Term Paper
The term paper for 14.731 is the first research paper in the graduate program in Economics at MIT. Students are asked to choose a topic from the syllabus, class discussion, or their own experience. They then formulate a testable hypothesis, for example, whether a paper on the syllabus can be extended or tested by a new test. The students collect data and perform the tests indicated. Econometrics can be used, but is not required. The readings section contains many papers for comparison that use qualitative data not susceptible to econometric treatment.
The paper does not require the use of quantitative information. You may want to use qualitative information. However, some of you may want to do a statistical analysis using micro data. All of you will need to know which published sources are available and where they can be found. For that information, please consult the study materials section.
