Task

•    Clearly state your final extension/or reanalysis idea

•    Reproduce and discuss descriptive statistics and main results of your OP

o  Main result = main table or figure (Yes, you have to use your own judgment as to what the "main" table or figure is!

•    Discuss issues you have run into thus far

•    Outline steps for completion, including your planned extension

Learning by Replicating

1. Introduction

Briefly state why the paper (OP) is interesting (both generally and as it relates to the economics literature), the key       research question(s), the empirical approach, and the main findings. You can repeat some of the things you included in your presentation, but hopefully by now you have also built on that knowledge and gained a deeper understanding of   the literature and paper itself.

Note: here may be some overlap here with your presentation materials; that is fine, so long as you are rephrasing your

statements in written language (a.o.t. presentation bullet points or spoken language).

Outline what you will discuss in the subsequent sections of your paper.

2. Your Replication Plan

Review our lecture on the typology of replications and explain your planned approach. Using the terminology of    Clemens (2017), how do you plan to extend the OP’s work -via extension? Re-analysis? Or a combination of both?

2.1 Approach

If you plan to do a re-analysis, how do you propose to alter the OP’s specifications? You should write the OP’s    original estimating equation as well as your planned modification and explain what you are doing differently. For example:

“In estimating the effect of OP’s intervention on poverty, Iplan to re-estimate per-capita consumption using OECD equivalence scales. This may affect the estimates and interpretation of the study, since the control     households hadfewer children at baseline (as can be seen in the descriptive statistics in Table XY). ”

If you plan to do an extension, what is your proposed sample/population? If you propose to bring in new data, you     should provide details: source, survey year, cross sectional/longitudinal, unit of analysis (household, individual, firm, country, village). For example:

“OP’s analysisfocuses on developed countries, and Ipropose an extension that analyses developing countries. I will use comparable datafor Bangladesh, Indonesia and Columbia, sourcedfrom Gallup World Poll surveys, 2015-2017 (cite data source). ”

OR

“Iplan to extend OP’s analysis, which covers the years 2015-2017, by analysing more recent data sourced from Gallup World Poll surveys, 2018-21. ”

Discuss any logistical issues you anticipate you might face, such as issues in accessing data, software etc.? In general, briefly discuss any problem you might be anticipating in implementing your plan.

2.2 Clarity, Innovation & Rationale

Clarity.  This is self-explanatory. Your replication (extension or re-analysis)  idea must be clear – give specifics/details. Avoid vague and general statements such as: “ I plan to do an extension for a different country using OP’s data” or  “I want to estimate a new model”   “I want to add a new variable” etc.

Rationale: Justify your extension or re-analysis idea. Why did you choose to test this hypothesis? Refer to gap in the literature. It should be an explanation that justifies the need for the study. Should be evidenced-based- provide a high- quality citation supporting your claim. For example,

OP investigated the effect of parental inputs on cognitive outcomes of children in Austrlia; however, OP did not examine if there are gender difference in outcomes. Following (Smith, 2005), I would like to test the hypothesis: ‘effect of parental inputs on cognitive outcomes of children are differentfor boys and girls.

Innovation: Why is your proposed extension meaningful or interesting? What value does the proposed extension or    re-analysis add to OP or to this literature? How are you advancing knowledge? Ideally, cite a high-quality reference of from the literature in support of your plan. For example,

My extension will add value to OP, and to the economic literature on determinants of cognitive development of     children by shedding light on the issue of gender differences in child outcomes in a developed country setting. The literature has typically explored this question in the context of developing countries; however, the problem exists  among pockets of vulnerable population in developed countries as well (Berger, Ho & Xu, 2016).

2.3 Feasibility & Plan B?

Clearly state why your plan is feasible. Mention a Plan B if your Plan A fails.

For example:

Iplan to do an extension using OP’s data. The codes are already provided by OP using which I have successfully    reproduced OP’ tables andfigures. I will modify the codes slightly to do the subsample analysis (examining              differences in outcomes of boys versus girls). Since I am not goingfor new data, and I have notfaced any problem in running OP’s codes, I am confident that I will complete my project in time without compromising quality.

OR

Iplan to undertake a re-analysis using OP’s data. Iplan to estimate a probit model as opposed to the linear               probability model (LPM) estimated by OP. The codes are already provided by OP using which I have successfully      reproduced OP’ tables andfigures. I will modify the codes slightly to do the re-analysis. Since I am not goingfor new data, and I have notfaced any problem in running OP’s codes, I am confident that I will complete my project in time  without compromising quality.

3. Data

Describe the replication data and code provided.

For example, in a seminal study, Berger, Ho, Maitra, , Olivo- Villabrille and Xu (2022, henceforth BHMOX) discuss a modelfor experiential learning activities in the postgraduate classroom.1

BHMOX make their data and code available on the American Economic Association website (you can describe any complications in an appendix). The replication package includes X datasets, in a combination of comma-    separatedfiles (.csv) and dusty ancient scrolls. In the 5 household survey datasets, observations are at the         household level (i.e., a household identifier uniquely identifies each household). The datafile describing labour market outcomes is at the individual level and can be merged on to the household data. There is also a village- level datafile, which has information on prices of common purchases. The authors include .dofiles to clean,     label, and merge the data. Separate scripts run the analysis, and the readmefile describes the process in detail. The dusty ancient scrolls are seemingly included by mistake as they are written in Aramaic.

4. Pure replication

4.1 Reproduction & discussion

Reproduce two tables or figures form OP.

1. Reproduce the table of summary statistics (or a relevant figure). Discuss any discrepancies (examine the number of observations, for example, to make sure that you are working with the same sample).

2. Identify a table or figure that constitutes (in your opinion) the most important or most interesting result in the paper.

Reproduce this main table / figure and briefly discuss the results. You should aim to discuss both (i) the main findings and their interpretation as it relates to the hypothesis of the OP, and (ii) anything you learned / noticed / struggled with in replicating it.

Important notes

Do NOT include screenshots or copies of OP’s tables or figures in your paper. You should report the version that you have reproduced, with reference to the relevant paper from OP and any relevant table or figure notes.

Do not worry too much if your numbers do not match exactly with OP. Comment on any major discrepancies and what you think the reasons are.

Do NOT take screenshots or regression output from Stata. Your figures / tables should be “real” tables and high-quality (high-resolution) graphics.

That said, do not focus too much on the formatting of your table at this point. It takes time to learn to generate beautiful tables (and figures).

4.2 Code and challenges

Describe any issues that you faced with the code that the authors provided. Describe any challenges you have faced so far, and how you approached solving them. Reflect on what you’ve learned from the exercise thus far.

If you are unable to reproduce one or more of the OP tables /figures…

…describe the reasons why you are submitting your assignment without having reproduced the main results. Is it due to software access? Coding issues (for example, the code is too complicated or there is a substantive coding error that you have been unable to solve)? Mismatch of software version? Whatever your challenges, discuss what steps you