For Peer Review Only - Christopher Clark review proof.pdfFor Peer Review Only 5 their research to peers in the classroom and at our annual student research conference. The following

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Integrating Econometrics: A Modern Undergraduate

Economics Capstone Experience

Journal: Journal of Economic Education

Manuscript ID Draft

Manuscript Type: Original Paper

Keywords: economic education, econometrics, teaching economics, undergraduate

research, pedagogy

JEL Codes:

A20 - General < A2 - Economics Education and Teaching of Economics < A - General Economics and Teaching, A22 - Undergraduate < A2 - Economics Education and Teaching of Economics < A - General Economics and Teaching

URL: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/vece

Journal of Economic Education

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Integrating Econometrics: A Modern Undergraduate Economics Capstone Experience

Abstract

Angrist and Pischke (2017) call for a pedagogical paradigm shift by pointing out that

econometrics courses often do not align with modern empirical approaches employed by

economists. We propose a modern capstone experience, designed to address these concerns,

that integrates econometrics into the traditional capstone approach. We couple a full

econometrics course with a traditional capstone course by weaving a cohesive econometrics-

heavy research paper through the two courses. We feel this approach addresses the lack of

econometrics skills among economics majors while simultaneously making some necessary

improvements to undergraduate econometrics content. We hope this paper will be a valuable

resource for programs that are changing course requirements or revamping their curriculum

to better fit the increasing demand for data analysis skills in the job market.

Keywords: Economic Education, Econometrics, Teaching Economics, Undergraduate

Research, Pedagogy

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Introduction

An increasing number of undergraduate economics programs are requiring students to

take econometrics and capstone courses (see Petkus, Perry, and Johnson 2017; Siegfried and

Walstad 2014; McGoldrick 2008b; Seigfried et al. 1991). A typical course sequence might

require students to learn econometrics techniques during at least one semester and then use

those techniques to write an empirical research paper in a capstone course. Though the

quality expected from student research is lower, producing an empirical research paper over

the course of a semester can be a difficult task, even for a professional economist with years

of experience. Hurdles, set-backs, trials and errors are typical parts of the process. We think

this research experience can be improved by extending the project over two semesters, where

the project begins in econometrics and is completed and presented toward the end of the

capstone course.

In this paper, we provide the materials necessary to build an integrated empirical

research project into the capstone experience of undergraduate economics students. We

provide a sample syllabus for a modern econometrics course, a set of assignments intended to

push students to begin building their projects during their econometrics course, a description

of how our capstone/senior seminar course is designed, and the presentation and paper

assignments that students follow to complete their capstone project. These two courses

require a great deal of effort from students while providing them with a strong foundation to

work from in graduate school or their careers. Finally, we discuss how this research

experience may be flexibly applied to other programs with differing course sequences, the

coordination required among faculty members teaching these courses, and potential resource

and funding issues.

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Literature Review

Undergraduate research is perceived as important for a number of reasons. Ishiyama

(2002) and Simkins et al. (2016) provide evidence that social science students show improved

ability to think analytically and logically, put ideas together, improve communication skills,

and learn on their own and in groups when they have a research experience early in their

college careers. Santos and Lavin (2004) concluded that requiring students to complete an

empirical research project improves their ability to “think like an economist.” Student

research is also considered a high impact educational practice by the American Association

of Colleges and Universities (Kuh 2008), is beneficial in reaching cognitive objectives from

Bloom’s (1956) taxonomy, and helps students achieve the expected proficiencies for

economics majors as outlined by Hansen (2001). According to a survey from the National

Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), nearly 63% of employers seek job

candidates with analytical and quantitative skills, and roughly 70% look for skills in both

written and verbal communication (NACE 2016). The demand for employees with these

skills is clearly growing as our quantity of and access to data has increased (SHRM 2016).

Completing an empirical research project and presenting it to others helps build these highly

demanded skills.

Research shows an overall increase in graduation requirements for economics

programs that now include both econometrics and capstone courses. Petkus, Perry, and

Johnson (2014) looked at economics curriculum requirements for all U.S. colleges and

universities and found that 40.7% require econometrics. Johnson, Perry, and Petkus (2012)

found that nearly all schools ranked in the top 10 required econometrics for all undergraduate

economics majors. In addition, they found that liberal arts colleges are more likely to have

econometrics courses that require a research project. In a working paper, Petkus, Perry, and

Johnson show that the percentage of programs offering econometrics has increased from

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46.5% in 1980 to 74.4% in 2012. Both Siegfried and Walstad (2014) and McGoldrick

(2008b) found that 49% of economics programs surveyed required a senior capstone course,

as opposed to only 7% in 1990 (Seigfried et al. 1991). Clearly more importance is being

placed on teaching empirical skills and cultivating capstone experiences in undergraduate

economics programs.

A number of researchers have described how to integrate undergraduate research into

econometrics courses (Klein 2013) and capstone courses (McGoldrick 2008a; Reyes 2010;

Henderson 2016), or how to design and improve existing programs that incorporate

undergraduate research (DeLoach et al. 2012; Li and Simonson 2016). We argue that these

two courses, econometrics and senior seminar, can work together in a more meaningful way

to help students produce higher quality research and gain a more realistic perspective on what

it’s like to do economics, rather than just learn economics. As thoughtfully put by Reyes

(2010), we are focused on “bridging the gap between passively consuming economics and

actively producing economics” (Reyes 2010, p. 112). Rather than trying to fit a research

experience into one semester, we think this gap can be better bridged by having all of our

students engage in a year-long research project that starts in their econometrics course in the

fall, and continues through their capstone course in the spring.1

Addressing the concerns of Angrist and Pischke (2017), we follow a design-based

approach that focuses on the application of knowledge acquired in econometrics, using that

knowledge to answer specific questions of causality, and understanding the intuition behind

and interpretation of results. We have our students extend this “learning by doing” experience

through the senior seminar course, where students are expected to address econometric issues

from the project they began in the econometrics course, and eventually polish and present

1 Although our sequence occurs during the senior year (which is why we refer to our capstone class as “senior seminar”), this could also be implemented during the junior year. Some may argue that a senior-year sequence is too late, especially for students applying to graduate school.

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their research to peers in the classroom and at our annual student research conference. The

following two sections describe the course design for our econometrics and capstone courses,

and how the two have been integrated.

Econometrics Content and Assignments

In our integrated capstone experience, the econometrics course serves two purposes.

First, it is designed to give students an understanding of the techniques, tools, and approaches

used in modern applied economics research. Second, it is where students begin to build their

empirical research project. Students are expected to develop their own question, gather and

clean their data, and perform their own analysis after building programming skills using their

preferred statistical package.2 They are guided through this process via three assignments: a

topic memo, a data memo, and a results memo. All three memos are discussed during the

first class period of the semester. The econometrics professor and the senior seminar

professor are present to discuss each of the memos and how they are to be completed in

econometrics and used in senior seminar. These assignments are provided in the appendix.

The econometrics course is designed with a focus on identification and causality. We

want students to understand that modern economic research is typically focused on answering

a specific question. Therefore, we emphasize modern techniques that are designed to ferret

out a true causal relationship. Students are introduced to the basic components of an

econometrics course: statistical inference applied to economic theory, regression analysis,

classical assumptions, failures, fixes, specification and specification errors, and omitted

variables.

We also discuss more advanced techniques that are not always taught in

undergraduate econometrics courses: causation and the search for identification, estimation of

2 Students are provided with videos describing essential Stata programming skills and specific Stata commands are discussed when covering relevant topics. For example, the probit, dprobit, and oprobit commands are all discussed in class when we cover limited dependent variable models.

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multiple equation models, limited dependent variable models, instrumental variables, panel

data techniques, and difference-in-difference.3 These are the more modern methods that

Angrist and Pischke (2017) push for and we agree that students need these tools. Obviously,

this is a lot of material to cover in one econometrics course. Therefore, we focus on breadth,

not depth for many of the advanced topics. If you are lucky enough to be able to offer

multiple econometrics courses, these topics can obviously be spread across those courses and

covered in more depth. A copy of the core components of the econometrics syllabus is

available in the appendix.

Econometrics Research Proposal Assignment (Topic Memo)

The first assignment students will complete in Econometrics is a topic proposal. They

are expected to present their question, explain the basic model they will employ to answer the

question, provide the data source they hope to use, and convince the econometrics and senior

seminar professors they should actually care about their topic. This memo is due early in the

semester, typically during the first month, to emphasize students the importance of their

projects. The topic memo is the basis for the introduction and literature review of the Senior

Seminar Research Paper and the motivation component of their Senior Seminar Presentation.

We find that the first question/concern students have when starting this project is how

to find a topic. We emphasize three things when discussing this with them:

1. It should be something the student is personally interested in.

2. There is a specific causal question that can be asked.

3. The data required to actually answer the question exists.

We have had success guiding them toward a question by helping them focus on field courses

they have enjoyed. For example, if the student enjoyed their Economic Growth course, we 3 We have also covered regression discontinuity, but only when a student in the course is actually going to employ that technique.

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suggest they look through the textbook for relevant publications, introduce them to some

datasets that contain international and/or development data, and suggest they look for recent

publications in that field that reference the articles cited in their textbook. We work very

hard to avoid giving them a question. We find that students do a relatively poor job when

they are not personally invested in the topic, so we push them to develop their own questions,

suggesting refinements when necessary.

We make it clear to students that they need to make sure the data they will use to

answer their question exists before they even begin their project. To that end we introduce

them to the common data sources available to economists4 and show them how to search for

specialized sources. We find that helping them understand how to read a codebook to look at

the specific variables available in a dataset makes it clear to students how they should

approach their search for data and helps them develop their question.

Once students submit their topic memos, it is graded according to the rubric included

in the appendix. After grading the memos the econometrics professor passes the topics along

to the senior seminar professor.5 At that point they work together to decide if each individual

question is approved. This decision hinges on a few key factors. First, the question must be

specific and causal. Second, we must believe a data source is available that the student can

use to answer the question. Third, the student must convince us we should care about the

answer to their question. If the student’s question did not meet our requirements, the student

is informed that they need to find a new question, or tweak the old one, and send it to us for

approval.

Econometrics Data Summary Assignment (Data Memo)

4 For example, The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (http://www.icpsr.umich.edu) is one of the most commonly used data repositories by our students. 5 Your approach to this component of the process may need to be different, by necessity, from what we propose. Faculty can adjust the approval process to fit their needs and circumstances. For example, it may be easier to have another econometrics professor provide outside approval.

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The data memo is essentially a preliminary draft of the data section of the student’s

full research paper and presentation. It should contain a description of their data source(s),

the cleaning they performed, and a discussion of their summary statistics. We require

students to locate their own data, so it is important that they be able to explain why their

source is valid. We also emphasize that data be cleaned carefully to avoid creating

measurement errors or selection issues. Generally, we also find this is the point where we

notice any data issues that the students missed.

It is also important to make sure students are able to correctly describe the key

variables in their data. We expect them to carefully summarize the relevant characteristics of

their dependent variable and key independent variables. They should also be able to point out

any unique or interesting characteristics of their data. For example, multiple students have

used the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health)6 because

the public use version is readily available and contains data many students are interested in.

The Add Health oversampled some minority groups and we expect students to know this,

either by thoroughly reading the documentation provided with the data or by simply noticing

the characteristics of the participants in the survey do not reflect the characteristics of the

general public.

The summary statistics presented in the data memo are required to come from either

Stata or R. That means this memo also serves as a checkpoint to make sure students are

becoming familiar with one of these statistical packages. They receive guidance in class, via

instructional videos, and during office hours regarding the use of Stata and are directed to the

many useful guides online. Students are also allowed to use R if they have had some

experience with it in another class. It is essential that students become comfortable with their

preferred statistical package, as they will need to complete their analysis for the next memo

6 http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/addhealth

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and continue to refine their approach during Senior Seminar. Occasionally, a class will

struggle with statistical programming. When that happens, we find it is worthwhile to spend

an entire class period walking through a complete do-file (or log) in Stata. We find that

seeing the entire process described from start to finish helps them grasp some of the more

subtle aspects of programming.

Econometrics Preliminary Results Assignment (Results Memo)

The results memo is the basis for the model and results section of the student’s senior

seminar paper. They are evaluated based on three primary criteria:

1. Their ability to interpret their own results.

2. Their ability to analyze the econometric issues they face.

3. And their ability to explain the techniques they will use to address those econometric

issues going forward.

They are presenting their first attempt at answering their question, so they know they will be

expected to harshly evaluate their own work and present a game plan for future

improvements. If their model suffers from any econometric issues, as they always do, the

student is required to explain how they expect to address them during senior seminar. The

student is also expected to provide a correctly specified model and carefully explain their

identification strategy.

The topic, data, and results memos serve as the starting point for the student’s full

research paper that will be completed during senior seminar. Students receive feedback on

these memos from their econometrics professor throughout the course and are expected to

integrate that feedback while writing their senior seminar paper and preparing their

presentation. In our experience this integrated approach has left students much more

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prepared to begin the senior seminar course and has led to considerably better and more

interesting capstone presentations and papers.

Senior Seminar Content and Assignments

The primary purpose of Senior Seminar is to develop each student’s research, writing,

and analytical skills. The secondary purpose is to solidify each student’s intellectual

development as an economist, and the tertiary purpose is to improve and develop the

professionalism of each student. Most of the class is devoted to improving and completing the

empirical paper students began in Econometrics. Students must turn in a written paper and

orally present their research two times: once in class and once at an annual student research

conference on campus. The paper itself is worth 35% of the overall grade, and the two

presentations together are worth 25%. The remaining 40% is based on performance on the ETS

exam, an oral book review, a resume review, and class participation.

The course is frontloaded in terms of the research project. The first three or four weeks

of class focus on helping students organize and write their paper and presentation slides. Some

fundamental econometric concepts and issues are reviewed, but most of this time is devoted to

the oral and written communication of their research. Economical Writing by Deirdre

McCloskey is the required text, and students are quizzed once or twice on selected chapters of

the book. After the instructor presents a generic outline for an empirical research paper, the

instructor goes over a number of previous student papers as examples.7 The instructor highlights

both positive and negative aspects of each example. The paper is typically due at the beginning

of the 11th week of a fifteen-week semester. This gives time to grade the papers in a thorough

manner and for the students to present their research in class and to prepare for their

presentations at the student research conference.

7 Some of these papers are quite good. Two of our students have won the Frank W. Taussig Award for undergraduate research given by Omicron Delta Epsilon, The International Economics Honor Society. Three past students have also won the Best Undergraduate Paper Award at the annual conference of the Academy of Economics and Finance.

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After covering past student papers, the instructor shifts to the oral presentation of

research. As with the paper, the instructor goes through a generic outline for an empirical

research presentation followed by examples from past students. Students are instructed on

speaking and body language as well as the organization and style of the slides themselves.

Economics faculty are invited to attend Senior Seminar classes whenever students are

presenting. In the last three years, a subset of students do their in-class presentation early

because they attend the annual conference of the Academy of Economics and Finance.8 By

presenting before the conference, they can first ‘practice’ before the class and faculty and

receive feedback for improvement. An added advantage is that this is a learning opportunity for

the rest of the class to see some student presentations and hear the comments from the faculty.

The students who present early are usually stronger students with interesting research questions

and results. At this point in the semester, it is time to devote one or two lectures to reviewing for

the ETS subject exam in economics which is a graduation requirement in our program. Around

the middle of the semester, the instructor schedules one-on-one meetings with students during

class time to discuss questions and challenges with their research.

One reason it is important to focus on research early in the semester is to ensure that

students maintain their momentum from econometrics in the previous semester. Students are

encouraged to use the material from their topic memo to develop the motivation and literature

review portions of their paper and presentation. The data memo can serve as a basis for the

discussion of their data sources and summary statistics, and the results memo can serve as a

basis for their results section. The goal is to provide a smooth transition from econometrics to

senior seminar in regard to their empirical research. A second reason is to provide ample time

for improvements, revisions, and—in the worst case scenario—an actual change in topic due to

serious data problems.

8 The American Economic Association also maintains a list of annual conferences that hold undergraduate research sessions. The list can be found at https://www.aeaweb.org/resources/students/undergrad-research

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One reason the topic, data, and results memos are required in econometrics is to help

students think carefully about their topics and uncover major problems early-on in the course

in order to avoid the desire to change topics later. In some rare cases, students have run into

too many problems with their projects and have asked to change topics after completing the

econometrics course, but before starting the senior capstone course. We have found it best to

handle these situations on a case-by-case basis and to require the student to get new topic

approval from both the econometrics and senior capstone professors. We also try to

encourage the student to alter their topic slightly, rather than change it completely, in order to

make use of data they have already gathered and cleaned. We cannot recall a time when a

student changed their topic so drastically that they could not use most of the data they have

already collected and cleaned. As long as the student comes to the capstone and

econometrics professors within the first week or so of the spring semester, we can work with

the student to find an alternative research question.

Finally, we should also mention that early in the semester, one class period is devoted to

attending a session on library instruction and another is devoted to resume preparation and

interview skills. The first is conducted by an undergraduate research specialist from the library

who tailors the session to seniors who are engaged in more in-depth research. The timing of the

library instruction may seem late, but it is appropriate for students who are ready to begin a

second and more thorough search for related literature or additional data sources. The second is

conducted by a staff member from the Career Center. Most of the students have already written

a resume, but typically the resume is in need of revision and improvement.

Flexibility, Coordination, and Funding

We understand that the course sequence and integration we present in this paper may

not fit into every program. This approach was developed at a liberal arts institution that

encourages student research and faculty cooperation, and our program already required both

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an econometrics course and a capstone course for economics students. Not all schools

require those courses and many schools do not support student research. With that in mind

we would like to explain how this approach could be adapted into other scenarios and

describe the kind of cooperation among faculty required to make it work.

Flexibility

There are near limitless variations in undergraduate economics curricula. As we have

previously mentioned, roughly 26% of economics programs do not even offer an

econometrics course. Among those that do offer econometrics, this multi-course integration

should work with some tweaks. For example, if your program offers a two course sequence

in econometrics and a capstone course, then we would suggest building the econometrics

portion of the capstone project into the second econometrics course. This gives students more

time to build a solid econometrics foundation in the first course before beginning the project

in the second course. If your program offers multiple econometrics courses, but no real

capstone course, then the capstone project could simply be split across the two courses during

the students’ junior or senior year. In programs that do not require econometrics, students

that elect to take it could be expected to develop this project during their econometrics and

capstone courses.

We feel it is also worthwhile to complete the econometrics portion of this project even

if the student isn’t going to take the capstone class. Over the last few years, we have had

multiple international students and non-majors take econometrics with no intention of

sticking around for the capstone course. The three memos (especially the initial topic memo)

have proven to be very valuable ways for these students to understand how economists

perform and motivate research. We have even had a few of these students decide to take the

capstone course because they were interested in finishing their research. One such student

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actually won an award for outstanding undergraduate research paper at the Academy of

Economics and Finance annual meetings in 2017.

Coordination

The approach we propose in this paper requires a great deal of coordination between

faculty members. The econometrics and senior seminar professors need to be able to work

together to properly integrate the project into both courses. As formerly stated, our senior

seminar professor attends the econometrics course on the first day to highlight the importance

of the capstone project, and the econometrics professor attends research presentations in the

senior seminar course to offer feedback on the evolution of the students’ projects. This may

seem like an increase in workload for the two professors, but we find that this cooperation

can actually decrease the workload. Students are not forced to cram an entire research paper

into econometrics, meaning less grading for the econometrics professor, and students are

much better prepared to complete their capstone paper in their senior seminar class, meaning

the senior seminar professor spends less time with students laying the groundwork for their

project.

We also find that other faculty in the department enjoy advising students about their

research. Our faculty consistently interact with our seniors to discuss their research and often

attend their senior seminar presentations to help them polish their work. This kind of

cooperation is not required for this project to be integrated into your curriculum, but it

certainly helps. If you do not have this kind of faculty interest in undergraduate research,

then it is advisable to have your econometrics and senior seminar professors have

complimentary skill sets.

Funding

Students are required to use either Stata or R for their econometrics work. We are lucky

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enough to have multiple copies of Stata on campus computers that our students can use. If you

are unable to provide copies of Stata to students, then it is worth noting that Stata actually offers

student pricing for their software.9 If the cost of the software makes requiring its use untenable,

then R is also an option. R is an increasingly popular, freely available software. Students do not

seem to find R as easy to learn as Stata, but it is probably the most reasonable option for students

who lack funds to purchase Stata and do not have access to statistical programming software

through on-campus computers. R is also useful after graduation since it is increasingly popular

software for statistical analysis.10

Our students are also lucky enough to have access to funding for conference attendance

through our Mentored Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavors program. Many

universities have similar on-campus programs that help promote and fund undergraduate

research and conference attendance. For programs without access to funding opportunities

through their university, there are outside funding opportunities through the Council on

Undergraduate Research to attend the CUR Dialogues Conference or the Undergraduate

Research Collaborations Conference.11

Conclusion

Since making these program changes, the number of our students entering PhD

programs in economics has increased relative to those entering Master’s programs. Of our

majors that entered into graduate programs in economics, 60% entered into PhD programs

during the 5 years prior to the change and 88% entered PhD programs during the 5 years after

the change.

9 https://www.stata.com/order/new/edu/gradplans/student-pricing/ 10 http://r4stats.com/articles/popularity/ 11 http://www.cur.org/conferences_and_events/cur_conference_grants/

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Our students have been asking interesting questions and using their acquired skills to

answer them to the best of their ability. Here are some examples of the kind of interesting

questions our students have been asking:

“Does PTSD affect Employment?”

“Does Police Militarization affect Civilian Deaths ?”

“Do Different Races Perceive their Financial Success Differently?”

“Does Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage Affect Hate Crime Rates?”

“Does Repeating or Skipping a Grade Affect Self-Assessed Intelligence?”

These students have also used some fairly complex econometrics techniques in an

attempt to obtain answers to these kinds of questions. For example, an ordered probit

technique with properly interpreted marginal effect estimates was used when analyzing the

“Does Repeating or Skipping a Grade Affect Self-Assessed Intelligence?” The question

“Does Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage affect Hate Crime Rates?” was tackled using a

difference-in-difference technique that exploited the variation in gay marriage law across

states and over time.

In conclusion, our students are engaging in what we think is a more realistic and

practical research experience that serves as a better foundation for entering graduate school

and data analysis careers. This modern capstone experience is also flexible enough to be used

across a variety of programs. We feel that this integrated pedagogical approach to student

research in economics is a more effective way to help students learn and prepare for the

future.

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References

Angrist, Joshua D. and Jörn‐Steffen Pischke. 2017. “Undergraduate Econometrics

Instruction: Through Our Classes, Darkly.” The Journal of Economic Perspectives,

forthcoming.

Bloom, B. S. 1956. Taxonomy of educational objectives. Handbook I: Cognitive domain.

New York, N.Y.: David McKay.

Bosshardt, William, Michael Watts, and William E. Becker. 2013. “Course Requirements for

Bachelor’s Degrees in Economics.” American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings,

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Johnson, Bruce K., John J. Perry and Marie Petkus. 2012. “The Status of Econometrics in the

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Appendix

Econometrics Research Proposal Assignment (Topic Memo)

Your Topic Memo will consist of a clear statement of your topic and the question you wish to answer, a summary of why I should care about the answer, and your expected findings. You also need to locate data that you can access that you feel will let you answer your question. You are expected to find at least 2 respected references (academic journal articles) related to this topic, use them in your discussion, and cite them correctly. You are not limited to two references. You should also find other references (academic or otherwise) that support the importance of your topic. This memo should be a maximum of two pages long. It should be concise, coherent, and cogent. General Grading Breakdown:

Proper Grammar and Spelling 10 points

Properly citing 2 academic journal articles and using them in your write-up. 10 points

Correctly using the terminology from the class. 10 points

Clearly stating your question. (Your question should be your title.) 10 points

Describing the topic. (Define terms. Elaborate on your question and key variables.)

15 points

Convincing me I should care. (If you fail to convince me [or your senior seminar professor] I should care, your topic will not be approved for Econometrics or Senior Seminar and you will be asked to find a new topic.)

20 points

Summarizing expected findings. (Including your basic model, a brief description of the variables you hope to include, and why they should be included.)

15 points

Describing a potential data source. (You need to make sure you can access data that will let you answer your question.)

10 points

This assignment is worth 10% of your final grade in the course.

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Econometrics Data Summary Assignment (Data Memo)

Your Data Memo will consist of a clear summary of the source(s) of your data, summarizing any cleaning you performed, and a description of your data. A scientist (social or otherwise) is only as good as his/her data. This is your chance to convince me your data is trustworthy and that you have cleaned it correctly. If you data isn’t trustworthy, your results are inherently unconvincing. You should be comfortable with either Stata or R at this point, so the Summary Statistics must come from one of those two statistical packages. This memo should be a maximum of two pages long. It should be concise, coherent, and cogent. General Grading Breakdown:


Correctly using the terminology from the class. 10 points

Describing your source(s). (I want specifics. Where did you acquire it? Who collected it? Why do you trust them?)

25 points

Describing any cleaning you performed. (Be specific. You must be careful not to introduce selection concerns that can be avoided.)

25 points

Describing characteristics of key variables. (Directly interpret the mean of your dependent variable and any other important variables. Point out any other interesting statistical characteristics of your data.)

25 points

Attaching summary statistics. (These can be raw output from your statistical package [Stata or R]. This is econometrics. Spend your time making sure the work is correct, not making it pretty. You’ll make it pretty in Senior Seminar. This does not count against your two page maximum.)

5 points


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Econometrics Preliminary Results Assignment (Results Memo)

Your Results Memo will consist of a clear description of the equation you estimated, the technique you used to estimate it, a summary of your results, and a description of any important econometric concerns. This is your opportunity to present your preliminary results. This is the baseline set of results you will use to build your paper and presentation during Senior Seminar. If your approach suffers from any econometric issues (and it almost certainly does, they always do) then you need to carefully explain how you will address those issues during Senior Seminar in a way that convincingly conveys your identification strategy. This component of your memo is your game plan for Senior Seminar. Plan well. This memo should be a maximum of two pages long. It should be concise, coherent, and cogent. General Grading Breakdown:


Using the terminology from the class. 10 points

Including the equation you estimated written out in the proper format. (It doesn’t have to be beautiful, but it must be correct.)

15 points

Summarizing your results. (What is the answer to your question? This is why we do what we do. Interpret that coefficient. Is the magnitude meaningful? Also explain any other interesting results.)

20 points

Describing the problems with your analysis. (If you don’t think you have any problems then you haven’t been paying attention.)

20 points

Carefully explaining the identification strategy you will employ in Senior Seminar.

20 points

Attaching your regression results. (These can be raw output from your statistical package [Stata or R]. This is econometrics. Spend your time making sure the work is correct, not making it pretty. You’ll make it pretty in Senior Seminar. This does not count against your two page maximum.)

5 points


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Senior Seminar Presentation

You must present your research results once in class and once at the GC Student Research Conference in April. You will have a time limit of 12 minutes for the presentation itself. You should be prepared to answer questions from fellow students and faculty members after the presentation. The presentation should follow the general outline presented in class. In preparing your presentation you should build on your work in econometrics last semester. The topic memo should be the basis of your research question, motivation, and literature review. Likewise, the data memo should be the basis for your data section. Finally, the results memo should be the basis of your results section. General Grading Breakdown:

Economic and econometric content of the presentation 10 points

Clear and concise slides 5 points

Overall organization of the presentation 5 points

Speaking and body language 5 points

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Senior Seminar Research Paper

The paper must be 10-15 pages of text (double-spaced, one-inch margins, 12-point New Times Roman font)—excluding cover page, references, tables and figures. The organization of the paper should follow the general outline presented in class. In writing your research paper you should build on your work in econometrics last semester. The topic memo should be the basis of your research question, motivation, and literature review. Likewise, the data memo should be the basis for your data section. Finally, the results memo should be the basis of your results section. General Grading Breakdown:

Clear identification of the research question and why it is important 10 points

Literature Review: Is it complete? Is the bibliography correct and complete? Is there a minimum of eight sources, at least five of which are peer-reviewed journals?

15 points

Economic Theory: Do you clearly explain the economic concepts pertaining to the research question?

15 points

Empirical Work: Did you collect good data and appropriately clean the data? Did you use appropriate econometric techniques given the data and the research question?

25 points

Draws reasoned conclusions from results and describes limitations 15 points

Exposition: grammar, spelling, organization and clarity 15 points

Peer Review 5 points

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Sample Econometrics Syllabus

Prerequisites

Principles of Macroeconomics, Intermediate Microeconomics, and Probability and Statistics.

Topics Statistical inference applied to economic theory. Regression Analysis. Causation and the Search for Identification.

Classical Assumptions, Failures, and Fixes. Estimation of single and multiple equation models. Specification and Specification Errors. Omitted Variables.

Instrumental Variables. Limited Dependent Variable Models Panel Data techniques and difference-in-difference. Regression Discontinuity Methods IF any students choose topics that require them.

Required Texts for the Course Using Econometrics: A Practical Guide by A.H. Studenmund AND/OR

Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach by Jeffery M. Wooldridge You are STRONGLY encouraged to purchase both books if you are even slightly interested in graduate school. If you have no interest in graduate school, you may be fine relying on the Studenmund text.

Required Statistical Software

Stata or R. You are required to use one or the other. An important component of this course is becoming comfortable with modern statistics software. If you have experience with R from another course and are

comfortable using it, then you may use it in this course. If you have no experience with R, then I strongly encourage you to use Stata. I find it is generally easier for students to learn. I am happy to help you with either.

Evaluation Criteria

Your final grade for the course is based on the distribution below. Your grade is determined on a standard 100 point scale. A: 90% to 100%, B: 80%-89%, C: 70%-79%, D: 60%-69%, F: 59% and below. Grading in the course will be based upon assignments, quizzes, two midsemester exams and a final exam. Exam questions will reflect information and ideas presented both in lecture and the assigned readings. (Please do not ask me to

calculate your grade for you during the semester. You have all the information you need to do that yourself in the following table.)

Task % of Course Grade

Assignments 30%

Quizzes 10%

Exam I 20%

Exam II 20%

Final Exam 20%

Assignments

You will be expected to complete 3 assignments this semester. 1) Select a viable question (topic) for your research paper (that you will work on during both this course and Senior Seminar) and provide a written report on that topic and why we should be interested in reading it. 2) Acquire data that can be used for your research paper and provide a written report summarizing said data, how you cleaned it, and why it’s viable. 3) Provide a written report describing the method in which you analyzed your data to answer your question, present preliminary results, and explain how you will refine your technique during Senior Seminar. You will be given due dates for these assignments later in the semester. Any late assignments will receive a grade of zero.

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Sample Senior Seminar Syllabus

Course Overview & Objective

The primary purpose of Senior Seminar is to develop each student’s research, writing, presentation and analytical

skills. The secondary purpose is to solidify each student’s intellectual development as an economist, and the tertiary purpose is to improve the professionalism of each student.

Pre-requisites

Intermediate Microeconomics, Intermediate Macroeconomics, Econometrics

Required Text

Economical Writing by Deirdre N. McCloskey, 2nd edition I may also assign additional articles and papers throughout the semester.

Course Grade

Research Paper 35% Class Presentation 15% ETS Exam 15% Conference 10% Book Review 10% Resume/Interview 10%

Class Participation 5% Note that the combined score for the presentation of your research is 25%. Class participation includes class attendance and may include quizzes on assigned readings or other assignments. The ETS exam is a graduation

requirement!

Grading for the Research Paper (100 points) Clear identification of the research question and why it is important. 10 points Literature review (Is it complete? Can the student clearly convey previous methodologies and findings? Is the

bibliography complete and correct? Is there a minimum of 8 sources, at least 5 of which are from peer-reviewed journals?) 15 points

Economic model (Can the student explain the economic theory pertaining to the research question?) 15 points Empirical work (Did the student collect good data? Did the student generate meaningful results?)

25 points Draws reasoned conclusions and limitations from results. 15 points

Exposition (grammar, spelling, organization, and clarity) 15 points

Peer Review 5 points

Grading for the Class Presentation (25 points)

Content

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10 points Clear and concise slides 5 points

Organization 5 points

Speaking and body language 5 points.

Important Dates

You must set up a resume review appointment with the Career Center by February 2. You must complete the resume review by March 31.

You must register for the ETS exam by Tuesday, February 7. If you miss this deadline, you will have to pay $26 for the exam. The exam will be given on Monday and Tuesday in the last two weeks of February and the first two weeks of March. The available time slots are 1–3 pm and 3–5 pm.

The Student Research Conference is on Friday, April 7. You must register and submit an abstract by Friday, March 10, at 11:59 pm. Information on submitting an abstract can be found at http://www.gcsu.edu/murace/student-research-conference.

The research paper is due Sunday, March 20 at 11:59 pm. The paper must be 10-15 pages of text (double-spaced, one-inch margins, 12-point New Times Roman font)—excluding cover page, references, tables and figures.

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Documents

For Peer Review Only - Christopher Clark review proof.pdfFor Peer Review Only 5 their research to peers in the classroom and at our annual student research conference. The following