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September 20, 2006

Data Source for September--WRDS

The highlighted data source for September is Wharton Research Data Services, or WRDS, for short. WRDS is the interface used to access Compustat, CRSP, Global Insight, and other large economic and financial files. Use of WRDS is strictly restricted to Binghamton University faculty and students and requires registration. See the WRDS page for a complete listing of data files and directions on registration.

Posted by chailey at 12:38 AM | Comments (0)

September 11, 2006

September 11--the Economic Effects

There is a vast amount of material on the September 11, 2001 attacks. However, since this is a business blog, I will focus on the economic and business related materials. To find books on the economics of September 11, go to infoLINK, the Library Catalog. Do a subject search from the pulldown menu and type in "September 11 Terrorist Attacks 2001" (without the quotes). A list of subject headings will come up. Scroll down to the "Economic aspects" subheading. This will bring up a list of books and government documents on the topic. For academic articles, try the EconLit, Academic Search Premier or Business Source Premier databases.

Posted by chailey at 09:14 PM | Comments (0)

Business ratios update

Last June, I talked about different places to get business ratios. The new Factiva database also contains business ratios. To find ratios, go to Factiva, and click on the Companies/Markets link at the top of the screen. Then, click on Company once again. Type in your company name. When your company comes up, the side of the screen will list various links. Click on either the Financial Results or the Reports link to get your ratios. From the Reports link, you can get a Ratio Comparison Report, which compares key financial ratios of this company against its industry, sector, and the S&P 500 Index aggregates.

Posted by chailey at 08:54 PM | Comments (0)

September 04, 2006

Database of the month--Factiva

This month's featured database is Factiva. Factiva features global news and business from 8000 sources and 118 countries. In addition to newspaper and newswire coverage, including the Wall St. Journal, Factiva also contains company information, such as competitors, officers and directors, key ratios, etc. Historical data for mutual funds, currencies, market indices is also available. Click on the Companies/Markets button at the top of the screen to get access to company data.

Posted by chailey at 07:31 PM | Comments (0)