How to Do Research and Write Academic Papers Xiao

Transcript:How to Do Research and Write Academic Papers Xiao:
How to Do Research and Write Academic Papers Xiao Wang University of Science and Technology of China Guideline How to do research in economics and finance (1) The key; (2) find a topic; (3) data and empirical work; (4) model and numerical work; (5) the paper plan. How to write academic papers How to do research: The key The key for research is to contribute to the understanding of important questions people are interested in. What is an important question? (1) It is novel as the new phenomenon has not appeared before or has not be analyzed. Example: Trade war. (2) It is economically significant. Example: COVID-19. (3) Previous literature has focused on it but no satisfactory answer. Example: puzzles. How to do research: The key Why are people interested in? (1) Scholars think solving this question helps to deepen their understanding. (2) Policy makers need to know how to design the best policy to improve welfare/increase GDP/increase government income, etc. (3) Investors need to know the investment/risk management strategy. (4) Keep your audience in mind. Example: COVID-19. How to do research: The key What is the contribution of your research? (1) The most important part of your work. (2) The contribution generally arises at our knowledge frontier: how you improve the understanding based on the current literature; a few exceptions create a brand new methodology or start a new field. Example: General Method of Moments by Lars Peter Hansen. (3) How can you push the knowledge frontier forward? (i) The new stylized facts summarized from data cannot be explained by the existing theory. (ii) Two theories imply different explanations on the same fact. How to do research: The key (4) Be clear and accurate about your contribution. Your work may contribute to several trends of literature. Do not exaggerate or under-state your contribution. A clear literature tree helps you to correctly posit your contribution. (5) Be careful on claiming “brand new”. It may be a topic people view it as trivial! How to do research: Find a topic Find a topic you have passion to work on it, you can make contributions, and you are capable of doing it. How to find such a topic? (1) Be sensitive to the economic phenomena. Scrutinize the facts from the perspective of economists. Try to use the economic theories to explain them. In most cases, it is a good exercise and may