Help! I do not know what to do!
- How can I register to use IDEAS?
- There is no need to register! Some providers of online material,
however, require that you register with them. Information on how
to proceed is usually provided.
- I want to read this paper, how do I know whether I can download it?
- If we were given the information that it is downloadable, we put it
towards the bottom of the page. If there is nothing about this, then it is
to our knowledge, not downloadable. But there are still things
you can do to find it: track it in a downloadable form on the home
page of the provider of the paper (this is not IDEAS, but the provider of
the working paper series listed towards the bottom of the page), or you
can request a hard copy, again at the provider (and not IDEAS). More about
this below.
- I want to read this paper, but it is not downloadable!
- Maybe it is downloadable, but we do not have this information in our
database. Ask the author(s) (the email address maybe available if you
click on the
name) or the institution providing the paper. Its name is towards the
bottom of the bibliographic file.
If the name does not lead to a homepage,
you can try to find it through EDIRC. Its address may also appear
at the top of the file that lists all papers of the series. Click on the
working paper series name to see that, or search for the series handle in
the search page. Do not
ask me, I do not have that paper, I only relay the information about it.
- I have downloaded the file with the full text, but I cannot read it!
- This is probably because you need a viewer for this type of file. Many
can be downloaded for free for many platforms. Please consult our list of
viewers. If you still
encounter a problem, something maybe wrong with the file, please contact
the author(s) or their working paper coordinators, not me.
- I want to contact the author(s) of a particular paper
- If the author name is highlighted, then you should be able to find the
email address by clicking on the name. Otherwise, you may want to browse
through several directories, like RePEc author registration, or the membership of a
relevant association.
Your best bet is probably to look up the homepage of the author's
institution,
to be found next to the author's name or at the bottom of the entry,
which is most probably recorded in EDIRC.
- I went through the JEL classification, but I could not find a paper on my topic!
- Not all paper come with the JEL
classification. It is always a good idea to perform a search.
- Can you tell me what else is available on this topic?
- No, but you can look through other databases, like Econlit, which contains many journal articles (300-400'000). There is a fee, however.
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Many of the questions below can also be answered using the tutorials.
Other items of interest are available through the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions).
Only if your questions could not be answered here or in the FAQ, feel free to send comments to Christian Zimmermann.