JEL Classification Codes Guide
The guide provides JEL Code application guidelines, keywords, and examples of items within each classification.
The "JEL" classification system originated with the Journal of Economic Literature and is a standard method of classifying scholarly literature in the field of economics. It is used in many of the AEA's published research materials.
Use the guide to gain insight on how JEL Codes are used to classify articles, dissertations, books, book reviews, and working papers. You will also find it is helpful when adding classification codes to your own work.
Click here for printer-friendly formats of the JEL Classification System.
| A General Economics and Teaching |
| B History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches |
| C Mathematical and Quantitative Methods |
| D Microeconomics |
| E Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics |
| F International Economics |
| G Financial Economics |
| H Public Economics |
| I Health, Education, and Welfare |
| J Labor and Demographic Economics |
| K Law and Economics |
| L Industrial Organization |
| M Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics |
| N Economic History |
| O Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth |
| P Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems |
| Q Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics |
| R Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics |
| Y Miscellaneous Categories |
| Z Other Special Topics |
| N | Economic History |
| Guideline: | The question of when history starts cannot be answered. For EconLit, the following criteria should be used: (i) All the articles in economic history journals should be classified here. Economic history is what economic historians do. (ii) Studies should be classified under economic history if the purpose of the studies is to analyze what happened or has happened over a relatively long period of time, say longer than 50 years. (iii) Studies pertaining to the periods prior to 1950 (or so) should be classified under appropriate categories below. For example, a study about the demand for money using data from 1950 to 2005 should not necessarily be classified under one of the categories below unless it attempts to trace the nature of the relationship between the demand for money and its determinants over this period with accompanying discussion. On the other hand, a similar study using data from 1920 to 1950 should, by definition, be classified under one of the categories below. (iv) Historical studies that are relevant to current issues should be cross-classified here and under the other appropriate subject categories. (v) There are no economic history categories under different alphanumeric codes for economic development and socialist and transitional economies. Instead, classification should be done according to geographic regions identified by codes. (vi) The demarcation year of 1913 is used as a loose criterion. Please note that the geographic region of "Asia including Middle East" also includes Turkey. |
| Keywords: | |
| N00 | General |
| N000 | Economic History: General |
| Guideline: | Covers studies about general issues related to economic history, including survey articles and textbooks. |