Replication of article

Initial situation

The goal of the workshop is to familiarize students with current methods of empirical microdata analysis. It is therefore important to make students aware of the practical and interactive understanding of exploratory research in applied economics. To this end, the teacher will first approach different topics from a theoretical point of view, and will then propose applications and replications to the students.

Project implementation

The teaching is organized in 3-week cycles, each of which deals with one of the 4 themes covered by the course (Identification and Randomized Controlled Trials; Natural Experiments and Differences in Differences; Matching Methods, Regression and the Design of Regression Discontinuity).

In the first session, the teacher theoretically introduces a statistical or econometric methodology. Students are then asked to choose a published paper using that specific methodology and replicate it by redoing the statistical analyses presented in the paper. To facilitate the choice of the paper, the teacher provides a list of scientific reviews with the codes and data used in the appendices of each paper. These elements are essential for the students to complete their exercise.

The replication work is done in small groups. By the end of the second session, the groups should have identified the paper that they will replicate. The course assistant is available throughout this session to guide them in their choice of paper and to help them begin the work.

The third session is dedicated to the oral presentation of each group’s replications (approx. 30 min). Each group should present a replication of the main results as well as some extensions not included in the paper such as robustness checks and/or an extension of the analysis in a significant direction.

The assessment of the course is based on the participation in class (10%) and on the oral presentations of the replications (90%). The groups, designated by the teacher, are reshuffled every 3 weeks. Thus, students obtain 4 grades with different teammates each time. The student’s final grade is an average of the 4 grades obtained in the different presentations.

Thoughts and advice

This teaching format allows students to acquire generic skills in teamwork and oral presentation. The formation of groups by the teacher avoids grouping students by affinity or by skill level. The regular reshuffling of groups reinforces the heterogeneity of skill levels within the groups.