Graduate Advising
Advising graduate students is one of the most rewarding parts of my job. I advise students on the entire PhD process, from early ideas through polishing a job market paper. This includes not only research advising, but also guidance on thriving in graduate school, getting to graduation, thinking strategically for the job market, and preparing for a career in research and/or teaching. I am committed to helping my advisees develop the best version of their work and achieve a good job placement.
I welcome any student at any stage to meet with me during office hours to discuss research ideas or challenges. I encourage PhD students to start early (in their first or second year) meeting with a variety of faculty on a regular basis to get feedback from diverse viewpoints and get to know potential advisors. It is best to request third-year paper advising or dissertation committee membership from a faculty member with whom you already have a working relationship.
Students whom I advise for 3YP or dissertation regularly meet in a workshop for student presentations, joint with advisees of Prof Mary Hansen.
Resources for Graduate Students
Writing
A Guide to Writing in Economics (Dudenhefer, 2009) link
Academic Writing for Graduate Students (Swales and Feak, 2012) link
Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace (Williams and Bizup, 2016) link
Practitioners' Advice
The Introduction Formula (Keith Head)
How to Write Applied Papers in Economics (Marc Bellemare)
Four Steps to an Applied Micro Paper (Jesse Shapiro)
Writing Tips for Ph.D. Students (John Cochrane)
Ten Most Important Rules of Writing your Job Market Paper (Claudia Goldin and Larry Katz)
Presenting
How to Give an Applied Micro Talk (Jesse Shapiro)
Public Speaking for Academic Economists (Rachel Meager)
How to Give a Great Seminar (Alex Tabarrok)
How to Make Academic Presentations (Berthold Herrendorf)
The Discussant's Art (Chris Blattman)
How to be a Great Conference Participants (Art Carden)
Beamer Tips for Presentations (Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham) [source code]
Refereeing
Preparing a Referee Report: Guidelines and Perspectives (Jonathan Berk, Campbell Harvey, and David Hirshleifer)
20 Rules for Refereeing (Marc Bellemare)
Guidelines for Referee Reports (Elisabeth Sadoulet)
How to Write a Good Referee Report (Tatyana Deryugina)
Coding & File Management
Stata Coding Guide (Julian Reif)
Code and Data for the Social Sciences: A Practitioner's Guide (Matt Gentzkow and Jesse Shapiro)
Data Science for Economists (Grant McDermott) [Includes slides on version control with git and webscraping info]
Doctoral Fellows
I am proud to have collaborated with, advised, and have provided funding support for these talented doctoral candidates.
Kate Pennington
2020 IWPR Doctoral Fellow in Economics & Reproductive Health
Kate was a doctoral candidate in applied microeconomics at UC Berkeley. She studies contemporary American political issues including reproductive rights, gentrification, and voter motivation. Before coming to Berkeley, Kate earned a BA from Cornell University and a Masters from the University of San Francisco.
During her fellowship she collaborated on an analysis of the impact of local economic shocks on access to family planning. Kate earned her doctorate in 2021 and joined the U.S. Census Bureau as an Economist.
Mayra Pineda Torres
2019 IWPR Doctoral Fellow in Economics & Reproductive Health
Mayra was a doctoral candidate in the department of economics at Texas A&M University. Her research is in applied microeconomics, with interests in gender, education and health. Before attending graduate school, she obtained a B.A. in Economics from ITAM in Mexico and worked in Mexico’s Central Bank.
During her fellowship she collaborated on an analysis of the impacts of recent U.S. abortion restrictions on women's economic outcomes. Mayra earned her doctorate in 2022 and joined Georgia Institute of Technology as an Assistant Professor of Economics.
Britni Wilcher
2019 IWPR Doctoral Fellow in Gender Policy Analysis in Economics
Britni was a doctoral candidate in the department of economics at American University. Her research focuses on health, innovation and gender. She holds an MS from Bocconi School of Management and a BA from Spelman Collage.
During her fellowship she collaborated on an analysis of the impacts of paid parental leave legislation on women's labor force participation. Britni earned her doctorate in 2022 and began a postdoctoral fellowship in Health Policy at Stanford University.