For Learners

Economists have formal and tacit knowledge. Formal knowledge can be written down or explained verbally—think, for example, of describing the properties of the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm. But knowing a list of properties is not the same as know-how, which comes from doing: A teacher can explain bicycle parts, but only you can learn how to ride. 

• research as a leisure activity

Economic analysis is an argument:

Which has the following components:

1. a main point / recommendation / claim / conclusion / thesis / assertion

2. evidentiary backing, such as historical facts, data visualizations, econometric results, existing research findings

3. assumptions/theory linking evidence with conclusions

These three components are linked together via argument structure, in which evidence and theory imply to your main point.

• Argument mapping basics

• Toulmin Argument Map

• Abduction epistemology in Economics

• Epistemological approaches in economics

Former students' economic analysis: 

• How do Strategic Buyers Value Synergies in Different Macroeconomic Conditions? by Taylor Hopkin

• How Does CEO Compensation Structure Affect Healthcare Firms' R&D Investment? by Davin Lim

• Alternative measures of profitability and investment in factor models by Kyle Berlage

• Excess Return Properties of Informationally Insensitive Dynamic Return Predictability Strategies, by Tony Wang

• CEO Duality and Corporate Stewardship: Evidence from Takeovers, by Victor Ghazal, published in The Visible Hand (Cornell Economic Society)

• Exchange Rate Regimes, Capital Inflows, and Domestic Credit in Emerging Markets by Caroline Okel, published in Columbia University Economics Review

• Behavioral Biases in Mergers and Acquisitions: Do Initial Acquirer Bids Anchor Selling Company Boards? by Beau Bressler, published in Duke University Economic Review

Tips for communicating your analysis:

• The first lesson of descriptive writing

• Minto Pyramid

• Guide to Writing in Economics (Dudenhefer)

• Twitter feed on Social Science Writing (David Eil)

• An indispensable guide to nonfiction writing

Data visualization and table guides:

• Visualization tells a story

• Chart Guide (storytellingwithdata)

• Chart Guide (WSJ)

• An Economist's Guide to Visualizing Data

• Ten Guidelines for Better Tables

How to give good feedback:

• Tips for being a good paper discussant

Publish your analysis:

• Berkeley Economic Review

• Ceteris Paribus (UNC)

• Columbia Economic Review

• Columbia Journal of Politics and Society

• Comparative Advantage (Stanford)

• Cornell Undergraduate Economic Review

• Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Politics, Economics and World Affairs

• Equilibria: Duke Economics Review 

• Issues in Political Economy

• Student Economic Review (Trinity College Dublin)

• The Developing Economist (U Texas Austin)

• The Tulane Journal of Policy and Political Economy

• Undergraduate Economic Review

Pre-submission checklists:

• Pre-submission checklist 1

• Pre-submission checklist 2

Econ tutorials and refreshers:

• Argument Mapping Basics (Harvard)

• Math pre-refresher (Harvard)

• Mathematics for Economists overview (85 pages)

• Linear Algebra

• Statistics (MIT)

• Causal inference introduction (Elise Dumas)

• The long and short of OVB (M. Joshway)

Useful concepts for thinking logically:

• Ill-posed inverse problem