I’m teaching a new class this semester, a masters-level class on research methods. It could be taught as simply the second semester of an econometrics sequence, but I’m taking a different approach, trying to think about what will help students do effective empirical work in policy/political settings. We’ll see how it works.
For anyone interested, here are the slides I will use on the first day. I’m not sure it’s all right, in fact I’m sure some of it is wrong But that is how you figure out what you really think and know and don’t know about something, by teaching it.
After we’ve talked through this, we will discuss this old VoxEU piece as an example of effective use of simple scatterplots to make an economic argument.
I gave a somewhat complementary talk on methodology and heterodox macroeconomics at the Eastern Economics Association meetings last year. I’ve been meaning to transcribe it into a blogpost, but in the meantime you can listen to a recording, if you’re interested.