Preliminaries: Econ 2600


Course Outline and Reading List

Term papers:

  • All students will write a short literature review of 4000-5000 words on a topic of their choice. Although this is a survey paper, you should be careful to choose a relative narrow topic area, and organize your paper around a central idea or thesis. Be opinionated and, where possible, offer a critical summary of the papers you read. Papers will be submitted on the quercus site and subject to review through TurnItIn.

  • Let me know your chosen topic by October 15.

  • MA students choose a topic of current policy interest, and write their paper as though it is summarizing the academic literature to an intelligent non-academic economist. (Imagine you are working in government or the private sector, and writing for your boss.) Here are some examples of topics you might choose:

    • Place-based policies

    • Capital gains taxation

    • Business cash-flow taxation

    • Family and child benefits

    • Wage and employment subsidies

    • Behavioural public finance

  • PhD students should write a paper that would serve as an appropriate introductory section to a thesis chapter or second-year paper. If possible, choose a topic that would would like to do original research on!

Class presentations:

  • Choose a paper from those marked + on the reading list, and let me know your choice by the third week of classes.

  • You should read the paper and at least one other paper from the same section of the course syllabus -- consult with me before preparing your talk.

  • Your presentation should be 20 minutes maximum, with a clear summary of the ideas in the paper, the main elements of the empirical or theoretical model, and a clear statement of the results. There will be 5-10 minutes of following classroom discussion.

  • Marks will be awarded for clarity, brevity ... and attractive presentation materials.

Study aids:

All papers presented will be covered on the final exam, so everyone should be engaged with the presentations. The discussion will go better if people read the papers in advance. Practice problems are not graded, but are useful for the final exam.