The Relationship Between Working Hours and Wage Levels

Title: While a separate title page is not necessary, the paper should have a proper title that succinctly summarizes the economic question of your project. -

Section 1.

Introduction (1-2 pages) A relatively short introduction section describing the principal question you are addressing in your project. Here are some guidelines for writing the introduction section:

• Motivation (1~2 paragraphs): Start off with one or two paragraphs that motivate your economic question. Why should readers be interested in your topic? • Key question (1 paragraph): Explicitly describe what your economic question is. It is very common to see the following expressions in academic papers:

o “In this paper, I study/quantify/evaluate/investigate ….”

o “My paper answers the question …” You do not need to use these exact expressions, but it is much preferred to lead your paragraph with your question rather than having your question appear at the end of the paragraph.

• Outline of your final paper (1 paragraph): Similar to the last paragraph that you see in the introduction section of academic papers, your last paragraph of the introduction should provide an outline of your paper. Some example expressions are as follows:

o “In Section 2, I will review the paper “[appropriate in-text citation].” Section 3 reviews the second paper titled “[paper 2]” and Section 4 describes the third paper “[paper 3].” Section 5 concludes.” Again, you do not need to use these exact expressions.

• Spend some time reading the introduction section of the empirical papers uploaded on A2L. This would give you a sense of academic writing style in economics and will be helpful when you write your introduction section.

Section 2. First Paper (approximately 2-3 pages)

1. Economic question(s) of the paper: note that a paper will generally have one key question but may have several smaller questions

2. Data and estimation methods o When describing details about the data, consider including the following information as you see fit:

• Observational data or data from a controlled experiment? If the latter, was it a lab or field experiment?

• Type of data: panel/time series/cross-sectional • Unit of observation: does a data point correspond to a household, a firm, an industry, a province/state, a country, etc.

• Data source(s)

• Years and geographic area covered

• Number of observations

3. Main findings

4. Strengths and weaknesses of the paper

o Internal, external, and other: If there are strengths and/or weaknesses that do not fall under ‘internal vs. external’, you could describe those under the ‘other’ category. Some examples of ‘other’ strengths and weaknesses include (but are not limited to): • Suggestions for improving the clarity of the paper

• Suggestions for robustness analyses (e.g., if the analysis does not have internal weaknesses per se but would greatly benefit from additional robustness analyses) o It is not required to find strengths and weaknesses for all three categories (internal/external/other). However, keep in mind that one of the key goals for the final paper is to demonstrate your understanding of what constitutes strong and weak economic research and this section is a great place to do that. It is strongly recommended to try your best to provide a thorough critical analysis of your chosen papers, and the division of strengths and weaknesses into three categories (internal/external/other) is one way to do so.

o Simply pointing out strengths/weaknesses is okay but you will receive significantly higher marks if you adequately describe why they are strengths/weaknesses. It would be even better if you can provide constructive suggestions for improving said weaknesses.

o Recall that internal strengths and weaknesses refer to whether (or not) the authors’ conclusions are valid (unbiased) for the sample used to estimate the model. Typical weaknesses include a small sample, inaccurate measures, omitted variables, simultaneity, etc. Try to be specific as to the type of bias (over- or under-estimate) that might exist. 

o Recall that external strengths and weaknesses refer to whether (or not) the authors’ conclusions are valid (unbiased) for a different population than that from which the sample used to estimate the model was drawn. How old are the data and would one get the same estimates under current conditions? Would one get the same estimates if the sample came from a different country, province, age group, ethnic group, etc? Try to be specific as to the type of bias (over- or under-estimate) that might exist.

5. Policy Implications

o Refers to the actual conclusions of the paper and what those conclusions imply for policymakers. For example, a finding that health care expenditures lead to lower mortality rates implies that there is a clear benefit from such spending.

o If you think you do not have much analysis regarding the strengths/weaknesses of the paper, describing the policy implications of the paper is another great section to demonstrate your understanding of how the paper’s findings can be applicable to realworld issues and policies. Using specific examples will often be helpful. -

Section 3. Second Paper (same as for first paper) -

Section 4. Third Paper (same as for first paper) Remark.

o There is no need to repeat if, for example, two papers use the same data source. You can just describe that the reader can refer to the description in the earlier section. o The six items described above do not need to be covered in equal length depending on the paper. For example, if you find that item 2 is relatively short, you can focus on having more content for other items such as item 5.

Final Section. (1-2 pages) Summary of conclusions from papers regarding questions and policy. If possible, describe unanswered questions and suggest areas for future research. A Few Basic Rules for Writing and Formatting Note that your paper will be graded on both economic content and writing style. Ineffective writing (e.g., grammatical errors, awkward expressions, unorganized sentences and paragraphs) will be disadvantageous as you run a higher risk of confusing the reader. At the very minimum, please do a grammar check (e.g., Grammarly) before you submit. Consider options such as proofreading each other's work or scheduling an appointment at the University writing center. Try to be concise and compelling.

Margins: 1” top, bottom, left, right (default in Microsoft word) Line spacing: Single to 1.5 spacing. Double space is not acceptable. Note that the default line spacing in Microsoft Word is 1.08. Font size: 11 or 12pt Acknowledging Sources: You must be VERY careful to properly cite all sources that you include in your report. Use proper in-text citations. Make sure to have a proper reference page (bibliography) at the end of your report.