For students
ADVICE
Chris Blattman's "10 things not enough kids know before going to college"
Chris Blattman's "Writing Your Statement of Purpose"
How to send an email to a professor (also, more from Chris Blattman)
Greg Mankiw's "Advice for aspiring economists"
Noah Smith's post on "Is an economics PhD still a great deal?" (short answer: yes!)
Tatyana Deryugina's "Should you get a PhD?"
COMMON QUESTIONS
What is the difference between ECON4740 Economic Development and ECON3750 Global Poverty?
Both classes will focus on poverty from the lens of economics and discuss poverty traps, i.e. the barriers that prevent poor households from escaping poverty. However, the classes differ in a number of ways (and in fact, I’ve had students take both classes over the years and enjoy it):
ECON3750 only requires ECON1050 (Intro Econ) as a prerequisite and thus the economic theory/concepts tend to be simpler. The focus is on using the concepts to understand poverty traps and their policy implications. We focus on poverty in the United States as well as poverty internationally and this class has more of an interdisciplinary flavor as we discuss the importance of institutions and behavioral biases. We will have discussions/debates regarding policies in class based on readings from the Economists and books like Poor Economics. Since the focus is on understanding the effects of policies, we cover topics related to public finance, that is the role of government in designing policies to address poverty. Students will write essays, learning to apply economic arguments to discuss policies and their potential impacts.
ECON4740 requires both ECON3100 (Intermediate Micro) and ECON3300 (Econometrics) as prerequisites. Thus, the course is a more traditional economic development course in which we will use microeconomic models to think through individual decision-making and read economic research papers to understand the effects of policies/events on the poor. This class has an oral skills flag and so students will be required to present on a research paper to the class. The content of this class is more internationally focused.
LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION
(If you're thinking about applying to graduate school and would like advice, just ask! I am also happy to chat about internships and jobs.)
I frequently write letters of recommendation for students in support of applications for internships, jobs, and graduate school. If you'd like me to write you a letter of recommendation, think about whether I can write you the STRONGEST letter of recommendation possible. How well do I know you? Will I be able to be specific about you in the letter? Will my letter provide insight on skills or characteristics that the reviewers of the application will be interested in?
Generally, I can write you a stronger letter of recommendation if
1) You feel that you did well or to the best of your abilities in my course
2) I know you well (because you came in to office hours, because you took multiple courses with me, because I got to know you personally, because you worked with me in some capacity such as a tutor, grader, or research assistant)
Ideally you have done both! The second is more important than the first.
If you'd like me to write a letter of recommendation, you must email me or make an appointment to meet at least 4 weeks in advance. I will ask you for more information after we meet. You will be responsible for sending me reminders to submit the letters one week before and the day before the letter is due.
(See Chris Blattman's advice for letters of recommendation here.)
OTHER RESOURCES
Jess Hoel's website, which includes a list of jobs in international development and/or economics