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Research Paper Guidelines

Quantitative Methods I: Basic Econometrics

Summer 2021

Instructions

I. The main document in PDF form (5 pages or less including tables)

Suggested outline for your paper:

1) Introduction:

a. What question are you trying to answer with your data? Be clear about what your dependent and primary independent variable of interest is. (i.e. What is the relationship you are interested in analyzing?)

b. Based on your intuition, what is the nature (and direction) of the relationship and what is your hypothesis?

2) Data:

a. Quickly describe your data set.

b. Provide some basic summary statistics that may be relevant to your proposed question. (e.g. scatterplot, means, standard deviations) You decide what helps illustrate the question you are trying to answer.

3) Empirical Framework:

a. Estimate a bivariate model (an estimation of just your dependent and independent variables of interest) to answer your research question/ your hypothesis comparing for each individual year or for both years combined.

b. What are potential biases we should be concerned about with this bivariate model?

c. Estimate a new model with control variables to account for some of the biases mentioned. Which controls did you add? How do you think those controls address the bias? Was there a difference between the function between the two years?

d. What other functional forms could you try (eg., quadratic, interactive, logs,)?

4) Results:

a. Include a journal article-quality table of your regressions. You should have a minimum of three regressions—one bivariate and two multivariate (at least two multivariate models with different functional forms).

b. Interpret the relevant results from each regression (e.g. coefficient interpretation, statistical significance, F-stats, R², etc.)

c. Which functional form appears to be the best fit? Why?

d. What assumptions were necessary to assume in interpreting your results?

5) Conclusion:

a. Do your results support your initial hypothesis or intuitive guess to the nature of the relationship? 

II. Do-File

a. Helpful commands for table production: estimates, scalar, tabstat. To get table output: estab or outreg2 (though outreg2 involves installing a package on Stata. More info here: http://dss.princeton.edu/training/Outreg2.pdf)

b. You should be able to run your do-file cleanly on other computers by simply changing the directory at the top of the do-file. Be sure to test this before submitting. (I recommend sending your data source and do file to a classmate, have him/her test if they can run the do-file with a simple CD command.) 

III. Data Sources: You will select one of the following data sources to work with.

a. PovertyWorldBank.xlsx – Sample of countries with data on birth and death rates, infant mortality rates, life expectancies, and per capita GDP for 65 countries in the year 2016 and 2006.

b. CPSWage.xlsx – Sample of workers in the U.S. for the years 2017 and 2007 with data on annual wage, education, age, and gender.