EC338: Econometrics 2: Microeconometrics

Details

This assignment requires you to write a referee report for one of the working papers listed below. Your report should critically assess the use of econometric methods to establish and estimate a causal relation, including i) the appropriateness of the research question, ii) identification of treatment effects and iii) any other aspect that may contribute to the value of the paper relative to the literature that it is embedded on.

Your report should resemble that of an official report submitted to a journal and must therefore make a final recommendation to the editorial board as to whether the paper should be published. It is rare for a paper to be recommended as is and referees typically require the authors to edit sections of writing, provide explanations for decisions taken, expand on discussions in their paper, and even provide additional results. Your report may provide similar conditions for publication in the journal.

The papers from which you may select are:

· Grimm & Luck (2020) “Can Training Enhance Adoption, Knowledge and Perception of Organic Practices? Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in Indonesia.” IZA Discussion Paper Series, No. 13400

· Nishijima & Pal (2020) “Do Compulsory Schooling Laws Always Work? A Study of Youth Crime in Brazilian Municipalities”, IZA Discussion Paper Series, No. 13097

· Gørtz, Sander & Sevilla (2020) “Does the Child Penalty Strike Twice”, CEBI Working Paper

Series, No. 30/20

· Courtemanche, Tchernis & Zho (2017) “Parental Work Hours and Childhood Obesity: Evidence using Instrumental Variables Related to Sibling School Eligibility”, NBER Working Paper Series, No. 23376

You will be provided with additional guidance on how to prepare a referee report in a separate handout. In addition, you will be provided with a rubric to show how the reports will be graded.

 Assessment Criteria

Your work will be assessed on the following criteria:

Subject knowledge and understanding

Your understanding of what is meant by a “causal” estimate and what is required to identify such a relationship.