Writing an Economic Paper

Noer Azam Achsani, PhD

Department of Economics and
Graduate School of Management and Business
Bogor Agricultural University
achsani@mb.ipb.ac.id or achsani@yahoo.com
(preferred)

Outline
Introduction

Why should we learn this?

Writing papers, what for?
A long journey to be a successful writers
Small tips.

Step

by Step of Writing Papers

Check it out..!
Is my paper interesting?
Strong selling points are?

Introduction

Why should we learn this?

On

average, economist are not good

at writing (they dont explain
technicalities very well and dont tell
you why something is important)

People

who write well-structured

papers habe well-structured thought
process

On

the other hand, fuzzy writing

reflects fuzzy thinking

Introduction

Writing papers, what for?

In

academia, you need to write papers

that will get published.
Half the battle of getting published is about
what result what you get and half the
battle is about how to sell them

Outside

academia, you need to write

reports, proposals etc.
These must be understandable very
quickly (the boss will only have 2 minutes
to look at it) and usually by non-specialist.

Introduction

A long journey to be a successful writers

No

one can tell you how to research and write a

paper. Good research and writing skills require
constant practice.

Most

good economists spend at least 50% of the

time they put into any project on writing. For me,
its more like 80% (Cochrane, 2005).

These

are only suggestions thats right.

But, I strongly encourage you to
follow as many of these as possible.

If

you feel you need further discussion in

researching and writing, please do not hesitate
to contact me .

Introduction
Small tips.
Writing

paper is fun..!
Enjoy it or you will get a Ph.D
(permanently head damage.!)

Step by Step of Writing

Papers

Selecting topics
Designing and structuring our
activities
Set-up the paper

The style
Finishing

Selecting Topics
What ?
Select

the topic yourself

Find an interesting topic so that you can enjoy it

hours without getting headache.
You may have to narrow your topic so that it could
be write in a one paper (Remember: Keep it short.
A paper should not more that 20 pages)
Originality
Novelty

is the most important thing

- find something new

New idea
Old idea with new angle, new data, new
methodology

Selecting Topics
How?

Brainstorming

Take a paper and pencil and just write

down everything in your mind
Construct a diagram
Important

resources:
Journal of Economic Literature
Journal of Economic Perspectives
(Applied) Economics Letters, (Applied)
Financial Letters
Internet resources

Designing and structuring our

activities
Find

the relevant models

Data required?
Outline of the paper
Finishing touches
Check it out!
Always read, read and read the current journal
and working papers.!

Designing and structuring our

activities

Find
the relevant models
Read the current and previous literature (at
least 20 papers!).

Make

a literature survey/review and

construct a table containing summary of
them.

Author(s)
Year of publication
Data
Models
Summary of the findings

Get

something out of them.

Designing and structuring our

activities
Finding the data
Macro data
World

Bank, IMF, OECD, ECB, ASEAN

BI, BPS, Ministry of Finance
etc

Micro Data
Susenas,
Own
etc

Data

Podes, IFLS, Banks Data

Designing and structuring our

activities
Outline of the paper
Front

page (title, authors, affiliations, abstract,

JEL Classification, keywords)
Introduction (basic problem, motivation,
potential benefits, briefly content of the paper)
Review of the literature (summarize and table
of previous papers, key concept, inconclusiveness)
The Data and Model (explain the model clearly,
the data and sources, descriptive statistics and
explanations)
Results and Discussion
Concluding Remarks
References

Outline of the Paper

Front pages
Title

(and subtitle if needed)

Authors

and affiliation

Abstract (100 words)

Problem statements
Short review of literature
Description of the research design (model testing,
empirical etc)
Contribution of the research
Keywords
JEL

(2 5 words, not more)

Classification (3 class)

Outline of the Paper

Introduction
What

questions do you address?

Why

do these questions arise? From what

literature or real-world events? Offer
background that clarifies your question.

What

answers do you offer?

How

will you reach your answer? Explain

about your sources and models/methods

The

novelty and potential benefits?

What

comes next? Provide a roadmap to the

rest of the paper

Outline of the Paper

Literature Review
It

can be included in the introduction (but

dont put it in the beginning of the
introduction) or in a separate section.

It

is not necessary to cite every single paper

in the literature and put it in the literature
review.

The

main point of the literature review

should be to set your paper off against the 2
or 3 closest current papers, and then find
some inconclusiveness or new ideas to be
explored further.

Outline of the Paper

Data and Methodology
Explain

Primary or secondary
How the data compiled
Sources of the data
Descriptive statistics and brief explanation

The

the data clearly

model

Economic model and the theoretical consideration

How to estimate the model?
Has the model been used in the previous papers?
What is the difference or new thing?

Outline of the Paper

Result and Discussion
Get

to the central result as fast as possible.

In

the empirical research, start with the main

result. Do not do warm up exercise, data
descriptions, preliminary estimates etc. If any of
this is really important, put it in the appendix.

Give

explanation and argumentation to the main

results
Follow the main result with graphs and tables. Use
empirical evidence facts, numbers, history to support
your argument.
Clearly frame the general points that your evidence
supports. Dont ask facts to speak themselves.
Argue against yourself. After laying out your argument,
acknowledge questions or objections that a skeptical
reader might arise, and briefly address them.

Outline of the Paper

Concluding remarks
Concluding

remarks should be short and

sweet. Do not re-state all of the findings.

Even,

a conclusions section should not be

necessary. If you did a good job in
explaining your contribution in the
introduction and documenting those claims
in the paper, then saying it again is
pointless.

Better

include a few paragraphs explaining

the limitation and suggesting the policy
implications or possible future research. But
remember keep it short!

Finishing touches
Check

the style (depends on the journal

we want to submit). Every journals have
their own style. So, make sure to see
guide for the authors
The consistency, mathematical formula,
definitions etc
Completeness and consistence of the
references

Take a rest (1-2 days) and read it

again !

Check it out!
Assessment of a paper is mainly assessment
of :
The description of the goal of the paper
Novelty (originality) and relevance of the
paper
The quality of use of theory, methods and
data
The structure of the paper
The style of the paper
Presentation and participation on the seminars

Is my Paper Interesting?
Who

wants to know the answer to the

problem that I am analyzing?
Where does this research fit into the
existing literature?
What is the innovation of this paper?
Where will this paper be published?
How can I sell this piece of research?
And the answer is. Interesting!

Strong selling points are ?

KISS

(Keep it short and simple)

Addressing a sexy and fashionable
question
Introducing a new (superior) data set
Use tables and figures
Finding a funky instrument
Utilizing a new (more advanced)
econometric technique

Strong selling points are ?

Empirical

and comparative analysis is more

advantages
Testing a model that has not yet been
tested
Nesting several models within one test
Use conferences or seminars as entry point
and write it down in the acknowledgements
Write our own relevant publication on the
references

Do it now or never..!

References
Anonym. 2009. How to Write An Economics Paper?
Institute of Economics and Econometrics., The
University of Groningen. The Netherlands
Duffy, J. 2009. How to Research and Write an
Economics Term Paper. Department of Economics,
The University of Pittsburgh. USA
Bunt, L. 2007. How to Write a Good Paper in
Economics. The University of Lausanne
Cochrane, J.H. 2005. Writing Tips for PhD Students.
Graduate School of Business. The University of
Chicago

Useful Resources
The

Grant Doctor
Alan Marnett
10 Ways to be A Successful Scientist
The Seven Habits of A Highly
Successful Scientist