ECONtribute Applied Metrics Reading Group – Summer Term 2021

ECONtribute Applied Metrics Reading Group

The idea: The goal is to brush up our knowledge of applied econometrics methods building on the latest findings in the econometrics literature. We will read 5-6 papers per semester on a topic relevant to applied researchers. For each paper, we will have a 1-hour meeting to discuss the paper, clarify open questions and identify key take-aways for applied work. Next semester will be about Instrumental Variables (IV) and Fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Design (Fuzzy RDD).

Target audience: The reading group is aimed at applied researchers past their PhD coursework in both Bonn and Cologne.

The rules of the game: (1) Most importantly, we would like to ask all participants to read the paper before the meeting so that we can have a real discussion. This is not supposed to be a lecture but instead we want to dive deep into the topic together. (2) In addition, we will randomly assign each participant a paper for which they’ll be the discussion leader. This only means that they’ll structure their reading notes in a way to guide the discussion and share them during the meeting. This does not mean preparing a proper presentation nor does this mean that you should have no open questions left about the paper. (3) If the group will be larger than 8-10 people, we will divide participants into two groups who first discuss the paper in detail for 40 minutes, and then have a big-group discussion of 20 minutes.

Next semester’s agenda: We will meet Thursdays, 12:30-13:30 on the following days:

06 May | 20 May | 10 June | 17 June | 01 July | 15 July

How to participate: Email Lena Janys (ljanys@uni-bonn.de) or Barbara Boelmann (barbara.boelmann@uni-koeln.de) to be included.