How do we do research in economics

1. How do we do research in economics,
write it, present it and publish it?
Hadi Salehi Esfahani
University of Illinois at Urbana-champaign

2. Structure of This Presentation
The Starting Point: How to find a topic, idea?
How to go about carrying out research.
How to write a proposal.
How to write a paper
How to publish your paper

3. Structure of This Presentation
The Starting Point: How to find a topic, idea?
How to go about carrying out research.
How to write a proposal.
How to write a paper
How to present a paper
How to publish your paper

4. The Starting Point:
How to find a topic, idea?
Start with an issue that interests you, excites you.
Explore the literature to figure out what other researchers
are saying about the issue.
Think about the claims, the propositions, and the results in
the literature.
Explore for yourself to see if you understand the reasoning
and steps taken in the existing research.
Think about the implications of the results: If so, then …

5. The Starting Point:
How to find a topic, idea?
Critical thinking lies at the heart of any research paper
Critical thinking is about
o Observing, questioning, investigating, analyzing,
synthesizing, deriving implications, and reexamining

6. The Starting Point:
How to find a topic, idea?
Start to do research once you think you can add something
new to an existing result.
Do not just redo what has been done many times before
just because you have the data or subset of the data, unless
o you think something new can be shown,
o or you are checking someone else’s work,
o or you are simply practicing.
Do not spend your time on something trivial or trite.

7. Example
Politicians sometimes have incentives to overspend and
cause budget deficit, high debt, and ultimately inflation and
instability.
Under what conditions this might happen?
Why some countries face a bigger problem in this respect?
Can the design of fiscal institutions help?
Do governments with good institutions have lower debt?
How to explore and test these ideas?

8. The Starting Point:
How to find a topic, idea?
Go to seminars, workshops, and conferences.
Read about current research, look at abstracts in top
journals or working papers.
Read survey articles in your research field (Journal of
Economic Literature, Handbooks of Economics)
Read magazine and newspaper that focus on economics
and other social sciences (e.g., The Economist).
Talk to others about your ideas and issues of interest.
Search for datasets and explore their contents.

11. Structure of This Presentation
The Starting Point: How to find a topic, idea?
How to go about carrying out research.
How to write a proposal.
How to write a paper
How to present a paper
How to publish your paper

12. How to go about carrying out research
Once you have an idea, you need a model!
It helps structured ideas.
You can start with existing models and
modify them as needed.
The simpler, the better.
Avoid unnecessary sophistication.
Try examples first, with intuition, and then
generalize.
To the extent possible, derive implications
from your theoretical model.

13. How to go about carrying out research
If you want to do empirical work, you need to look for an
appropriate dataset.
Sometimes you need to generate new data to be able to
analyze the issue that you are exploring.
Think about the possibility of combining datasets.
Familiarize yourself with the dataset and its variables.
Examine the descriptive statistics of the data first: Do the
numbers, ranges, averages, etc. make sense?
Check for anomalies, outliers, and possible errors.

14. How to go about carrying out research
Analytical narrative vs. econometrics
Choice of econometric method
Do the numbers and estimates make sense?
What are the alternative models that could generate the
same results?
Possible simultaneity and endogeneity?
Are there potential instrumental variables in the data?
What do the results really tell you? Are they plausible?
Does the model need to be modified?

15. You do not have to stick to a particular model
when it does not work well!

16. How to go about carrying out research
Try to look at your results with a critical eye, be your own
critic in a healthy way!
Try to see if you can support or eliminate some alternative
hypotheses.
Do lots of sensitivity analysis.
The need to be persuasive and convincing.
When your data is not adequate, find better data or leave
the project for some other time.
You do not have to write a paper just because you have
some data and have thought of some hypothesis!

17. Structure of This Presentation
The Starting Point: How to find a topic, idea?
How to go about carrying out research.
How to write a proposal.
How to write a paper
How to present a paper
How to publish your paper

18. How to write a proposal
State the research question, working hypothesis, thesis.
Place it in context (literature, problems, debates).
Show that your research can fill an important knowledge gap.
Explain your research strategy, plan, and methodology .
o What kind of evidence you will be looking for?
What implications for policy would you expect to derive?
How would these be different from other works in the field?
Do not promise too much by way of results or deliverables.
Prepare a reasonable budget: What is the minimum cost?
o Do not overestimate or underestimate costs.

19. Structure of This Presentation
The Starting Point: How to find a topic, idea?
How to go about carrying out research.
How to write a proposal.
How to write a paper
How to present a paper
How to publish your paper

20. How to write a paper
The purpose of your paper is to convey your new idea!
It is not to show the rest of the world how much you know.
Be concise: If something is not serving this goal, then out.
The rule of three for writing:
1. First tell them the basic idea of what you will tell them
2. Tell them
3. Tell them succinctly what you have told them and add value
by highlighting, discussing, and offering further implications
for policy and future research. (Do not repeat 1).
.

21. How to write a paper
The rule of three applies to the structure of your paper:
 Introduction
 Main body
 Conclusion
o But also to the structure of each section.
o And to the structure of each paragraph.
Your paper should make some sense if you read just the first
sentence of every paragraph, or the first paragraph of every
section.

22. 22
Crucial marketing tool! Most readers will stop here anyway, and
you will force the others to stop if it is not well written.
What should it contain?
o What is the question addressed?
o Why is this important and interesting?
o Summary of existing debate in the literature (give credit)
o Your idea and contribution to the literature (Don’t let the
reader guess)
o Structure of the paper (controversial, but some like it). Make
it very short.
The Introduction

23. 23
Some tips on writing introductions:
o Skip details.
o Use language accessible to graduate students (not top
specialist in your sub-field).
o Don’t include technical discussions or jargon.
o Use short sentences.
o Use examples.
The Introduction

24. 24
 For theory papers:
o Discuss environment and state all assumptions explicitly
(preferences, technology, information structure, what markets
exist, etc.).
o Justify all assumptions.
o State notation for the key variables and parameters.
o State main results (proof in appendix).
o Discuss intuition behind the results:
 a) why are they not obvious (and really needed all this), and
 b) useful to answer your question.
o Provide some simple examples.
o Some evidence?
The Body

25. 25
 Typical structure of the body of a theory paper:
o Model
o Simple development of the model
o Complex developments of the model (some in the appendix)
o Empirical implication of model and/or empirical evidence
 Typical structure of the body of an empirical paper:
o Theory
o Data
o Empirical modeling
o Main Results and Robustness
o Implications for theory
The Body

26. 26
 Crucial. Many readers will just read the introduction and the conclusion
 What should it contain?
o Remind the reader about the original question
o Remind the reader why this is important and interesting
o Tell the reader what your contribution is but in much more detail than
in the Introduction
o Future avenues of research
 Some tips on writing conclusions:
o You can use some jargon and detail if necessary
o Short sentences.
The Conclusion

27. How to write a paper
If a project does not work, do not give up too easily, but do not
continue wasting too much time on it either.
o Sometimes it is good to drop a project or come back to it at a
later time.
More than 30% of papers started are never get finished.
Many others (including unfortunately some published papers)
are wrong!
But, they all help us write other very good papers

29. How to write a paper
Some lessons:
o Don’t be intimated
o Don’t wait for a brilliant idea
o Quickly jump into the writing process
o Quickly present it in seminars and peers and even friends
Most importantly
o Write clearly, simply and structurally
o Present clearly, simply and structurally

30. Take away:
1) A great idea
becomes a great
paper only if you
communicate it well.
2) Some not so great
ideas can become
good papers if
communicated well
(“marketing
approach”).

31. Structure of This Presentation
The Starting Point: How to find a topic, idea?
How to go about carrying out research.
How to write a proposal.
How to write a paper.
How to present a paper
How to publish your paper

32. How to present a paper
 Remember: The purpose of your paper is to convey your new idea!
 The purpose of your presentation is to advertise your new idea, get
the audience excited about it and wanting to read more in your
paper, and get feedback.
 Do not confuse these two, or you will probably deliver a boring,
unclear and too long a talk.
 The purpose is not either to show the rest of the world how much
you know or how smart you are …
 If something is not serving this goal, then out.

33. How to present a paper
Prepare a slide set.
o Large fonts, short phrases and sentences, adequately
spaced.
 Should be readable from the end of a large room.
o Limit the number of slides, no more than one slide per two
minutes of presentation. (Allow time for questions.)
o Avoid any detail that can be left out.

34. How to present a paper
 The four components of a good talk:
o Motivation and connection to literature (20% of the time)
o Slide with structure of the talk (very quick)
o Your idea (75%)
o Conclusion (rather quick)
 Do not present related work. This is the advertisement for your
work, not the work of others.

35. Twelve suggestions:
1. Start strong, loud and clear. (No need for an opening joke.) You
need to tell me in the first 2 minutes why I better listen to you.
Show your enthusiasm, too. (Maybe write down the first 5 or 6
introductory sentences if stress is an issue.)
2. Narrow and deep beats wide and shallow when you are
motivating or describing your idea.
3. Examples are your main weapon to motivate and convey your
idea. Use extreme cases, tell stories.
4. Do not apologize.

36. Twelve suggestions:
5. Keep the lights on to the extent possible, even if we cannot see
the screen very well.
6. Make good eye contact.
7. Stand away from the podium, and move (but not too much). It will
keep the audience alert, and it helps you relax.
8. Always take questions from the audience. It helps everyone relax.
9. Listen to questions and comments eagerly, do not cut them short,
but do not let them take too much time or go off tangent. Try to
respond clearly and adequately, but do not get carried away.
Acknowledge good points and never get defensive.

37. Twelve suggestions:
10. End strong too with an explicit statement of what you want them
to take away. If nobody asks anything after some time, break the
uncomfortable silence with a second thank you and asking them
to please contact you if something comes up later.
11. Building confidence: Heavy breathing, shaky legs, and brain-dead
are all normal before a presentation. But the more you are on top
of your material, there is much less to be nervous about.
Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse (but do not become a robot).
Anticipate questions, etc. If you remove the unknown, you
become more confident. Speaking loudly and clearly also helps,
moving around helps, right introductory sentences, etc.
12. Have fun and show your enthusiasm for your idea.

38. Structure of This Presentation
The Starting Point: How to find a topic, idea?
How to go about carrying out research.
How to write a proposal.
How to write a paper.
How to present a paper
How to publish your paper

39. How to publish your paper
Look for the journals that publish papers related to your
work.
Assess the quality of your paper relative to the published
papers. Also, seek suggestions from established scholars.
It’s OK to be a bit ambitious, but do not go too high above
your assessment of the quality of your paper.
Write the paper according to the specifications of the
journal (e.g., in terms of length, extent of technical details,
etc.)

40. How to publish your paper
Make sure the paper is well-written with good English and
no typos. Referees have little patience and judge quickly
based on the style of writing.
o If your English is not particularly good, considering hiring
a professional editor.
Submit your paper following the instructions on the
journal’s website.
Make sure you receive a confirmation.

41. How to publish your paper
Occasionally check to see how your paper is proceeding
through the editorial process.
It is OK to contact the editorial office if the process is going
too slowly.
When you receive the editor’s decision and referee report,
congratulations if your paper is accepted!

42. How to publish your paper
If the editor’s decision is a revise and resubmit (R&R),
carefully revise the paper and resubmit as soon as possible.
Make sure that you thoroughly respond to the comments
of the referees and the editor either by implementing the
necessary revisions or by fully arguing why the comment
does not apply.
Prepare a detailed explanation of the changes you have
made and the suggestions you have not pursued. Submit
this document along with your paper.

43. How to publish your paper
If the editor rejects your paper, make sure you understand
the criticisms.
If you believe that the critique is unfair or wrong, it is OK to
write to the editor with a detailed explanation and request
for reconsideration.
If the critique is justified, take a deep breath and then
revise the paper accordingly and submit somewhere else,
unless you get a hint in the editors letter that a thoroughly
revised version could be considered as a new submission.

44. Good criticism enriches our research.

45. A useful website
http://econ.lse.ac.uk/staff/spischke/phds/