JEL classification codes

Updated on Sep 21, 2024

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Articles in economics journals are usually classified according to the JEL classification codes, a system originated by the Journal of Economic Literature. The JEL is published quarterly by the American Economic Association (AEA) and contains survey articles and information on recently published books and dissertations. The AEA maintains EconLit, a searchable data base of citations for articles, books, reviews, dissertations, and working papers classified by JEL codes for the years from 1969. A recent addition to EconLit is indexing of economics-journal articles from 1886 to 1968 parallel to the print series Index of Economic Articles.

There are 20 primary JEL categories:

JEL: A – General Economics, Handbooks and Teaching

JEL: B – History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches

JEL: C – Mathematical and Quantitative Methods

JEL: D – Microeconomics

JEL: E – Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics

JEL: F – International Economics

JEL: G – Financial Economics

JEL: H – Public Economics

JEL: I – Health, Education, and Welfare

JEL: J – Labor and Demographic Economics

JEL: K – Law and Economics

JEL: L – Industrial Organization

JEL: M – Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting

JEL: N – Economic History

JEL: O – Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth

JEL: P – Economic Systems

JEL: Q – Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics

JEL: R – Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics

JEL: Y – Miscellaneous Categories

JEL: Z – Other Special Topics.

Each JEL primary category has secondary and tertiary subcategories, for example, under JEL: D – Microeconomics:

JEL: D1 – Household Behavior and Family Economics

JEL code (sub)categories, including periodic updates, are referenced at Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) Classification System. Links to definitions of (sub)categories are at JEL Classification Codes Guide with corresponding examples of article titles linked to publication information, such as abstracts.

Articles in economics journals also list JEL codes (for example JEL: B12), facilitating their use across search engines. Comprehensive uses of JEL (sub)classifications include:

• The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2008, v. 8, Appendix IV, pp. 854–69, and for the online version by drilling to the primary, secondary, or tertiary JEL code of interest here and pressing the Search button below it for article-preview links .• National Bureau of Economic Research Working Papers abstracts by year via links• Research Papers in Economics via links.

General economics and teaching JEL: A Subcategories

Category:Economics

JEL: A1 – General Economics

JEL: A2 – Economic Education and Teaching of Economics

JEL: A3 – Collective Works

History of economic thought, methodology, and heterodox approaches JEL: B Subcategories

JEL: B0 – General

JEL: B1 – History of Economic Thought through 1925

JEL: B2 – History of Economic Thought since 1925

JEL: B3 – History of Thought: Individuals

JEL: B4 – Economic methodology

JEL: B5 – Current Heterodox Approaches

Mathematical and quantitative methods JEL: C Subcategories

Category:Mathematical and quantitative methods (economics)

JEL: C0 – General

JEL: C1 – Econometric and Statistical Methods: General

JEL: C2 – Econometric methods: Single equation models;Single variables

JEL: C3 – Econometric Methods: Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models

JEL: C4 – Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics

JEL: C5 – Econometric Modeling

JEL: C6 – Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling

JEL: C7 – Game theory and Bargaining theory

JEL: C8 – Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs

JEL: C9 – Design of experiments

Microeconomics JEL: D Subcategories

Category:Microeconomics

JEL: D0 – General

JEL: D1 – Household Behavior and Family Economics

JEL: D2 – Production and Organizations

JEL: D3 – Distribution

JEL: D4 – Market structure and pricing

JEL: D5 – General equilibrium and Disequilibrium

JEL: D6 – Welfare economics

JEL: D7 – Analysis of Collective Decision-Making

JEL: D8 – Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty

JEL: D9 – Intertemporal choice and Growth

Macroeconomics and monetary economics JEL: E Subcategories

JEL: E – Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics

JEL: E0 – General

JEL: E1 – General Aggregative Models

JEL: E2 – Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment

JEL: E3 – Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles

JEL: E4 – Money and Interest Rates

JEL: E5 – Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit

JEL: E6 – Macroeconomic Policy Formation, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, Macroeconomic Policy, and General Outlook

International economics JEL: F Subcategories

Category:International economics

JEL: F – International Economics

JEL: F0 – General

JEL: F1 – Trade

JEL: F2 – International Factor Movements and International Business

JEL: F3 – International Finance

JEL: F4 – Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance

JEL: F5 – International Relations and International Political Economy

Financial economics JEL: G Subcategories

Category:Financial economics

JEL: G – Financial Economics

JEL: G0 – General

JEL: G1 – General Financial Markets

JEL: G2 – Financial institutions and Services

JEL: G3 – Corporate finance and Governance

Public economics JEL: H Subcategories

Category:Public economics

JEL: H – Public Economics

JEL: H0 – General

JEL: H1 – Structure and Scope of Government

JEL: H2 – Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue

JEL: H3 – Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents

JEL: H4 – Publicly provided goods

JEL: H5 – National Government Expenditures and Related Policies

JEL: H6 – National Budget, Deficit, and Debt

JEL: H7 – State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations

JEL: H8 – Miscellaneous Issues

Health, education, and welfare JEL: I Subcategories

JEL: I – Health, Education, and Welfare

JEL: I0 – General

JEL: I1 – Health

JEL: I2 – Education

JEL: I3 – Welfare and Poverty

Labor and demographic economics JEL: J Subcategories

Category:Labor and demographic economics

JEL: J – Labor and Demographic Economics

Category:Labor

Category:Demographic economics

JEL: J0 – General

JEL: J1 – Demographic Economics

JEL: J2 – Time Allocation, Work Behavior, and Employment Determination and Creation; Human capital

JEL: J3 – Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs

JEL: J4 – Particular Labor Markets

JEL: J5 – Labor–Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining

JEL: J6 – Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies

JEL: J7 – Labor Discrimination

JEL: J8 – Labor Standards: National and International

Law and economics JEL: K Subcategories

Category:Law and economics

JEL: K – Law and Economics

JEL: K0 – General

JEL: K1 – Basic Areas of Law

JEL: K2 – Regulation and Business Law

Intermediate edit, cont.:

JEL: K3 – Other Substantive Areas of Law

JEL: K4 – Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior

Industrial organization JEL: L Subcategories

Category:Industrial organization

JEL: L – Industrial Organization

JEL: L0 – General

JEL: L1 – Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance

JEL: L2 – Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior

JEL: L3 – Non-profit organizations and Public enterprise

JEL: L4 – Antitrust Issues and Policies

JEL: L5 – Regulation and Industrial policy

JEL: L6 – Industry Studies: Manufacturing

JEL: L7 – Industry Studies: Primary Products and Construction

JEL: L8 – Industry Studies: Services

JEL: L9 – Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities

Business administration and business economics; marketing; accounting JEL: M Subcategories

Category:Business

JEL: M – Business administration and business economics; marketing; accounting

JEL: M0 – General

JEL: M1 – Business Administration

JEL: M2 – Business Economics

JEL: M3 – Marketing and Advertising

JEL: M4 – Accounting and Auditing

JEL: M5 – Personnel economics

Economic history JEL: N Subcategories

Category:Economic history

JEL: N – Economic History

JEL: N0 – General

JEL: N1 – Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Growth and Fluctuations

JEL: N2 – Financial Markets and Institutions

JEL: N3 – Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Income, and Wealth

JEL: N4 – Government, War, Law, and Regulation

JEL: N5 – Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment, and Extractive Industries

JEL: N6 – Manufacturing and Construction

JEL: N7 – Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, Technology, and Other Services

JEL: N8 – Micro-Business History

JEL: N9 – Regional and Urban History

Economic development, technological change, and growth JEL: O Subcategories

Category:Economic development, technological change, and growth

JEL: O – Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth

JEL: O1 – Economic development

JEL: O2 – Development Planning and Policy

JEL: O3 – Technological Change; Research and Development

JEL: O4 – Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity

JEL: O5 – Economywide Country Studies

Economic systems JEL: P Subcategories

Category:Economic systems

JEL: P – Economic Systems

JEL: P0 – General

JEL: P1 – Capitalist Systems

JEL: P2 – Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies

JEL: P3 – Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions

JEL: P4 – Other Economic Systems

JEL: P5 – Comparative Economic Systems

Agricultural and natural resource economics; environmental and ecological economics JEL: Q Subcategories

Category:Resource economics

JEL: Q – Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics

JEL: Q0 – General

JEL: Q1 – Agriculture

JEL: Q2 – Renewable Resources and Conservation

JEL: Q3 – Nonrenewable Resources and Conservation

JEL: Q4 – Energy

JEL: Q5 – Environmental economics

Urban, rural, and regional economics JEL: R Subcategories

Category:Urban, rural, and regional economics

JEL: R – Urban, Rural, and Regional economics

JEL: R0 – General

JEL: R1 – General Regional economics

JEL: R2 – Household Analysis

JEL: R3 – Production Analysis and Firm Location

JEL: R4 – Transportation Systems

JEL: R5 – Regional Government Analysis

Miscellaneous categories (economics) JEL: Y Subcategories

JEL: Y1 – Data: Tables and Charts

JEL: Y2 – Introductory Material

JEL: Y3 – Book Reviews (unclassified)

JEL: Y4 – Dissertations (unclassified)

JEL: Y5 – Further Reading (unclassified)

JEL: Y6 – Excerpts

JEL: Y6 – No Author General Discussions

JEL: Y8 – JEL: Related Disciplines

JEL: Y9 – Other

JEL classification codes Wikipedia

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