Where to read econ papers for free?

[KGkhan23]

Originally Posted by YoungEconomist

Maybe a stupid question, but do academic economists ever have to pay to read an article, or is it always free for them?

I think AEA membership comes with free subscription to all their journals. As for others, I don't know, but I really can't imagine them having to pay. Then again, if they don't pay, I wonder who does.

[SquareSquare]

Originally Posted by KGkhan23

I think AEA membership comes with free subscription to all their journals. As for others, I don't know, but I really can't imagine them having to pay. Then again, if they don't pay, I wonder who does.

Surprised you wouldn't know - students, of course. Libraries pay huge sums of money to JSTOR, Elsevier and the like to get (almost) unlimited access to their journal databases.

If you want a cheaper way - you can become a member of some econ association... like AEA and then the membership fee will usually cover "complimentary" access to the journals. Not as economists we know where the free lunch is coming from...

[GooniesNeverSayDie]

you should check out Prof. Levine of WUSTL web page. He has quite a few links to sites with free access to many journals..and Books too!

[KGkhan23]

Originally Posted by SquareSquare

Surprised you wouldn't know - students, of course. Libraries pay huge sums of money to JSTOR, Elsevier and the like to get (almost) unlimited access to their journal databases.

Ah, gotcha. I had no idea that was how it worked.