The papers assigned so far in Empirical Methods (Prof. Rohini Somanathan), grouped here by the method each one teaches rather than in the order they were set. Each title links to a page with the citation, a link to the original paper and — for six of them so far — an interactive explainer you can work through section by section.
Randomised experiments
- Should bed nets be free? Cohen & Dupas (2010), Free Distribution or Cost-Sharing · interactive explainer
Quarterly Journal of Economics, 125(1): 1–45 - Who watches the clinic? Björkman & Svensson (2009), Power to the People · interactive explainer
Quarterly Journal of Economics, 124(2): 735–769 - Banerjee, Glennerster & Duflo (2008), Putting a Band-Aid on a Corpse: Incentives for Nurses in the Indian Public Health Care System
Journal of the European Economic Association, 6(2–3): 487–500 - Fearon, Humphreys & Weinstein (2015), How Does Development Assistance Affect Collective Action Capacity? Evidence from Post-Conflict Liberia
American Political Science Review, 109(3): 450–469
Natural experiments and difference-in-differences
- Is the 1918 pandemic over? Almond (2006), Long-Term Effects of In Utero Influenza Exposure · interactive explainer
Journal of Political Economy, 114(4): 672–712 - How much did clean water matter? Cutler & Miller (2005), The Role of Public Health Improvements in Health Advances · interactive explainer
Demography, 42(1): 1–22 - Washington (2008), Female Socialization: How Daughters Affect Their Legislator Fathers’ Voting on Women’s Issues
American Economic Review, 98(1): 311–332 - Green, Hyman-Metzger, Sood & Zee (2023), Revisiting a Natural Experiment: Do Legislators with Daughters Vote More Liberally on Women’s Issues?
Journal of Political Economy Microeconomics, 1(3): 506–
Policy discontinuities and panel data
- Hoy No Circula: Davis (2008), The Effect of Driving Restrictions on Air Quality in Mexico City · interactive explainer
Journal of Political Economy, 116(1): 38–81 - Too hot to work: Somanathan, Somanathan, Sudarshan & Tewari (2021), The Impact of Temperature on Productivity and Labor Supply · interactive explainer
Journal of Political Economy, 129(6): 1797–1827
Measurement and survey design
- Banerjee, Deaton & Duflo (2004), Wealth, Health, and Health Services in Rural Rajasthan
American Economic Review (Papers & Proceedings), 94(2): 326–330
How to read for this course
- Before class: what is the question, what is the source of variation, and what would the authors need to assume for the estimate to be causal? Write the estimating equation out yourself.
- Look at the tables before the text: find the main coefficient, its standard error, and the sample size. Then check whether the text describes the table honestly.
- For each paper, note one thing you would try to replicate, and one robustness check you would want to see.
- Use the Empirical Methods board to share summaries, presentation notes and questions — and to propose papers for new explainers.
Missing a paper that was assigned? Post it on the board or see Contribute.