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General resources: writing papers, the editorial process, and job (market) advice
By now, there are numerous blog posts, presentations and other media with useful resources on how to survive as an applied economist. On this page, I post links to resources that I found helpful. Most of these I got across browsing #econtwitter. If you have anything that might be worth posting here or would like to report a broken link, please send me an email or comment below
By now, there are many collections of useful resources similar to ours. Please also check the collections of Jennifer Doleac, Amanda Agan, Claes Bäckman, Susan Athey, Christine Cai, Kirby Nielsen, Chris Roth & Daniel Schindler, and the AEA’s collection of resources.
Table of Contents
- Conducting research in applied economics
- Yourself and the internet: presentation and dissemination
- The academic ladder: from RA to (full) professor
- Other tips
Conducting research in applied economics
The production function of research papers: conducting, writing and presenting your research
Generating and selecting ideas
- Ariel Rubinstein: 10 Q&A: Experienced Advice for “Lost” Graduate Students in Economics
- Frank Schilbach: 5 steps toward a paper
- Paul Niehaus: Doing research (Some generic advice for PhD students)
- Steve Pischke: Resources for Economics PhD Students (mainly on search for topics)
- Amy Finkelstein: An unofficial guide to trying to do empirical work
- Jessica Hoel: Selecting and prioritizing research projects
Coding principles
- Matthew Gentzkow and Jesse M. Shapiro: Code and Data for the Social Sciences: A Practitioner’s Guide
- Kieran Healy: The Plain Person’s Guide to Plain Text Social Science
- Skye Toor: Avoiding technical debt in social science research
Writing research papers
- AEA: Conducting research (best practises; also diversity)
- StataTexBlog: Resources on formatting in LaTeX
- Tipps on writing introductions
- Keith Head: The Introduction Formula
- David Evans: How to Write the Introduction of Your Development Economics Paper
- Claudia Sahm: Writing economics research papers (how to structure papers; focus on abstract and intro; examples)
- David Eil‘s twitter thread on academic writing: link here
- Hemingway app for improved readability
- John Cochrane (2005): Writing Tips for Ph. D. Students
- Jesse Shapiro: Four Steps to an Applied Micro Paper
- Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz: The Ten Most Important Rules of Writing Your Job Market Paper
- Brian McGill: Clear writing (Dynamic Ecology blog)
- Dominika Langenmayr: Academic Writing
- Plamen Nikolov: Writing Tips for Economics Research Papers – 2021-2022 Edition
- Marc F. Bellemare: How to Write Applied Papers in Economics
- Deirdre McCloskey: Economical Writing
- Tilburg Science Hub: Tutorial on Writing Academic Papers
- Tobias Klein: Writing Papers and Theses
Presenting & disseminating your work
Oral presentations and discussions
- Eliana La Ferrara: How to present your job market paper
- Kjetil Storesletten: The Ten Commandments for How to Give a Seminar (+ Video)
- Rachael Meager: Public Speaking for Academic Economists
- Berthold Herrendorf: Presentation tips
- Art Carden’s presentation tips
- Jesse Shapiro: How to give an applied micro talk
- Donald Cox: The “Big 5” and Other Ideas For Presentations
Discussing others’ papers
Communicating with media and dissemination of research
The editorial process – submitting papers and writing reports
Submitting papers, the editorial process, and getting your work published
- Mirya Holman’s pre-submission checklist: link here
- Economic journal editors (Martin Cripps, Rachel Griffith, Frederic Vermeulen): Getting your work published
- Kitt Carpenter: How (Many) Journals Work: A Far From Incomplete Guide for Public Policy/Economics Scholars
- Imran Rasul: Advice on the Publishing Process
- Amanda Friedenberg: A View from Inside the Edirorial Process (Youtube Presentation from RES 2022)
For reviewers: writing referee reports
- Berk, Campbell and Hishleifer (2017a): How to Write an Effective Referee Report and Improve the Scientific Review Process, Journal of Economic Perspectives
- Berk, Campbell and Hishleifer (2017b): A Checklist for Reviewing a Paper
- Tool to compare different versions of a paper: https://draftable.com/compare
- Jo Wilkinson: Writing a peer review is a structured process that can be learned and improved – 12 steps to follow on LSE Impact Blog
- Tatyana Deryugina‘s twitter thread on refereeing
- Marc F. Bellemare: 20 rules for refereeing
- Elisabeth Sadoulet: Guidelines for refereeing
Yourself and the internet: presentation and dissemination
CVs and websites
- Sarah Jacobson‘s twitter thread on CVs: link here
- Kevin H. Wilson‘s guide to build an academic website (including Google Sites, Wix, GitHub): link here
Using Twitter for Academics
- Anne Burton (twitter handle): How I Use #EconTwitter
- Sarah Jacboson (twitter handle): Using Twitter to Make Your Professional Life Better, Not Worse (pp. 20-24)
- Sarah Jacboson (twitter handle): Networking with Twitter
- Gema Zamarro (twitter handle): Twitter in Academia
- Joshua Goodman (twitter handle): Twitter tips for PhD students
- CSWEP/CSMGEP @Twitter Tips for Success: Social Media for Economists (video)
- Matt Clancy: A Beginner’s Guide to #EconTwitter
The academic ladder: from RA to (full) professor
Tips for research assistants (RA)
Entering PhD programs
- How to best prepare a PhD application on the AEA’s new EconSpark Forum
- Rachael Meager: How to get into a Top 10 Economics PhD Program (from Australia)
Surviving PhD programs
- PJ Healy: The Backwards Induction Approach to Grad School… and other random advice
- Alex Eble: An unofficial guidebook for PhD students in economics and education
- Chris Roth and David Schindler: Advice for PhD Students
From graduate to post-graduate: The Econ Job Market
General econ-job-market advice
- Communications from the Ad Hoc Committee on the Job Market
(general JM information) - Chase Eck, Kelli Marquardt, and Dana Shaat: How to mentally prepare for the job market
(general JM information with useful timeline) - Pamela Jakiela: Academic Job Market Advice for PhD Students in Economics
- David Laibson: job market tips
- John Cawley: Job market guide and advice
- Claudia Steinwender: Insights from the Job Market
- Johannes Pfeifer: Job Market Resources
- Alex Albright: So you want to go on the job market
- David Smerdon: How to survive the economics job market
The European econ job market
- David Schindler: Guide to the European Job Market
- The EEA’s guide on the European job market: link here
- Michela Carlana: EEA Guide for European Job Market Candidates
Post-docs
- Wei Yang Tham: Guide to Postdocs in Econ/Management
Making things permanent: getting tenure
- Jessica Hoel: advice on tenure
- Ioana Marinescu: tenure advice on twitter
- Tyler Ransom: Tips for new tenure-track professors
Writing tenure letters
- Marc F. Bellemare: twitter thread
- Jeffrey Brown: twitter thread
- The Hidden Curriculum Podcast: Letters of recommendation for tenure with Kosali Simon
Entering non-academic jobs
- Ana Moura: The Outside Option (blog)
Other tips
Diversity
Mentoring
- Adopt a Paper: mentoring program for junior scholars (ECR)
- Mentoring Reading Materials (AEA)
- Jessica Hoel: Networking
Productive working and mental health
- Tatyana Deryugina: How to be Productive in Academia
- Ronald Bachmann: tips for personal productivity
- Ricardo Dahis: Advice for Academic Research
- Scott Cunningham: Hidden curriculum – mental health and success
- Matthew J. Lebo: Managing Your Research Pipeline
- Mike Mueller-Smith and Charlie Brown: On Mental Health and the Economics Profession
- Frank Schillbach: Resources on mental health