Finding a Question

ECON 708: Econometrics III

Author
Affiliation

Alex Cardazzi

Old Dominion University

You Can Study a Lot with These Tools

The methods in this course study what happens because of something that changed, and that covers a huge range of topics. Start with what you are curious about, and ask: what changed, where, when, and for whom?

Starter Questions

These are starting points. Pick one, adapt one, or bring your own.

  1. Do sporting events cause crime?
  2. In February 2021, Oregon decriminalized possession of small amounts of hard drugs. What happened to overdoses? To crime?
  3. Does the arrival of Uber and Lyft reduce drunk driving? Binge drinking?
  4. Does a new stadium or arena change the neighborhood around it?
  5. How does marijuana legalization impact mental health?
  6. Does legal sports betting change household finances?
  7. Does electing a [Democratic / Republican] mayor, governor, or House member change unemployment? Crime? Spending?
  8. Does the clock changing for daylight saving time cause crashes or heart attacks?
  9. What happens to a town when a big employer arrives or leaves?
  10. Does hosting a mega-event (Super Bowl, Olympics, World Cup) change a city’s economy?
  11. What happens to health insurance coverage, health, or financial well-being when a state expands Medicaid?
  12. How do right-to-work laws affect wages, union membership, or employment?

Other Topics

These are just a few areas to get you thinking.

  • Transportation: speed limits, ride-hailing, transit lines, highways and bridges, gas taxes, congestion pricing, red-light cameras
  • Sports: rule changes, new stadiums, coaching changes, player arrivals and departures, college athlete pay, sports betting
  • Health: insurance and Medicaid, smoking and soda policies, vaccines, hospital closures, eligibility ages
  • Environment and energy: emissions rules, power plant closures, renewable standards, wildfires, hurricanes, heat waves
  • Education: school funding, school choice, test score cutoffs, scholarships, cell phone bans
  • Work and business: minimum wage, paid leave, unions and right-to-work laws, plant openings and closings
  • Housing and cities: rent control, zoning, new transit, parks, short-term rentals
  • Crime and policing: body cameras, bail reform, drug laws, street lighting
  • Technology and media: broadband, social media, streaming
  • Politics and government: close elections, voting rules, ballot measures
  • Money and everyday life: taxes and tax credits, benefits, lotteries

Finding Ideas and Papers

Google Scholar is a good place to start. Search your topic along with a method (for example, “synthetic control” or “regression discontinuity”), and once you find a good paper, use “Cited by” and “Related articles” to find more. You can also ask Claude to brainstorm topics and search terms with you, but check every paper yourself, because AI sometimes invents them.

Remember that your IE must be motivated by a published paper.

Finding Data

Todd Jones’s datasets repository lists 125+ free datasets by topic. Browsing it is a great way to see what is possible. Before you commit to a question, make sure you can get the data and analyze it in about a week.

Struggling?

If you find yourself struggling to identify a topic, please reach out to me early. I am happy to help.