Readings

Texts

Buy at Amazon Johnston, John. Econometric Methods. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1971. ISBN: 0070326797.

Buy at Amazon McCloskey, Donald N. The Writing of Economics. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1986. ISBN: 0023795204.

Buy at Amazon Neugeboren, Robert H. Students Guide to Writing Economics. New York, NY: Routledge, 2005. ISBN: 0415701228.

Buy at Amazon Pindyck, Robert S., and Daniel L. Rubinfeld. Econometric Models and Economic Forecasts. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1997. ISBN: 0070502080.

Buy at Amazon Strunk, William Jr., and E. B. White. The Elements of Style. Boston, MA: Longman, 1999. ISBN: 020530902X.

Buy at MIT Press Buy at Amazon Thomson, William. A Guide for the Young Economist. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001. ISBN: 0262700794.

Readings by Weekly Session

Note: * indicates that you should read the paper on your own prior to class.

WEEK # TOPICS READINGS
1 Course Introduction

Lecture

Causation and Randomized Experiments
Ashenfelter, Orley. "The Case for Evaluating Training Programs with Randomized Trials." Economics of Education Review 6, no. 4 (1987): 333-8.

*Buy at Amazon Cook, R. Dennis. "Smoking and Lung Cancer." In R. A. Fisher: An Appreciation. Edited by S. Fienberg, and D. Hinkley. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag, 1980, pp. 182-191. ISBN: 354090476X.

Buy at Amazon Cook, Thomas D., and Donald T. Campbell. "Causal Inference and the Language of Experimentation." Chapter 1 in Quasi-Experimentation: Design and Analysis Issues for Field Settings. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1979, pp. 1-36. ISBN: 0395307902.

*Freedman, David A. "Statistical Models and Shoe Leather." Sociological Methodology 21 (1991): 291-313.

*Holland, Paul W. "Statistics and Causal Inference." Journal of the American Statistical Association 81 (December 1986): 945-960.

*Woodbury, Stephen A., and Robert G. Spiegelman. "Bonuses to Workers and Employers to Reduce Unemployment: Randomized Trials in Illinois." American Economic Review 77, no. 4 (1987): 513-530.
2 STATA Review  
3 Lecture and Discussion

Elements of a Good Economics Paper

Assembly of Research Teams
Handout of "Guidelines for Writing an Empirical Paper."

*Chay, Kenneth, and Michael Greenstone. "Air Quality, Infant Mortality and the Clean Air Act of 1970." NBER Working Paper #10053, 2003.
4 Workshop

Oral Presentation of Paper Ideas by Research Teams

Class Discussion
Student preliminary papers.
5 Workshop

Oral Presentation of Paper Ideas by Research Teams

Class Discussion (cont.)
Student preliminary papers.
6 Workshop

Oral Presentation of Research Plans by Research Teams

Class Discussion (cont.)
Student preliminary papers.
7 Workshop

Oral Presentation of Research Plans by Research Teams

Class Discussion (cont.)
Student preliminary papers.
8 Workshop

Project Discussion and Questions
Student preliminary papers.
9 Workshop

Project Discussion and Questions (cont.)
Student preliminary papers.
10 Workshop

First Draft Paper Feedback
Student preliminary papers.
11 Workshop

First Draft Paper Feedback (cont.)
Student preliminary papers.
12 Workshop

Paper Rewrites
Student preliminary papers.
13 Last Class Student preliminary papers.