Labor economics A Hokkaido University Fall 2016

Transcription

1 Labor economics A Hokkaido University Fall 2016 Yukiko Abe Hokkaido University, Japan Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 1

2 Reading: writing and craft of research in economics Read the materials in [1] of On research, writing, & publishing (slide # 3) and: State the points that you find useful or interesting; explain the reasons briefly. State the points that you disagree, and explain why. Length: 3-4 pages, double-spaced, in English Due: November 18 th 14 pm., by to abey@econ.hokudai.ac.jp Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 2

3 [1] On research, writing, & publishing (available in the internet) Dixit, A. My system of work (not!) Passion and Craft: Economists at Work, ed. Michael Szenberg, University of Michigan Press, Fullerton, D. General & Specific guidelines for writing research papers Moffitt, R. Getting published in economics journals, CSWEP newsletter, Spring tr_sprsum_2011.pdf Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 3

4 [2] On research, writing, & publishing (available in journals) Hamermesh, D. (1992) "The Young Economist's Guide to Professional Etiquette," Journal of Economic Perspectives, v. 6, iss. 1, pp Thomson W. (1999) The Young Person s Guide to Writing Economic Theory, Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 37, pp , sections 1 & 2 Hamermesh, D. (2000) The Craft of Labormetrics, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 53, No. 3., pp Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 4

5 [3] On research, writing, & publishing (available in books) Goldin, C. The Economist as Detective Passion and Craft: Economists at Work, ed. Michael Szenberg, University of Michigan Press, 1998 McCloskey, D. Economical Writing, Second Edition, Waveland Press, 2000 Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 5

6 Writing is important "In most schools they (students) are taught nothing about writing, when the hard business of economic thinking is getting the words straight. (from Chapter 1 of McCloskey, Economical Writing) Why is it SO important? Think that readers are solving an optimization problem for using their time effectively. They do not proceed to read the next sentence, if they have found that the sentences so far are not well-written. Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 6

7 Writing is important (cont.) Why isn t it taught in schools? We do not instruct our students well in the art of crafting papers, possibly because there are so many idiosyncratic elements. Editing or refereeing manuscripts teaches us what distinguishes a wellcrafted paper from an ordinary one. We should take on these chores not only because they are public services but also because they are the only means of learning how to write. Reading your own papers or those that are published cannot teach you the craft of writing. (Goldin, The Economist as Detective) Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 7

8 Things to note Paragraphs and topic sentences Introduction Detailed rules of writing Rewriting! Read aloud Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 8

9 Point 1: Working on Introduction Introduction is quite important for publication: Read Moffitt. How to write Introduction: Follow Fullterton s General Guidelines And rewrite, as Moffitt says. Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 9

10 Point 2: How to make simple and short Omit needless words (from Strunk & White) Often you ll find adverbs can be dropped (look for words ending in ly). (McCloskey ) Avoid elegant variation (McCloskey) Express ideas in parallel form Elegant Variation uses many words to mean one thing, with the result in the end that the reader, or even the writer, don t know quite know what is being talked about Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 10

11 Point 3: Parallel form Parallel form or parallel construction: (parallel construction) requires that expressions of similar content and function should be outwardly similar. The likeness of form enables the reader to recognize more realize the likeness of content and function (Strunk & White). Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 11

12 Point 4: Paragraph writing Paragraphs: To better see how your paragraphs fit together, summarize each of them in one sentence. Does the string of these sentences make sense? It should. Perform this exercise also at the level of subsections, and then sections. (Thomson) perhaps the topic sentence Punctuation: The best rule is to punctuate by ear than by rule. (McCloskey) Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 12

13 Point 5: Empirical papers (from Hamermesh) Most of our raw data contain three or occasionally four digits. To report six-digit parameter estimates, even though they are readily "cut-and-pasted" from one's statistical log, is thus silly-three significant digits (after zeros) are the most that one can meaningfully discuss. When the first significant digit is the fourth after the decimal point, one simple way to save space and avoid inducing blindness in the reader is to redefine the variable so that the estimate rises by several orders of magnitude (for example, Citations2/100 in Table 2). One should not report a coefficient, standard error, (or p- value) as being, for example, parentheses added by the presenter. Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 13

14 Term paper and its preparation Each student must submit a term paper Due date for the term paper will be notified later (close to the end of the semester). Due dates: (1) November 30 th, 14 pm., (2) close to the end of semester (the exact date will be notified later) Presentations: a short presentation in November (discuss topics), and a longer one in January. Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 14

15 Presentation & Term paper assignment Perform an empirical exercise and write a term paper. The topic can be anything from labor economics (discuss with the instructor if you wish to write something other than labor economics). Try to write simply and clearly: Follow the guides and tips from the assigned materials. During the course, make two presentations in order to get feedback. Revise the paper by incorporating the comments. Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 15

16 Presentation tips Take a look at the following document in the J- WEN (Japanese Women Economist Network) s website. The advice is mainly given by Kathleen McGarry at UCLA. 80/JWEN/MENTORING/PresentationTips.pdf Also look at Jesse Shapiro s advice s/applied_micro_slides.pdf Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 16

17 Those who will be attending the class Write an to the stating that you will be attending the class, by October 4 th, 13 pm. Obtain Borjas s book (earlier edition is OK). Read Chapters 2, 3, 4. Obtain materials in [1]-[3] above, to the extent you can. Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 17

18 The unemployment rate [1] What is the level of the unemployment rate in Japan, in the latest statistics? [2] What does it measure? [3] How is it measured? Five minutes Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 18

19 Measurement of the Labor Force Status Definitions of labour force measures in the Labour Force Survey in Japan are available at the following website: t.pdf Borjas, Chapter 2, Section 2-1 Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 19

20 Japan s case: Labour Force Status of those aged 15 or over Labour force participants employed Workers Workers who are taking leave unemployed Those who are out of labour force Among those who are age 15 or over, who are not employed and who are not unemployed Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 20

21 Employed The employed consists of two types: who worked and who are employed and out of work. Those who worked for pay (wages, salary, benefits, in-house revenue) for more than 1 hour (1 inclusive), during the survey week. If a family member of the self-employed worked without pay for the family business, then she is included as employed. Who are employed and out of work: Those who have a job but did not work at all during the survey week. [1] salary or wage earners who are supposed to receive salary or wages, or, [2] the self-employed who holds his business and it is less than 30 days since he stopped working. Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 21

22 Unemployed Those who do not have job and therefore did not work during the survey week Who are able to work immediately During the survey week, either searched for a job (including the case he was waiting for the results of the job search activity done before), or were preparing for starting his own business. Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 22

23 Labour Force Participation Rate Definition LF LFPR= Population Among the population aged 15 or over, what is the percentage of people who are willing to work? Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 23

24 Unemployment rate (definition) Definition Unemp U = LF Unemp in the numerator is the number of the unemployed Among the labor force, what is the fraction of unemployed people? This statistic is calculated from the Labour force survey in Japan (latest statistics??) Yukiko Abe 2015 All rights reserved 24