Assignment:
How to Read a Scholarly Paper
There are a series of questions that should guide your reading of scholarly papers. You should think about the questions on the list while you read the assigned papers.
1. What economic question(s) does the paper address?
2. Why is the paper important, according to the author? Do you agree?
3. Do you believe the answers the author obtains? Why or why not?
Once you've read the paper, here are some questions to consider.
1. What are the limitations of the paper, the model and the estimation method used in the paper?
2. Are there any outright errors that you can identify, including typos, etc.?
3. (If applicable) Does the paper use the best dataset available? Alternatively, what other data, if it were available, would augment/improve the research?
4. Can you think of any extensions of the paper, either direct extensions (same data, slightly modified problem or approach) or extensions of the same methodology to other similar problems?
Readings:
The Effect of the National Kidney Registry on the Kidney-Exchange Market
By Roksana Ghanbariamin