Hello, dear friend, you can consult us at any time if you have any questions, add WeChat: daixieit

Econ 584: Multinational Corporations

Fall 2021

Term Project Guidelines

I. Goal: The goal of this project is to get you to use data and econometric techniques to examine a research question concerning the economic activity of multinational corporations and the implications this might have on the home or host economies.

II. Project Structure: The term project should follow the structure of an academic journal article, just scaled back in size given the limited time you have to complete the project. More specifically, I am looking for the following main sections of the project:

1. Introduction

This section introduces the topic and research question of interest and motivates its importance/relevance for our understanding of multinational corporations and for making informed policy recommendations.

2. Literature review

This section is closely related to the introduction (because of that many studies actually discuss the relevant articles in the literature as part of the introduction section). Given the time constrain that you face this term, I do not expect you to do a thorough literature review, but some references to papers that may address the same or a very similar research question as you do is important and informative.

3. Econometric Model and Estimation Strategy

Part of the usefulness of a literature review if to inform you of the econometric models and methods that other authors have used in approaching the research topic that you are interested.

In this section, you need to propose a regression model that can be used to address your research question. You need to discuss the variables of the model, the estimation strategy that you propose (e.g., OLS panel regression with fixed effects) and potential concerns with model identification (e.g., omitted variable bias, endogeneity, etc.).

4. Data

Papers vary in the location of this section: before or after the estimation section. I generally find it more useful to read data sources if I know what are the variables of interest, hence its inclusion after section 3. Either way, this is a concise section that presents data sources and any variable construction that is necessary for the estimation model.

5. Estimation Results

This is the most exciting part of the paper: running regressions, reporting the results and interpreting coefficients. It is not important for me whether you get significant results or not. It is more important to convince yourself and me that you are doing sensible work and that the estimation results are credible. If you suspect any inconsistencies in your results, that is fine, but then try to do a diagnosis analysis and understand what may cause those inconsistencies (e.g., missing data, model specification, etc.)

6. Discussion and Conclusions

This section generally summarizes briefly the scope, methods and results of the project. It also discusses big picture points and concluding remarks following the econometric analysis of the paper. Any policy implications that can be derived from the findings of the project should also be included here.

This suggested structure of the term project does not have to be followed in exact detail. Feel free to switch the order of sections if you think that it would fit better your project, add new sections or subsections, or replace some of the sections with alternative options. Use this suggested structure more as a guideline. Still, I do want you to write an empirical project that uses data to estimate a regression model whose results you will have to interpret and discuss their potential policy implications.

III. Research question:

You have full freedom in selecting a research question of interest. Your choices may however be constrained by data availability. You could browse through Econlit or Google Scholars or any other repository of academic articles to search for some interesting empirical papers on topics of interest. Then go to the data sections of those papers to see what their data sources are and if they are publicly available and easily accessible during the period of this course.

IV. Data sources:

Getting data can be a very laborious task. Sometimes it can lead to no results. I know firsthand how frustrating it can be to gather data, so I want to make this step of your research project as smooth for you as possible. In separate communication, I can provide you with some data sources that are very often used in studies about multinational corporations and foreign direct investments (FDI).

V. Due date:

The term project is due on the last day of class (December 2, 2021 by midnight). You will need to submit electronically the pdf of your research project. You do not need to turn in the code for the project, just the write-up (including any tables, figures, appendices, etc.).

VI. Guidance:

Please feel welcome to see me about the progress of your research project as often as you need to. I am happy to advise and help you in any way I can. The ultimate goal for me is to get you engaged in data work on a topic of interest that relates to multinational corporations. If I can help you clear faster various roadblocks you may run into, that would be great.