[SOLVED] Econ 2560 Fall 2024 Paper Assignment

Paper Assignment

Econ 2560, Fall 2024

Over the course of the semester, you will conduct independent statistical analysis on a topic of  your choosing, which will culminate in a write-up to be handed in on the last day of class, 4/16. The objective of this project is for you to see how the concepts discussed in lecture can be applied to a real dataset of interest to you. This analysis must be novel and cannot borrow any work you have done for another class or project.

Think of the end product as being the type of long-form. analysis that could be posted as an article on a quantitative blog. It will involve rigorous econometrics and thoughtful analysis, but it is less substantial than an academic paper.

Schedule:

This project will be developed over the course of the semester according to the schedule below. I will give you some feedback as the schedule unfolds, but please reach out to me if you would like to discuss what you are doing in more depth. This is especially true in the last couple weeks of the semester, when you will be pulling the paper together.

1.   10/4 (as part of Problem Set 2): Propose 3 datasets that you think might be interesting to study. A long list of publicly available datasets are available at the end of this document; this can be a very helpful place to look.

2.   10/18 (as part of Problem Set 3): Choose a dataset and propose a research question that the variables in the dataset could help you to answer.

3.   11/5 (as part of Problem Set 4): Provide summary statistics (number of observations, mean, variance, median, minimum, maximum) of at least 3 variables in the dataset.

4.   11/19 (as part of Problem Set 5): Show results from at least 2 regressions in your dataset, including both coefficients and standard errors.

5.   12/3: Final write-up due.

Final Write-up:

(Steps 1-4 above will be discussed in greater detail in their corresponding Problem Sets.)

The final write-up (step #5 due on 12/3) should be roughly 1,500-2,000 words, excluding tables and figures. It should include the following components:

1.   A discussion of a research question or hypothesis. For instance, “Do the returns to     education (in terms of salary) differ for people with different IQs?” You should discuss why this issue is interesting and/or important, and how knowing the answer could guide how individuals, organizations, or policymakers might make decisions. (~250 words)

2. A description of the dataset. This should include the time period covered, the number of observations,the variables included, how the data was collected, and anything else noteworthy about the dataset. (~125 words)

3. Summary statistics describing all variables to be used in the analysis. These should be “publication quality” tables showing (at least) number of observations, mean, variance, median, minimum, and maximum. If there are two variables of primary interest, it may be helpful to show a scatterplot. (~125 words)

4.   An explanation of the empirical methodology. What will be the lefthand side variable in your regressions, and what will be the key righthand side variable(s)? Do you have to do any data transformations (e.g. take logs of variables)? Why do the regressions you propose help to answer the research question you proposed above? How will you interpret the coefficients that Stata spits out? What key hypothesis test(s) will you conduct? (~250-500 words)

5.   Discussion of results from at least three regressions.  (~500 words)

a.   A “baseline” regression ofy on x1  (and potentially other regressors x2, etc.)

b.   A “flexible” regression that allows x1  to enter non-linearly (e.g. quadratic, non-parametric)

c.   A version that adds an additional regressor to the baseline (you can also add it to the flexible version ifyou think it makes sense)

You should discuss how the implications ofyour regression results for your hypothesis, including sign (positive, negative), magnitude, and statistical significance. If you feel you got a clear answer to your question, what was it? If the answer is still unclear, why is that? Be sure to discuss how adding the regressor (in regression c) affected the coefficient and the standard error on your main x1. Also discuss whether you think the baseline or the flexible version is more useful. This is the main section of the report, and it will be different for each person; the questions above are not an exhaustive list. Think hard about what your results say (and don’t say) and discuss that here.

6.   Literature review; described further below. (~250-500 words)

7.   Conclusion. What was your empirical analysis able to teach you? What are its

shortcomings? What are some new questions it brings up? Ifyou had more time and/or better data, how would you try to improve the analysis?  (~250-500 words)

Evaluation:

Your paper will be evaluated along the following dimensions:

●   Did you employ the tools from the course in a proper and sensible way? Concretely, do the regressions that you ran on your dataset constitute a reasonable approach to answering your research question?

● Did you interpret the results of your regression analysis in a reasonable way?

●   Did you explain the results in a clear, transparent way? I will not explicitly grade you on the quality ofyour English prose, but papers will receive higher grades if they are able to  explain the ideas in a way that is easy for a reader to follow. The writing should be formal (e.g. avoid contractions like “won’t”) and should include economic/econometric terms whenever relevant.

○   Note: Think of the “target audience” as your Econ 2560 classmates. You do not need to try to explain your ideas in a way that the “(wo)man on the street” could understand – you can assume an understanding of econometrics from your readers. However, you should write as an independent project that is separate from the components you handed in during the semester.

Literature Review:

You must provide a literature review of prior work relevant to your research question.  This literature review will help you conceptualize and operationalize your research question.  This literature review must be comprised of at least three sources. For most projects, these citations   should come from academic journals. However, if your project is about a topic that is not closely studied by academics (e.g. some sports topics), then we can discuss suitable alternatives.

These three (or more) sources can be searched via academic journals’ electronic portals such as, for  example,  “JStor”  (http://www.jstor.org/),  “EconLit”  (http://www.aeaweb.org/econlit/),  as well      as       other       electronic      resources       accessible      via       the NU      Libraries (http://library.northeastern.edu/find).    Other  useful  academic  sources  are,  among  others,  the “Journal of Economic Perspectives” (http://www.aeaweb.org/jep/), the “Journal of Economic Literature”  (http://www.aeaweb.org/jel/index.php),  the  “Handbook of Economics”  series (http://www.elsevier.com/books/book-series/handbooks-in-economics), and the “New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics” (http://www.dictionaryofeconomics.com/dictionary).   Each of these resources   is   available   to   you,    free   of   charge,   via   the   Northeastern    library   website (http://library.northeastern.edu/find).  If you are in doubt on how to use any of these resources to locate  academic  articles  relevant to your research topic,  I highly recommend you consult a librarian at the Northeastern library.

For each of the formal sources you select for your literature review, you should provide a brief and to-the-point summary of the article. Then, you must discuss how your findings relate to the literature you are citing to. Do your findings contradict anything the other papers found? If so, why might this be (e.g. different setting? different econometric approach)? Do your findings    extend the conclusions of the prior literature (e.g. “the prior literature finds a positive effect of education on earnings, but I find this is mostly driven by men”)? Exactly what this section should contain is case-specific, but the above questions are good starting points for how you should think about what to include.

Note that you must then cite this article in your bibliography (at a separate page in the end of your paper):

Ehrlich, Isaac.   1996.  “Crime, Punishment, and the Market for Offenses.” Journal of Economic Perspectives.  10(1).  Pp. 43-67.

List of selected surveys conducted by U.S. government agencies

●   Academic Libraries Survey

●   Advance Monthly Retail Sales Survey

●   Airline Origin and Destination Survey

●   American Community Survey

●   American Housing Survey

●   American Time Use Survey

●   American Travel Survey

●   Annual Capital Expenditures Survey

●   Annual Parole Survey

●   Annual Parole Survey & Annual Probation Survey

●   Annual Public Employment Survey

●   Annual Retail Trade Survey

●   Annual Survey of Government Finances

●   Annual Survey of Jails

●   Annual Survey of Manufactures

●   Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances

●   Annual Wholesale Trade Survey

●   Baccalaureate and Beyond Survey

●   Beach Sanitary Survey

●   Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study Survey

●   Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study Survey

●   Building Permits Survey

●   Business and Professional Classification Survey

●   Business R&D and Innovation Survey

●   Business Research and Development and Innovation Survey

●   City-Level Survey of Crime Victimization and Citizen Attitudes

●   Civil Justice Survey of State Courts

●   Clean Watershed Needs Survey

●   Commodity Flow Survey

●   Community Water System Survey

●   Consumer Expenditure Survey

●   Coral Condition Survey

●   Criminal Justice Expenditure and Employment Survey

●   Current Population Survey

●   Customer Service and Satisfaction Survey (by U.S. HUD)

●   Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Survey

●   Health and Diet Survey (FDA)

●   High School and Beyond Survey

●   Housing Vacancy Survey

●   Information and Communication Technology Survey

●   Justice Assistance Data Survey

● Local Government School System Finance Survey

● Mammography Facility Survey

● Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories, and Orders Survey

● Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey

● Manufacturing Technology Surveys

● Medical Expenditure Panel Survey

● Medical Expenditure Survey

● Monthly Retail Trade Survey

● Multi-Agency Radiation Survey

● National Aquatic Resource Survey

● National Assessment of Education Progress Survey

● National Assessments of Adult Literacy Survey

● National Asthma Survey

● National Beneficiary Survey

● National Cancer Patient Experience Survey

● National Compensation Survey

● National Computer Security Survey

● National Crime Victimization Survey

● National Employer Survey

● National Family of Family Growth

● National Former Prisoner Survey

● National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

● National Home and Hospice Care Survey

● National Home Health Aide Survey

● National Hospital Discharge Survey

● National Household Education Survey

● National Household Travel Survey

● National Immunization Survey

● National Inmate Survey

● National Longitudinal Survey ofYoung Men and Older Men

● National Longitudinal Survey ofYoung Women and Mature Women

● National Longitudinal Survey of Youth

● National Maternal and Infant Health Survey

● National Mortality Followback Survey

● National Nursing Home Survey

● National Postsecondary Student Aid Study Survey

● National Public Education Financial Survey

● National Rivers and Streams Assessment Survey

● National Study of Postsecondary Faculty Survey

● National Survey of Ambulatory Surgery Survey

● National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs

● National Survey of Children’s Health

● National Survey of DNA Crime Laboratories

● National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation

● National Survey of Indigent Defense Systems

● National Survey of Recent College Graduates

● National Survey of Residential Care Facilities

● National Survey ofYouth in Custody

● National Survey on Drug Use and Health

● National Wetland Condition Assessment Survey

● Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey

● New York City Housing and Vacancy Survey

● Occupational Employment Statistics Survey

● Origin and Destination Survey

● Police-Public Contact Survey

● Property Owners and Managers Survey

● Public Libraries Survey

● Quarterly Public Employee-Retirement Systems Survey

● Quarterly Survey ofPlant Capacity Utilization

● Quarterly Tax Survey

● Recidivism Survey of Felons on Probation

● Report of Organization Survey

● Residential Finance Survey

● Service Annual Survey

● State and Local Government Public-Employee Retirement System Survey

● State Government Tax Collections Survey

● State Library Agencies Survey

● Survey of Adults on Probation

● Survey of Business Owners

● Survey of Campus Law Enforcement Agencies

● Survey of Construction

● Survey of Doctorate Recipients

● Survey of Income and Program Participation

● Survey of Industrial Research and Development

● Survey of Inmates in Federal Correctional Facilities

● Survey of Inmates in Local Jails

● Survey ofLaw Enforcement Gang Units

● Survey of Market Absorption

● Survey ofNew Manufactured (Mobile) Homes

● Survey of Pollution Abatement Costs and Expenditures

● Survey of Program Dynamics

● Survey of Research and Development Expenditures at Universities and Colleges

● Survey of Science and Engineering Research Facilities

● Survey of Sexual Violence

● Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Sales

● Survey of State Research and Development Expenditures

● Survey on Sexual Violence

● Teacher Compensation Survey

● University Transportation Survey

● Vehicle Inventory and Use Survey

● Women- and Minority-Owned Business Survey