If you're still learning about your topic, doing background research will make the research process much easier!
Background research (presearch) helps you figure out the lay of the land of your topic: what are the big theories you should know about? Who are the thought leaders whose names you should look out for? What kind of vocabulary is used in this field and how can you use it to create efficient searches? You can use many different resources for your background research and they don't have to be library and/or scholarly. Wikipedia can actually be really helpful for this stage.
However, if you're interested in using library resources, we've listed a few below.
Elsevier's Handbooks in Economics series offer entry points into specific topics in Econ and allow you to learn the ins and outs of a topic before diving into scholarly articles.
Economics by 
The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics by 
The Oxford Dictionary of Statistical Terms by 