Undergraduate Research Course

David Madden and I have been running a course on Economics research for the undergraduate single honours course. It is given in Semester 1 and is partly designed to prepare them for the undergraduate dissertation, which takes place in Semester 2. The course was David's idea, partly inspired by the results of our external review, where suggestions were made by external experts. The course involves firstly some basic discussion of economics research, followed by a journal club session, followed by case studies followed by a data project. All aspects of the course involves students working together in groups of five or six. The assignments for the journal club and case studies are handed up as group assignments and the data project will be delivered as an individual assignment. We also have made attendance mandatory. With a few weeks in, this course is definitely a positive experience with a lot of really active and interesting discussion about Economics. This is the first year of the course and we are both interested in how it could be developed both this year and in future years. Some of the suggestions coming out of the literature include (i) assigning students the work of particular Nobel laureates to review (ii) assigning actual data collection to students (iii) Stephen Kinsella has blogged about book reviews as a potential tool. I have been getting some interesting emails and "corridor talk" about previous posts on this type of stuff so if anyone is interested in talking about how all of this works, you know where I am.

Undergraduate Economics Journal Club

I am involved in a journal club session for undergraduate single honours economics. It is part of a wider module that will utilise case-studies, empirical projects, presentations, seminars etc., to cultivate enthusiasm for economic research and to prepare people for the final year dissertation in second term. There are five groups so we are going for one paper each to start off. Anyone got any thoughts on the list below? Designed to be representative of modern empirical economics but relatively accessible.

1. Almond, Douglas (2006) “Is the 1918 Influenza Pandemic Over? Long-Term Effects of In Utero Influenza Exposure in the Post-1940 U.S. Population,” Journal of Political Economy, v. 114, pp. 672–712.

2. Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 2008. "This Time is Different: A Panoramic View of Eight Centuries of Financial Crises," NBER Working Papers 13882, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

3. Banerjee, Abhijit & Duflo, Esther, 2008. "The Experimental Approach to Development Economics," CEPR Discussion Papers 7037, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

4. Craig Burnside & David Dollar, 2000. "Aid, Policies, and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(4), pages 847-868, September.

5. Betsey Stevenson & Justin Wolfers, 2008. "Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being: Reassessing the Easterlin Paradox," NBER Working Papers 14282, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

Functions of an Undergraduate Module

Given the time of year and given that one of my functions here in UCD is to provide the undergrad behavioural economics curriculum forgive me another random post on what we are actually supposed to do in the undergrad domain. Below is the result of scribbling on a piece of paper in an attempt to get motivated for this year's endeavours. This is close to another issue that we have started debating a lot more - what is the value of "inperson" modules as opposed to downloading modules from the web?

(i) Give students an opportunity to signal their ability to the labour/graduate admissions market. To provide challenging assignments that are known to be challenging.

(ii) Provide access to information that will be intrinsically valuable for the students both now and in the future on reflection. In essence to provide a consumption product at the same time as allowing the student to invest in a stock of knowledge and positive memories.

(iii) Provide access to language that will enable them to communicate with other people who have taken the course.

(iv) Provide a link between the university setting and the outside world through practical examples, case studies etc., In essence, to give students a chance to "practice" being a decision maker before having to make real decisions.

(v) Similar to (iv) to provide students with an opportunity to express innate talents through interaction with others in group situations similar to real-world settings.

(vi) Provide specific marketable skills valued by employers in different sectors.

(vii) Get to know students in the module well enough to be able to provide employment references.

(viii) Awaken consciousness about how real-world institutions operate and their own potential place in this.

(ix) To act as a guarantor that a student has come through a module of study that is a requirement for later education/jobs.

(x) Provide students with an opportunity to form networks through the class both personal and professional. Synching up modules across universities an interesting way to develop this.

(xi) Provide a forum for students to discuss and develop their own ideas. Provide feedback on those ideas including references to wider literaturem, challenging gaps in reasoning and so on.

(xii) Provide students with an independent forum for advanced critical thinking. Provide an atmosphere of irreverance toward current norms facilitating development of original thinking.