The Hidden Curriculum

Everything You Weren't Taught in Graduate School about Doing Applied Research

Prof. Daniel Rees and Prof. D. Mark Anderson

Starting November 1st, 2024

This course is intended to be a practical guide for graduate students and early career economists doing applied research. The nuts and bolts of writing, publishing, and service to the profession are covered in two half-day sessions, each lasting roughly four hours (including short breaks). We begin by providing tips on how to start a research project, when to switch topics, and how to effectively manage multiple projects at once. Next, we provide practical advice on how to write an applied economics paper, from structing the introduction to crafting the conclusion. The second half of the course takes participants through the publication process. In addition, we discuss networking, refereeing for economics journals, getting the most out of conferences, and how to successfully navigate the academic job market.

All course material is available free and open source via our Github Repository .

Register Today

Sign-up today to ensure access to this workshop.

WHAT'S INCLUDED

  • Attendance to the workshop with Prof. Daniel Rees and Prof. D. Mark Anderson.
  • Complete set of example code to implement the methods discussed.
  • PDF lecture slides and video recordings for later reference.
$125 USD + Fees
Buy Your Ticket
$1 for Low-income Countries

Our workshop will bring you to the cutting edge

November 1st

Day 1 • 12pm-4pm EST

  1. Starting Your Research Project
  2. Practical Tips for Writing Your Applied Paper
  3. Grad Student Job Market Q&A

November 2nd

Day 2 • 12pm-4pm EST

  1. The Publication Process
  2. Refereeing
  3. Conferences and Networking
  4. Ask the editor!
  5. Grad Student Job Market Q&A

Who will be hosting this session?

Prof. Daniel Rees
Daniel Rees professor in the department of economics at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. He serves as a coeditor at the American Journal of Health Economics and at the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. He was a professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Colorado Denver from 1993-2021 and Editor-in-Chief of the Economics of Education Review from 2014-2019.

Dr. Rees is currently studying the mortality transition at the turn of the 20th century, the relationship between hospital desegregation and the Black-White infant mortality gap, and the long-term effects of smoking on health. His research has appeared in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Economic Journal, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Economic Literature, Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Political Economy, and Review of Economics and Statistics.
Prof. D. Mark Anderson
D. Mark Anderson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics & Economics at Montana State University, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a co-editor of Economic Inquiry. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Washington in 2011.

Dr. Anderson is an applied microeconomist with research interests in health and economic history. His research has appeared in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Economic Journal, Journal of Economic Literature, Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of Urban Economics, Journal of Political Economy, and Review of Economics and Statistics.

  • “

    As an econ grad student early in my research career, this workshop answered every question I had about how research actually gets done and how to deal with the inevitable issues, tradeoffs, and challenges of writing papers. In fact, it answered questions I didn't even know I had and delivered the hidden curriculum of research in an organized, encouraging fashion.

  • “

    A must attend for any aspiring researchers to learn the (unwritten) rules of applied research and the publishing process.

  • “

    The instructor's approach to showcasing examples of papers, review and publication process, and steps to better prepare for the job market was invaluable.

  • “

    Both the professors were extremely resourceful. The workshop was well-organized and allowed attendees sufficient insight into how to write an applied paper, what the publication process entails and how important conferences and networking is for graduate students.

  • “

    I thought the workshop was excellent. As an incoming 3rd year PhD student, I received valuable insight into the publication process, as well as what the dos and don'ts are.

  • “

    Most of the information is generally not available to grad students easily and it's a learning process for everyone that takes a lot time. This helps bridge the gap, which I'm really grateful for.

  • “

    Mark and Dan bring such great energy to accompany their expertise and knowledge and kept the material engaging all day.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I access the material I need for the course?

The course material will be availabe forever on Github. We will also send you links to the video recordings on Vimeo after the workshop is completed.

How long will it take me to master this?

That's a great question. Causal inference, and econometrics more generally, is largely a “returns to experience” type of skill as much as it is a returns to education. The best way for you to learn anything in these classes is to work on projects that require it. Our class is designed as a fast track to both.

Will there be recordings?

We will upload recordings to Vimeo and they will be password protected, so that only attendees can watch the videos.

I'm nervous that I can't handle the difficulty of the class.

Don't be. We are good teachers. If we can learn this, so can you.