Research Methods in Economics: Trinity College Dublin

TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
Lecture 13
Research Methods in Economics
Karol Jan Borowiecki

Schedule for this Morning
1) Getting Started
2) Writing
3) Publishing and Career Development
4) Electronic Resources
5) Citation and Referencing
6) Concluding Remarks

Part I
Getting Started

Getting Started
There are no golden rules for how to do research but there

are some common mistakes.
Dont spend too much time reading other peoples

research, waiting for inspiration to strike you.
Reading research should be a regular part of any
economists routine. But it is not a substitute for doing
your own
Dont set the bar too high.

But dont set the bar too low!
Be wary of picking a topic that is of interest to a small
number of people (e.g. you and your adviser)
Empirical Work Thinking About Ideas
Scientific Model
Formulate Hypothesis
Get Data
Test Hypothesis
Report Results

Four good ways to start an empirical paper
1) Get some data and start playing with it.
Sometimes, this throws up an interesting pattern

Write a paper exploring/explaining this pattern
2) Read a paper that you found interesting.
Get their dataset and replicate their results

Maybe try it out on a new dataset
A good way to learn the area, but may also lead you to
follow-up questions. For example, would you have done
the analysis differently, or could it be applied to another
example?
Four good ways to start an empirical paper
3) Read about something interesting in the

popular press or blogs?
Analyse the statements with some data. Be critical to

everything you read.
4) Study something that interests you.
Thinking outside the box (Freakonomics)

Part II
Writing

Keep it Short
I am sorry to have wearied you with so long a letter
but I did not have time to write you a short one.
Blaise Pascal

Keep it Short
I am sorry to have wearied you with so long a letter
but I did not have time to write you a short one.
Blaise Pascal
People have limited time and most of us are impatient.

Try to keep papers to no more than 20 pages of text.
If you have a lot more material, maybe it should be two
papers (are there two ideas in the paper?).
Use Appendixes for less important parts.
Try limit introductions to 2 or 3 pages.

Keep it Short
Dont litter your paper with lots of footnotes.
Dont be repetitive.
Body of the paper: Get to the central result as fast as
possible.
The theory must be the minimum required for the reader
to understand the empirical results.

Writing Skills
More important than you think! Your ideas and results will not
sell themselves.
Many economists think of themselves as primarily experts in

technical methods: Econometrics, economic theory, data
expertise.
This white coat mentalitythat we are mainly scientists who

then do a write-up of our resultsis deeply wrong.
Writing is an essential part of the research process, not a

last-minute thing to be rushed.
Advice: Imitate skillful writers, imitate their words and

phrases, and modify them to suit your purpose.
Selling Your Paper
Most people are busy.
There are lots of other papers they could read.
Theres lots of bad research out there. So, theres

good reason for people to approach your work with a
sceptical attitude.
Your paper needs to make a quick case for itself. How?
TITLE, ABSTRACT, INTRODUCTION

Preparing, Writing, Reviewing, Referencing
and Publishing of Working Papers in the
Field of Economics
Research Methods in Economics
How to be a Successful Economist?
Research Methods
How to be a Successful Economist?
Research Methods

Trinity College Dublin
The Abstract
Put the punch line right up front. Your research is not a joke
or a novel. Readers want quick information!
Your abstract will be read by ten or twenty times as many

people as will any other words in the article.
Dont display your copious bibliographic knowledge in the

abstract. Usually the length is limited to 100 words.

The Abstract
We study how drinking affects car crashes.
or
We present a methodology for measuring the risks

posed by drinking drivers that relies solely on readily
available data on fatal crashes.

The Abstract
Drinking alcohol increases the risk of car accidents.
or
Drivers with alcohol in their blood are seven times more

likely to cause a fatal crash; legally drunk drivers pose a
risk 13 times greater than sober drivers.

The Introduction
How to do it? Quickly explain two things:

1) Why is the topic of your paper interesting?
2) What did YOU do? What is YOUR contribution? A new
question? An existing question but new methodology?
Existing question, existing methodology, new data (e.g. no
previous Irish application)?
Because of its importance, spend a high fraction of your

time on the introduction.
Start writing the introduction as soon as you have some

results and then keep adjusting it as the paper evolves.

The Introduction
Class Exercise:
Read Introduction and label each paragraph in:
Miguel E., S. Satyanath, E. Sergenti. (2004). Economic

Shocks and Civil Conflict: An Instrumental Variable
Approach. Journal of Political Economy, 112(4), 725-
753.

Literature Review
You need to explain the relationship to other work. This
will probably require discussion of previous studies in
this area.
But the purpose is to set up your contribution, and
distinguish it from previous work.
Do not do a boring literature review mindlessly listing
various weakly related studies (set your paper off
against the 2 or 3 closest current papers).
Sometimes, this can be done in the introduction.
Cite strategic.

Describing Your Empirical Results
Start with the main result. People dont care about the
100 variations on the base regression.
People tend to skim papers, so charts and tables should

essentially speak for themselves.
Dont put too many numbers in tables, and dont have

too many tables or charts.
Space out your paper. Short paragraphs, regular

section. Appendices are a great tool!
Dont over-do technique: Are there simple ways to

summarise or explain the results?

Other Practical Tips
Use footnotes only for things that the typical reader can skip
but a few readers might want to look at:
Long list of references
Simple bits of algebra
Other documentation
Tables should have a self-contained caption.

Use the correct number of significant digits, not whatever the
statistical program displays (4.56783 with a standard error of
0.6789 should be 4.6 with standard error 0.7).
Good figures communicate patterns in the data much better
than big tables.
When you use Greek letters give them the name too and
repeat the name: Price elasticity equals -0.5, not just
equals -0.5.
Conclusions
Conclusions should be short.
If you did good job of explaining your contribution in the

introduction and then documenting those claims in the
body of the paper, then saying it all over again is
pointless.
Do not restate all of your findings.
You can include a short paragraph or two

acknowledging limitations, suggesting implications for
future research.

Presentation - Be Professional
A well-written good-looking paper helps convince serious

readers that you too are serious, and that your paper is worth
the time.
Read, re-read, edit, and re-edit: This can correct most of the
common errors of style, grammar, and spelling that occur in
the writing process.
Read your stuff aloud. Does it sound right? Are you writing
proper sentences? Are you over-using jargon or certain
particular phrases?
Get your references right.

Part III
Publishing and Career

Development

The Publication Process
Dont hide your work away perfecting it. Get it out, get
feedback, get rejected ..... start learning the process.
Develop a thick skin if you want to get published. The process
is unfair and biased towards experienced and well-connected
people.
Referees and editors are rarely as careful as you would like.
Dont bother raging against stupid referees or writing back to
editors.
Do background research: Who edits the journal? Have they
published similar before?
Editors care about impact factors. Be strategic in citations.
Journal success has a large random element. Best strategy:
Write a lot of papers.
Success and Failure
You get a revise-and-resubmit? Get excited.
Acceptance rates on these are higher than you think. But only if you
know how to deal with them.
Be meticulous in responding to editors and referees. Provide
detailed point-by-point responses.
You get rejection letters?

It happens to everyone. The chance that a typical paper of average
quality will get a favorable recommendation from both referees is
about 11%.
Dont worry too much about the criticisms.
Only make suggested changes that strike you as improving the
paper.
Then send it out again quickly.
Developing Your Research Career
Keep developing your thesis material but dont fall in love with it!
What else can you work on? Your next research project will
probably be better.
Specialisation: Expertise in one sub-field is required. But once

this is achieved, there are great benefits to becoming an expert
in another. Some sub-fields go together (macro and time series.)
Keep multiple projects going at the same time and work with
co-authors. One publication in a top journal will do more for you
than many publications in lower-tier ones.
So be ambitious when thinking about what to work on, how to

market your work, and where youre sending it.

Part IV
Electronic Resources

Access to Electronic Resources
Its Research not Google Search.
Know and use available resources.
Trinity College Library website is a good starting point.

Off-campus access also available.

Online Databases with Journal Articles
JSTOR
EconLit
Econ Papers (both working papers and journal articles)
SpringerLink
Oxford University Press
Many other available
TCD Library has also access to popular press archives
(Time Magazine, The Economist etc.)
Easy Access through Trinity College Library.

Trinity College Library: Electronic Databases
Datastream Advance - Historical financial database
Thomson Datastream is an historical financial numerical database,
covering an breadth of financial instruments, equity and fixed-income
securities and indicators for over 175 countries and 60 markets
worldwide.
World Development Indicators Online (WDI)

Provides direct access to more than 700 development indicators,
with time series for 208 countries and 18 country groups from
1960 to 2006, where data are available.
International Financial Statistics

Approximately 32,000 time series covering more than 200 countries
starting in 1948. Includes exchange rates, fund accounts and the
main global and country economic indicators.

Data Sets We Have Used in Lab Classes
EUROSTAT
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu
CSO Office Ireland

www.cso.ie
Central Bank
www.centralbank.ie
ISEQ index data

www.ise.ie
Bureau of Labor Statistics

www.bls.gov/bls/inflation.htm

Other Electronic Statistical Databases
Presentations and Links from Data Session
Karl Whelan's presentation on macro data.
Greg Connor's presentation on finance datasets.
Pedro Vicente's presentation on development and experimental
data.
James McBride's presentation on the Irish Social Science Data
Archive
Orla Doyle and Colm Harmon's presentation on UK microdata and
cohort data.
Paul Devereux's presentation on US microdata and European
register data

Part V
Citation and Referencing

Academic Style Guides
Good referencing enables readers to find any

publication referred to in your document quickly and
easily which gives you credibility.
If you don't do it, your work is immediately downgraded

in value.
If you do it badly, you lose respect (and easy marks).
During research keep record of all the sources you use

(and know where to find them if needed).

Referring to an Author's Viewpoint in Text
If the author's surname fits naturally into the text, the year
follows in round brackets.
Gaskell (1992) notes that girls skills are not visible to others.
If not, insert the name and year in round brackets immediately

after the viewpoint.
Girls skills are not visible to others (Gaskell, 1992)
Direct (Exact) Citation: you will often be referring to a specific

point in the text. In that case you must add the page(s).
Thompson (2005, pp.37-38) states that
or Thompson (2005, p.37) states that

More than One Author Cited in Text
If the authors surnames fit naturally into the text, the year
follows in round brackets.
Furlong (1985) and McManus (1989) note that girls are considered
to create fewer problems than boys.
If not, insert the names and years in round brackets
Girls are considered to create fewer problems than boys (Furlong,

1985; McManus, 1989).

More Authors for the Same Work
When there are two authors for a work they should both be noted in
the text:
White and Brown (1964) in their recent research paper found
Or indirectly, using an ampersand (and) or (&) :
Earlier research (White & Brown, 1966) demonstrated that the

presence of certain chemicals would lead to
When there are three or more authors, give the first surname
followed by et al. (in italics) meaning and others:
Green et al. (1995) found that the majority

Or indirectly (Green et al., 1995)

Compiling the Reference List - Books
Author, Initials/First name., Year. Title of book. Edition.
Place of publication: Publisher.
Baron, David P., 2008. Business and the organisation. 6th ed.
Chester (CT): Pearson.
or
Arya, C. (2003). Design of structural elements. 2nd ed., London:
Spon Press.
Books with two, three or four authors

Barker, R., Kirk, J., & Munday, R.J., 1988. Narrative analysis. 3rd
ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
or
Silvertown, J. & Charlesworth, D. (2001). Introduction to plant
population biology. 4th ed., Oxford: Blackwell Science.

Compiling the Reference List - Books
Books with more than four authors

Grace, B. et al., 1988. A history of the world. Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press.
Books which are edited

Keene, E. ed., 1988. Natural language. Cambridge: University of
Cambridge Press.
Chapters of edited books

Whittaker, K.A., 1990. Dictionaries. in Lea, P.W. and Day, A. (eds.)
Printed reference material. London: Library Association Publishing,
pp.11-23.

Compiling the Reference List - Journal Articles
Author, Initials., Year. Title of article. Full Title of Journal,

Volume number (Issue/Part number), Page numbers.
Boughton, J.M., 2002. The Bretton Woods proposal: an in depth look.
Political Science Quarterly, 42 (6), pp.564-78.
or
Moore, T. (1966). The demand for broadway theatre tickets. The Review of
Economics and Statistics, 48 (1), 7987.
Articles with two, three or four authors

Bowlin, W.F., Renner, C.J., and Rives, J.M., 2003. A DEA study of gender
equity in executive compensation. Journal of the Operation Research
Society, 54 (7), pp.751-7.
or
Stock, J., & Watson, M. (2008). Heteroskedasticity-Robust standard errors
for fixed-effects panel-data regression. Econometrica, 76, 155174.

More Referencing Rules Useful links
http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm
http://www2.wlv.ac.uk/lib/Tipsheets/Harvard2008.doc
AER (American Economic Review) Style Guide

http://www.aeaweb.org/AER/styleguide.html
Important rule: be consistent in your work!

Part VI
Concluding Remarks

Plenty of Good Advice Available
1) Tips for Preparing and Publishing Research Papers, by
Karl Whelan, www.karlwhelan.com
2) Kwan Choi (How to Publish in Top Journals): Hard-bitten, cynical,

very, very useful. From a man who edits a journal, so knows the deal.
www.roie.org/how.htm
3) John Cochrane (Writing Tips for PhD Students): A master technician

and one of the smartest persons in the profession gives his (admittedly
idiosyncratic) tips on how to write. Ignore at your peril.
http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/john.cochrane/research/Papers
4) Dan Hamermesh (Texas) has an advice page with tips on writing

and other matters.
http://webspace.utexas.edu/hamermes/www/AdviceforEconomists.html

Key Points
1) Good questions are more than good answers

2) Good questions are more than good data
3) There is always more data
4) Begin with one question
5) Pick research question that interest you
6) Survey literature after you start research
7) Spend enough time on writing
8) Keep research portfolio broad
9) Avoid any distractions
10) Diversify your daily tasks
11) Do not listen to more experienced researchers

Thank you!

Department of Economics
Room 3022, Arts Building
Trinity College Dublin
Dublin 2
Office: 00353-1-8961083
Mobile: 00353-867943281
E-Mail: Borowiek@tcd.ie

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