14.33  Rsch & Comm in Econ

Office hours

I will be in my office from 11-12 and from 1-2 today and from 10:30-11:30 and 2:30-3:30 tomorrow. Feel free to drop in.

JF

Announced on 07 December 2010  7:24  a.m. by James Feyrer

Course Evaluations

Hi Class,

MIT finally has all of its course evaluations online. The upside is that they're faster and easier to fill out. The downside is that we don't get to lock you in a room until you fill them out. So please take the time to fill out an evaluation of 14.33 online here.

Beyond the usual uses of course feedback, I will be sending your rankings and comments to the schools I apply to for Assistant Professor jobs, so rest assured--they matter and make a difference!

Best,

Christopher

Announced on 03 December 2010  10:20  a.m. by Christopher Palmer

Note on Tables

I have been greatly enjoying the presentations so far. They have been nicely polished and professional and I have learned something from each of them. Keep up the good work as you work on the final versions.

One thing I have noticed in looking at first drafts is that many of you are not using informative labels for your tables. If one of your right hand side variables is the exchange rate and you have named in exr in Stata, please change the exr in your final tables to "Exchange Rate." If makes the tables so much more readable. A hint:

If you use the Stata command
label var exr "Exchange Rate"

Stata will automajically replace exr with "Exchange Rate" whenever you use outreg or as an axis label for graphs. It also makes your Stata dataset much better documented since it describes your cryptic variable names. Adding a set of labeling commands to the beginning of your do file makes everything nicer.

JF

Announced on 29 November 2010  11:01  a.m. by James Feyrer

Presentation Signup

It was great to see such talent concentrated into one room today. I hope your first drafts are coming along.

Here is the signup sheet google doc. Again, if you're ahead of the game, signup for an early time slot! Also, you should all have an incentive to signup earlier rather than later because then you'll have more time and feedback for your final draft.

Please note that the signup lists start at 9 AM. We won't have time to start at 9:05 AM, so please be prompt. You need to attend when your half-class group is presenting (i.e. if you are A3, then show up on any day that A is presenting).

Having a notebook to write down questions and suggestions during your presentation is both a good way to remember feedback and a great way to defer and deflect hard questions until you've had a chance to think about them.

You can upload your slides on Stellar here when ready. But it's always good to have a backup as well.

As a clarification, your final draft is due Wednesday, December 8 (MIT policy is the last day of our class). But if you present on Wednesday December 8, we can make separate arrangements.

Cheers,

Christopher

Announced on 17 November 2010  12:01  p.m. by Christopher Palmer

Due Dates

Thanks for attending your meetings with me this week. I hope they were helpful and that you are all at the running regressions stage.

First Drafts

Astute readers of the syllabus will have noticed that your first draft was due Monday. At least half of you just rejoiced at my use of the past tense. Your first drafts are now due on the Stellar Assignment page next Friday, November 19, at midnight.

Class Schedule

There is no class this Monday, November 15. There is mandatory class for everyone on this Wednesday, November 17. See you then!

Looking ahead, everyone will be required to give a 15-minute presentation and attend all of the other presentations for their half-class group. Professor Feyrer will explain more about the presentation format and I will send out a signup list next week.

A Groups Presentations will be

Mon, Nov 22
Wed, Dec 1
Wed, Dec 8

B Groups Presentations will be

Wed, Nov 24
Mon, Nov 29
Mon, Dec 6

Final Drafts are due Wed, Dec 8.

Good luck progressing with your regressing,

cjp

Announced on 11 November 2010  2:06  p.m. by Christopher Palmer