How to write an empirical paper

In   this course we are going to carefully and in great depth analyse seminal papers and what made them so succesful. Our focus inparticular will be on:

• Research gap targeted by the paper – what ist he innovation?

• Selling strategy – what ist he story of the paper and why does it work?

• Econometric strategy – data and estimation technique

• Impact of the paper

Based on this extensive exercise we are going to build small research teams who will each work out  a state-of the-art, empirical research proposal with all bells and whistles on their chosen topic. In doing so each team should aim high at fulfilling the above criteria and pitch their idea to the rest of the class. Each group presents their research proposal in lieu of a written exam.