Assignments

Problem Sets

In addition to the instructors, Teaching Assistant, Peter Hull helped create the problem sets. Used with permission.

PROBLEM SET # ACCOMPANYING FILES
Problem Set 1 (PDF)

Problem Set 1 Data and Code (ZIP) (This file contains: 1 .dta, 1 .ado, and 1 .hlp files.)

Problem Set 2 (PDF) N/A
Problem Set 3 (PDF) MTR (MAT)
Problem Set 4 (PDF) Problem Set 4 Data (DTA)

Research Proposal

The goal of the research proposal is to give you a "jump start" on working on a topic that you could (ideally) present in an upcoming labor lunch, and develop into a research paper. The proposal should be at least 10 pages double-spaced, and should cover the following:

  1. a clear statement of your research question;
  2. brief motivation for your research question: Why is this question important? What is the policy relevance?;
  3. review of the relevant theoretical and / or empirical literature;
  4. description of your proposed empirical strategy and proposed data sources;
  5. clear discussion of your potential contribution to the prior literature;
  6. clear discussion of what challenges you expect to encounter.

Think of this document as the shell of a research paper that contains everything but your findings: You will motivate the question; place it in the literature; lay out your data sources and empirical strategy; and explain how you would interpret different sets of possible findings.