Fall 2026 Course Schedule and Readings

Preparation: Complete each reading before the class period in which it is listed. All readings and assigned book excerpts are available on Canvas. See the course reading list for full references.

Lecture numbers identify the unit and meeting within that unit: Lecture 4.1 is the first meeting of Unit 4, and Lecture 4.2 is the second. The course introduction, recess, and final presentations are unnumbered.

Fall 2026 class meetings and preparation.

Week	Date	Lecture	Faculty	Topic	Complete before class
1	Tue., Aug. 25	—	Amanda	Class Introduction and Syllabus	Read the course syllabus.
1	Thu., Aug. 27	1.1	Amanda	What Is Economic Research and the Scientific Approach?	• Greenlaw, Chapter 1, “What Is Research?” • Ethridge, Chapter 2, “Research and Methodology” • Kenyon, “Popper’s Philosophy of Science”
2	Tue., Sept. 1	1.2	Amanda	Methodological Foundations	• Ethridge, Chapter 3, “Methodological Concepts and Perspectives” • McCloskey, “How Economists Persuade”
2	Thu., Sept. 3	1.3	Amanda	Methodological Foundations	• Ethridge, Chapter 4, “Philosophical Foundations” • Larue, “A Defense of Reasonable Pluralism in Economics” • Machlup, “Why Economists Disagree”
3	Tue., Sept. 8	2.1	Amanda	Defining a Research Problem or Question	• Ethridge, Chapter 6, “The Research Problem and Objectives” • Greenlaw, Chapter 2, “Overview of the Research Process in Economics”
3	Thu., Sept. 10	2.2	Amanda	Finding an Idea	• Davis, “Ph.D. Thesis Research: Where Do I Start?” • Dudenhefer, Sections 5–6: • “Finding a Niche and Making a Contribution” • “Locating and Getting a Handle on the Secondary Literature” • Varian, “How to Build an Economic Model in Your Spare Time,” pp. 1–3 of the course PDF
4	Tue., Sept. 15	2.3	Amanda	Planning the Research Project	• Ethridge, Chapter 5, “Planning the Research” • *Bellemare, “How to Write Applied Papers in Economics.”
4	Thu., Sept. 17	2.4	Amanda	Two-Minute Research Idea Pitch	No assigned reading. Prepare your two-minute research idea pitch.
5	Tue., Sept. 22	3.1	Amanda	Evaluate Pitch Presentations	No assigned reading. Be prepared to evaluate the research idea pitches.
5	Thu., Sept. 24	3.2	Amanda	Research Efficiency: Reading and Organizing the Literature	• Gosztyla, “How to Find, Read and Organize Papers” • Laubepin, “How to Read (and Understand) a Social Science Journal Article”
6	Tue., Sept. 29	3.3	Amanda	Writing the Introduction and Literature Review	• Dudenhefer, Section 18, “Writing Introductions” • Dudenhefer, Section 22, “Writing Literature Reviews” • Head, “The Introduction Formula”
6	Thu., Oct. 1	3.4	Amanda	Literature Review and Writing Skills	• Mankiw, “How to Write Well” • David Romer, “Rules for Making It Through Graduate School and Finishing Your Dissertation: ‘Out in Five’”
7	Tue., Oct. 6	4.1 · PDF	Lauren	Conceptual Framework and Theory	• Ethridge, Chapter 8, “The Conceptual Framework” • Varian, “How to Build an Economic Model in Your Spare Time,” pp. 4–6 of the course PDF • Paul Romer, “Mathiness in the Theory of Economic Growth”
7	Thu., Oct. 8	4.2 · PDF	Lauren	Writing the Conceptual Framework	• Chouinard, “Theory Notes” • Cheng, “How to Write Proofs: A Quick Guide”
8	Tue., Oct. 13	5.1	Lauren	Data Collection: Surveys	Champ, “Collecting Nonmarket Valuation Data”
8	Thu., Oct. 15	5.2	Lauren	Data Collection via API	Dominitz and Manski, “More Data or Better Data? A Statistical Decision Problem”
9	Tue., Oct. 20	5.3	Lauren	Managing Data for Reproducibility: Git I	Gentzkow and Shapiro, Code and Data for the Social Sciences, Sections 1–4: • Introduction • Automation • Version Control • Directories
9	Thu., Oct. 22	5.4	Lauren	Managing Data for Reproducibility: Git II	Gentzkow and Shapiro, Code and Data for the Social Sciences, Sections 5–8 and the appendix: • Keys • Abstraction • Documentation • Management • Code Style appendix
10	Tue., Oct. 27	5.5	Lauren	Data: Reporting	No assigned reading.
10	Thu., Oct. 29	6.1	Lauren	Methods of Analysis: Econometric Models	• Angrist and Pischke, Mostly Harmless Econometrics, Chapters 1–3 • Jurajda, “Lecture Notes on Identification Strategies” • Timmins and Schlenker, “Reduced-Form Versus Structural Modeling in Environmental and Resource Economics”
11	Tue., Nov. 3	6.2	Lauren	Methods of Analysis: Econometric Models	Athey and Imbens, “The State of Applied Econometrics: Causality and Policy Evaluation”
11	Thu., Nov. 5	6.3	Lauren	Methods of Analysis: Econometric Models	Athey and Imbens, “Machine Learning Methods That Economists Should Know About”
12	Tue., Nov. 10	6.4	Lauren	Methods of Analysis: Qualitative and Mixed Methods	• Falk and Heckman, “Lab Experiments Are a Major Source of Knowledge in the Social Sciences” • Starr, “Qualitative and Mixed-Methods Research in Economics: Surprising Growth, Promising Future”
12	Thu., Nov. 12	6.5	Lauren	Methods of Analysis: Evaluating Empirical Evidence	• Gibson, “Are You Estimating the Right Thing? An Editor Reflects” • Kim, “Tackling False Positives in Business Research: A Statistical Toolbox with Applications”
13	Tue., Nov. 17	7.1	Lauren	Reviewing	• Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, AJAE Refereeing Criteria • Berk, Harvey, and Hirshleifer, “Preparing a Referee Report: Guidelines and Perspectives” • Ethridge, Appendix D, “Guidelines for Critiquing Papers” • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Peer Review Process, Evaluation Criteria and Rating Classifications”
13	Thu., Nov. 19	7.2	Lauren	Responding to Reviewers	• Boonpramote, “Writing for Economics Journals: Elements of Publication Success” • Choi, “Rejection and Revision” • Fryer, “A Response to Steven Durlauf and James Heckman”
—	Tue., Nov. 24	—	—	Thanksgiving Recess	No class. No assigned reading.
—	Thu., Nov. 26	—	—	Thanksgiving Recess	No class. No assigned reading.
14	Tue., Dec. 1	8.1	Amanda	Results and Conclusions	• Bellemare, “The Conclusion Formula” • Bellemare, Chapter 2, “Writing Papers” • Dudenhefer, Section 17e, “Reporting and Interpreting Your Results” • Dudenhefer, Section 19, “Writing the Conclusion”
14	Thu., Dec. 3	9.1	Amanda	Research Presentations, Seminars, and Ethics in Research	• Jackson, “Notes on Presenting a Paper” • Shapiro, “How to Give an Applied Micro Talk: Unauthoritative Notes” • Varian, “How to Build an Economic Model in Your Spare Time,” pp. 7–end of the course PDF
15	Tue., Dec. 8	—	Amanda and Lauren	Seven-Minute Presentations and Questions	No assigned reading. Prepare your seven-minute presentation and anticipate five minutes of questions.
15	Thu., Dec. 10	—	Amanda and Lauren	Seven-Minute Presentations and Questions	No assigned reading. Prepare your seven-minute presentation and anticipate five minutes of questions.