collection for students based on the CIA world factbook and it covers country
background and maps, geography population, government, economy, communications,
transportation,military and transnational issues
- InfoPlease
Countries
of the World InfoPlease is an online reference desk designed for secondary
students. The world section of their website carries sections on economic
and social statistics, geography and climate and abbreviated information
on country background and government. It is a useful one stop shop for students.
- National
Geographic Homework Help Hub. This site is a student gateway to the
resouurces offered by this magazine on the world's countries. It contains
an excellent section on maps and climate among other things.
- The Department of Foreign
Affairs offers excellent resources for students researching other countries.
Their factsheets
are a great starting point for students researching other economies.
- CIA
World Factbook This site is the mother of all country sites and the
model for the rest of these sites on the Internet. The factbook can be downloaded
to the users computer. It provides detailed information on the a countries,
resources, industrial structure, geography and climate, politics and government
and inlcudes map as well. This is a great resource for anyone interested
in other economies and offers nearlyall the basic facts any student could
ever need.
- Encyclopedia.com Ths site carries
encyclopedia entries on the countries of the world covering the land, the
economy, history people and government. It links into an E library where
articles on recent topical issues relevant to a country a stored. Unfortunately
while basic information is for free articles requirement payment.
- The US Library of Congress
Country Studies This site offers exhaustive coverage of a countries
history, economy and trade etc. Students who are looking for in depth coverage
of a country will find this a very usefu resource.
- The US State Department
The US State department also maintian an excellent set of resources
describing each of the countries of the world except the department also
links in reports on Human Rights abuses and links to significant country
web sites.
- The World Bank The world bank
offers a great deal of economic material on the countries of the world and
is especially good for emerging economies. Choose the country and Region
section for news and updates on developments in your country.
- International Business
Resources on the Net A global directory of business resources with country
information available. Offers short country profiles and an excellent section
comparing the markets of many countries of the world by size, freedom and
a range of other measures.
- Worldwide Virtual Library A
monster directory of economic resources with an excellent section on economic
development. More useful for teachers than for students.
- The
World Guide SBS SBS offers a great deal of general country information
that students researching a foreign economy might find useful.
- Countries
of the World This site maintains current reports on the political and
economic situation of all countries. Some of the information here is difficult
however this site offers links to other web resources classified by country,
online discussions of a specific countries issues and some country news.
- Google
Directory - Regional > Countries Google's directory of links of web
sites actually from a particluar country is a useful way of locating current
information about a country and identifying the attitudes of particular
groups of people within a country to its problems.
World Economic Statistics
- World
Bank Data Service The World Bank data query service allows users to
search a selection of world development indicators online and download in
spreadsheet format a wide range of comparative economc statistics. This
is an absolutely marvellous service and students can download not only classic
economic statistics but also statistics on internet connections, education
and roads and mortality. Data
Query The World Bank also allows users to download data profiles of
countries and range of other data from its data service. These are very
useful for students doing projects on other economies and include rich and
poor countries. Country
Data
- UN
InfoNation This service offers basic country profile data for students
and allows students to compare countries. UN
News UN News is an excellent source of current affairs for the world's
countries. The UN maintains a large collection of economic databases inlcuding
its Millenium Indicators, Economic and Social Statistics. These are not
as accessible and user friendly as the world bank however teachers looking
for statistics on the countries of the world will find them extremely useful.
They cover a huge range of topics from GDP per capita, to housing health
and water quality. Visit the UN statistical Database
Section in the Social and Economic development directory of the UN Site.
- Penn World Tables
CHASS These are accesible through the CHASS centre at the University
of Toronto and focus on National Accounts data. The benefit of the PENN
tables is that they provide Time Series data for a selection of National
Economic Indicators starting at 1950.
- Reserve Bank of Australia.
The statistics section of the RBA site offers a limited but current selection
of economic indicators for the worlds major economies.
- US Trade Data from the
US Government Export portal This site provides a comprehensive selection
of world economic statistics. Naturally enough the focus is on the United
States.
- UN
Human Development Indicators The UN provides access to dated but still
relevant information on human and economic development for most countries.
The UN also offers access to wide range of its reports online however many
of these are too difficult for secondary students.
- Singapore Data Locator
a world wide guide organised by region for finding statistics on the Internet.
Useful for odd and hard to find statistics.
- University
of Auckland Data Locator a comprehensive listing of data and data sources
covering the globe. Students will find this useful for really hard to find
data. General country statistics used by students are easier to find and
access at the world bank.
Business and Economic Surveys
- US Government Export
Portal This is a fantastic site for people who wish to investigate
the Economies of other countries. Teachers and students will find the
Market Research section directly relevant to their enquiries. Current
Economic Statistics and current economic issues are all documented in
the commercial country studies at this site. The Export portal also offer
excellent resources and links to new and emergig markets such as China
and the NIS. Department of Trade for all
the countries of the world is available as well. Information inlcuding
the economic outlook. Please more than enough information for students
is available in the Quick Reference section however you will need to register
for more detailed reports. The Commercial guides are intended for actual
business people and hence not all parts of then are easy for studets to
understand.
- Tradewatch Offers
a database that allows users to search foreign economies by sector as
well as current updates on trading and economic conditions in other countries.
This is an excellent resource. Tradewatch also offers reports of Australia's
trade successes. Many of these are useful classroom resources.
- Austrade Country
and Sector Database For economic students or business people the Austrade
country and sector database is probably the best one stop shop available
on the Internet. Use of this in conjunction with the Tradewatch database
gives users access to all of the country information available from DFAT.
Students who are not using the windows operating system may experience
some difficulties with this database.
- DFAT Economic
Analytical Unit Many of DFAT's publications on trends in Australia's
trade and new markets and opportunities can be downloaded from this site.
They also provide breifings on Global issues such as the costs and benefits
of terrorism that many teachers and students may find interesting.
- WTO
Trade Policy Reviews
- International
Business Forum Global Business Directory that offers link to national
chambers of Commerce and Industry Associations
- Global Economic
Forum Here you cna download their global competitiveness rankings.
Global Competitiveness...
Country Risk Analysis
- MarketWatch
Market Watch section for the Export Finance Insurance Coporation site
offers selected country risk reports. Over recent times these have been
toned down. Careful inspection of some of these reports will produce examples
of how kidnapping, murder and hghway robbery affect economic activity,
investment and economic growth. Useful for illustrating the role of legal
insitutions in supporting free markets.
- OECD
Country Risk Classification The OECD makes available its sovereign
credit risk ratings in PDF format. Detailed information is only available
to paying customers.
- Transparency
International | Transparency
International Australia Transparency International reports on coruption
worldwide. Its reports are useful for students investigating corruption,
fraud, bribery and murder in other economies.
- Standard
and Poors Standard Poor's Sovereign credit ratings may be accessed
from the Home page of their site. Choose credit risks and look sovereign
credit ratings. Some news and analysis of changes in credit ratings is
available for free however detailed analysis is only availbale forsubscribers.
- Moody's Moodys
offer sovereign credit and risk ratings for users who register at their
site. detailed information however is only available to paying customers.
- Fitch ratings
a global risk analysis firm. the focus is on financial risk however reports
of changes in Sovereign risk are also available online.
- Cofactorating
This company makes available some of its economic analysis on world
markets for free. Useful for students to see what some economists actually
do.
- Global Insight
Little free data here but WMRC is one of the main suppliers of Economic
market analysis to the world's insitutions. Some reports are available
for free and teachers will find the material here quite interesting.
Global News Sites
- Economist
Home | Economist.com
| Country Briefings The economist regularly makes available a wide
range of business and economics focused stories for free on its website.
A great resource for secondary students.
- Yahoo! Yahoo
News Yahoo maintains regional news networks for all the countries
in which it operates. These provide current news for those countries and
are an good source for today's news.
- ABC News
US Home often contains country comparision information.
- ABS News Australia
The ABC website goes from strenght to strenght and is a good local
source for world news.
- BBC News Home |
BBC
NEWS | Country Profiles The BBC maintains excellent country profiles
and is a great source for standard world news.
- CNN World |
CNN International CNN is aglobal
news organisation and carries reports from correspondents from all over
the world. Useful for current issues.
- Le Monde English The
famous French newspaper offer an European perspective on Global Issues.
- Reuters News
Global News service.
Global Rankings
- Nationmaster.com
This site produces top 100 rankings for a wide range of international
comparisions. Countries may be ranked on all key economic statistics,
according to murders, generosity and life expectancy. The rankings are
available in tables. charts and maps. A marvelous web site.
- Information
about Countries & World Rankings Aneki.com allows comparisons
to be made accross economic, technological, social and environmental criteria.
The site produces a list of the top 20 according to each criteria.
Travel Sites and Travel warnings
- Yahoo Travel
Yahoo travel organizes a raft of information about countries. Cost
of accomodation and airfares, warnings and travel advice as well as news
relevant to travels. Visitor perils are also covered here.
- Travel.com.au Offers
similar information to Yahoo and contains as well travellers reports of
time in a country. Some of these contain observations that allow students
to get a notion of what life is like in the country the are studying.
- DFAT Travel
Advice Foreign Affairs provide relevant updates on dangers for travellers
abroad. Warning about possible diseases, muggings, kidnappings and highway
robbery give students an insight into some of the economic and social
problems faced by some countries.
- US Department
of State Travel Advice This site carries warning on a wide range of
matters for US travellers. It is well worth consulting in conjunction
with Foreign Affairs in Australia.
Global Insitutions
- IMF The IMF maintains
an individual page for each of its member countries. The material here
is difficult but often the speeches and press releases of the IMF are
useful for students and frequently contain extremely good material on
the economies of various countries.
- OECD The OECD charges
for most of its material however summaries of its economic surveys and
frequently key National Economic Indicators are made available on its
web site for free. Some OECD press releases are useful for students as
well.
- WORLD Bank World
Bank press releases are useful for students. Their materials on economic
development are excellent however too difficult for most secondary students
outside of the education sections specifically aimed at them.
- UNCTAD The United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development web site carries much material
relevant to the understanding of other economies. Press releases are useful
for some countries and the news section may be helpful for some inquiries.
This site is more likely to be useful for teachers rather students.
- United Nations The
UN's cyber school bus is useful for students however press releases by
the organisation are useful for students. Many sections of this website
especially the statistic section are useful for teachers (SNA93) but generally
too challenging for many students.
- Bank for International
Settlements This site covers world banking and monetary policy. The
news section and press release section may be useful for some students.
Generally however this site is extremely useful for teachers who wish
to follow debates in global monetary policy and trends in international
banking regulation. There is a great collection of banking and finance
statistics here and the BIS publications section contains much material
of interest to teachers.
- Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB) -- Economic Development in Latin America and the
Caribbean This site offers statistics and analysis on economic development
and other matters in this region.
- Asian Development Bank
This is an excellent source for statistics and economic analysis on
Asian and in particular tiger economies.
- African Development
Bank Useful site for statistics and analysis on African Economies.
Government Insitutions
- BIS Central
Bank List The BIS maintains a list of URL's for the websites of the
worlds central banks. For more adventurous students these sites often
contain good current reports on economic conditions in a country. They
also usually carry excellent collections of statistics on current economic
performance.
- Alta Plana:
International Economics Gateway This site is a directory of the web sites of the world's
governments and central banks. students may wish to visit the government
pages of the country they are studying and this site will usually have
a URL for it.
International Shopping
Business Insitutions
Alternative Perspectives on a countries Economy
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Educational Resources
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