Labor economics

Project guideline

For the project you are required to identify and investigate an economic issue/problem using the economic theory you learned in this course.

The project will be an individual or joint work up to two people. If you wish to do a joint work, select your group member carefully. It would be unwise to form a group in which no member has strong written communication and/or sound knowledge of economic theory.

Each member should exert as much efforts as possible in writing the final paper. Everyone in the same group will receive the same grade for the paper.

The project is worth 10 percent of the course grade and there are two components to the project: a proposal, and the final paper.

Examples of some suggested topics

Income inequality
Current issues in global labor market
Impact of immigration on the U.S. labor market
Gender Racial earnings gap
Racial earnings gap
Returns to education (College vs. non-college graduates)
Unemployment insurance
Minimum wage
Aging population
Sports economics
Global labor economic issues

1) Proposal:

The format of your proposal will be 2 or 3 pages in single spaced Times New Roman font size 12 (just like this document). Skip a line between paragraphs. The proposal will include group members' names and a detailed outline of your project. They are:

Brief introduction to the topic and the economic questions to be addressed

Why does this topic deserve your research attention?

Brief discussion of economic theory and econometric model if you had taken data analysis courses such as ECO 315 Econometrics (optional)

How will you obtain data set for this research if applicable?

Some references (at least 5) and brief description of their contents

Your proposal should include all the things you will have done by the due date. Be sure to include your data analysis results such as summary statistics of the variables you are using.

I suggest that you create a table with summary statistics of the variables you are using in the project. Describe the variables you are using and highlight any interesting or noticeable patterns from your table of summary statistics. These are just a few examples of items to be included in the Interim summary. Note that preparing your proposal is a good way to advance to the final version of paper.

3) Papers turned in after the due will be penalized by a full letter grade reduction per each day.

The final paper should be minimum 12 pages, not including data analysis outputs, in double spaced Times New Roman font size 12. Do not include data analysis outputs in the body of the paper. Do not attach a cover page. Start writing from the first page, and the first page of the paper should include group members' name and the title of the research. All the references should be listed in not more than one page

The research paper should include five sections: Introduction, Literature review about provisos research, Argument with empirical findings (empirical model, details about data, and the empirical results), Conclusion, and References.

In the introduction clearly state your research question(s) to be address and summarize your findings.

Your argument should be organized logically based on economic theory and empirical results. The conclusion should explain what you have accomplished in the paper and the implications of your research.

You can use as many resources as you would like, but your research paper should be written in your own words. When you quote someone else's words, be sure to provide appropriate citations.

Your project will be graded not only on the quality of your research, but also on its spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Students will lose credit for misspellings and improper grammar (grammatical errors). The amount of credit lost due to spelling error and/or grammar error is left completely at the discretion of the professor.

General comments about research proposals

Topics of research proposals

Minimum wage (in the U.S.)

Earnings gap (gender, racial and education, college/non-college)

Professional sports
College athletes
Discrimination (Gender / Racial)
Returns to education (College vs. Non-College gap)
Immigration & Migration
Effects of weather on economics
Current issues on the global labor market
Impact of globalization on the U.S. economy
Income Inequality
Earned Income Tax Credit
Income inequality and poverty (in the U.S)

The final paper should be more than a descriptive version of the topic of your choice. In the first page, clearly highlight the research question you want to address, and do not deviate too much from the issue. In the body of the paper, provide evidence that support your idea or hypothesis.

For example, you should not give me "who said this, who said that, who wrote this, and who wrote that." Instead, what I want from your research paper is a research question and your answer to it.

I accepted all the proposals as they are, since what I want at this stage is to see if you have a topic and general ideas about the paper. Just because your proposal was accepted does not necessarily mean that your final paper will get a good grade.

The grade for the final paper will be given based on the quality paper: specific research question, your answer/evidence and how your project conforms to the Style guide.

A well-structured literature review is also acceptable if it properly address the merits and demerits of each research reviewed. The review should be consistently related to the research question and should not merely list fragments of information on "who says what".

In the introduction, clearly state the followings: 1) your research question(s), 2) why it is important, and 3) your findings.

Do not write the whole paper in one paragraph. Use subsections, for example, such as

1. Introduction
2. Literature Survey
3. Contents of your project
4. Summary and Conclusions
5. References

The style of your paper, or the way it looks is almost as important as the contents.

1. Be succinct and be correct.

2. Do not copy the abstracts of the reference materials to the body of your paper.

3. Indent all paragraphs and do not skip a line between paragraphs in the same section.

4. For references, write name of the author, title of the reference material, and the source. The reference style should follow the American Economic Journal guidelines, available at http://www.aeaweb.org/sample_references.pdf

Incorrect

http://psidonline.isr.umich.edu/Publications/Papers/tsp/2007-07_Trends_in_Household_Wealth.pdf

Correct

Gouskova, Elena and Frank Stafford. 2007. "Trends in Household Wealth Dynamics, 2003-2005." Panel Study of Income Dynamics Technical Paper Series. http://psidonline.isr.umich.edu/Publications/Papers/tsp/2007-07_Trends_in_Household_Wealth.pdf

5. For references, use single space.