This guide to databases and books with international information in the Business Lilbrary is organized by continent and country. Databases included in this guide are:
Background Notes -- REF G 59 U5 -- Developed by the United States State Dept, this database has concise information on geography, demographics, the government, economy, history, cultural life, political conditions, foreign relations and relations with the U.S.
Country Studies -- These Library of Congress studies are excellent for information on the history of a country. They are often too old to be used for other topics.
CountryWatch has demographic, political, economic, business, cultural and environmental information in greater depth than Background Notes. For comprehensive information on a country, this is the place to start.
Culturegrams describes the customs, geography, history, culture, people and lifestyles of people in 177 countries. This database is a particularly good place to start when researching a country. ACCESS: Culturegram is only available on B-School network computers in Grainger Hall. The same information is available in print in the Business Library Reference Collection, GT 150 C86.
Global Market Information has detailed statistics on demographics, economic indicators and the use of a wide range of comsumer products from 1998 to the present as well as future projections.
International Financial Statistics, Yearbook & Country Notes -- REF HG 3881 I627 -- Online and in the Business Library Reference Collection, this resource provides economic statistics over the past 10 years.
Political Risk Yearbook provides in-depth analysis of a country's economic and political conditions and assesses how these conditions will affect international business in that country over the next 5 years.
Source OECD is the online library of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. It includes 20 book collections by theme, 24 periodicals, the OECD statistical databases, and the OECD Guidelines for the Testing of Chemicals. The database is updated daily.
United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics has import, export, re-import and re-export statistics for most countries of the world.
World Development Indicators Online contains statistical data for more than 550 development indicators and time series data from 1960-2000 for more than 200 countries and 18 country groups. Data includes social, economic, financial, natural resources, and environmental indicators.
World Factbook -- This CIA web site has basic information on geography, demographics, government, economy, communications, transportation, the military and transnational issues.