Backstory: How Research Papers in Economics Get Made

Ellora Derenoncourt talks with Santiago about her research on the impact of past incarceration status on labor market outcomes in the US. Ellora shares how her interest in inequality and the ladder of opportunities led her to focus on the criminal justice system as an underlying mechanism. Ellora also shared her "one-stop shop" to look for archival data: https://www.hathitrust.org/. It&#...

Join Maddison as she speaks with Susanna Berkouwer, Assistant Professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.  In this episode, they discuss Susanna's paper with Joshua Dean, "Cooking, Health, and Daily Exposure to Transient Air Pollution Peaks" in Kenya.  Tune in to hear how Susanna started this project as a grad student and how it evolved into two different paper...

In this episode, Aakash talks to Erin Kelley about her project titled “Long-Range Forecasts as Climate Adaptation: Experimental Evidence from Developing-Country Agriculture." Erin shares some fascinating insights about developing and maintaining relationships in research, different types of field projects, and a great idea for testing early ideas: pitch it to your parents! Here is the link to...

Join Riccardo as he talks with Jared Rubin about the backstory of his paper, "Enlightenment Ideals and Belief in Progress in the Run-up to the Industrial Revolution: A Textual Analysis." The discussion explores various topics, including the innovative tools used for textual analysis of numerous archival books, the inspiration behind his research, and advice for young researchers. Truly i...

In this episode of backstory, host Aakash Bhalothia interviews development economists Edward Miguel and Paul Niehaus about their Frisch award-winning paper, "General Equilibrium Effects of Cash Transfers: Experimental Evidence from Kenya." They discuss the paper's groundbreaking findings on the macroeconomic impacts of cash transfers in rural Kenya. The conversation delves into how t...

In this episode, Salma Mousa, Assistant Professor of Political Science at UCLA, discusses her paper "Players, Performance, and Prejudice: Are Minorities Punished More Harshly for Having a Bad Day?" with Riccardo. Tune in for insights into the development of this paper and Salma's broader research agenda, including her perspective on the research process as a political scientist. The...

In this episode, Duncan Thomas shared insights from his paper on the aftermath of large-scale disasters. Duncan and Aakash discussed the significance of collecting high-quality data, highlighting the importance of teamwork and collaboration. The paper is titled: " Longer-term impacts of exposure to a large-scale natural disaster on health, cognition and well-being."

In this episode, Riccardo speaks with Francesco Amodio, Associate Professor of Economics at McGill University, about his paper titled "Labor Market Power, Self-employment, and Development." We explore the process of generating ideas for projects and identification strategies. Additionally, we discuss structural modeling and what initially sparked Francesco's interest in labor markets...

In this episode, Aakash talks to Girija Borker, an Economist at DIME, World Bank. They discuss her paper titled "Safety First: Perceived Risk of Street Harassment and Educational Choices of Women". Dive in to learn how Girija went about identifying important problems related to gender, and her perspectives on learning the best tools to answer questions, risk mitigation strategies, and motivation f...

Join Santiago as he delves into conversation with Martin Mattsson from the National University of Singapore about his working paper titled "Formalizing Dispute Resolution: Effects of Village Courts in Bangladesh". Martin tells us the backstory of a large-scale RCT covering 6 million people, the value of trust in overcoming challenges when dealing with multiple government branches, and so...

In this episode, join Riccardo as he engages with Doug Gollin, a Professor at Tufts University, discussing his paper “High-Frequency Human Mobility in Three African Countries”. This conversation uncovers the intricacies of approaching data-driven projects, maximizing the potential of research ideas, and the complexities involved in managing large datasets. Doug also shares valuable insights on the...

Santiago talks to Vincent Pons, Associate Professor at Harvard Business School, about his paper: 'Keep your Enemies Closer: Strategic Platform Adjustments during U.S. and French Elections'. Vincent shares his thoughts on deciding to make upfront investments in data collection, how his political curiosity took him to be a national field coordinator for a presidential campaign and how he has...

In this episode, Santiago sits down with Teresa Molina, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and current visitor at UCSD. They delve into her paper, 'An Examination of Intergenerational Mobility in the Philippines.' The discussion highlights the paper's origins, the crucial role of having the right collaborators, and the valuable contributions of motiva...

Join us in conversation with Bryce Steinberg, Assistant Professor of Economics at Brown University, as we delve into her paper, "Family Planning, Now and Later: Infertility Fear and Contraception Take-Up." This discussion offers a comprehensive look into the fieldwork process from start to finish. Along the way, we uncover intriguing research questions that surfaced during the study and...

In this episode, Associate Professor Pauline Rossi from Ecole Polytechnique-CREST discusses her paper, "Drivers of Fertility: Experimental Evidence from Burkina Faso." She shares practical insights from conducting field research, including managing the challenges of data collection and responding to unexpected hurdles. We also explore the process behind developing research ideas and Ross...

In this episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with Diana Martinez, a job market candidate at UC San Diego. Diana shares the backstory of her job market paper, "How Does Immigration Affect Incumbent Students? The Case of the Venezuelan Migration to Peru." She provides valuable insights into the process of developing a paper during a Ph. D. program, detailing the highs and lows, as wel...

In this episode we spoke with Ernest Liu, Assistant Professor at the Bendheim Center for Finance at Princeton's Department of Economics. He discussed the backstory of his research on "Innovation Networks and R&D Allocation", how he got the idea for his job market paper, and the challenges he overcame during his research journey.

In this episode we have a conversation with Jeff Weaver, an Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California, about his paper titled Polity Size and Local Government Performance: evidence from India . The interview has very useful advice on identification strategies motivated by a question, forming teams, picking research projects, and some other great perspectives from Jeff. 

In this episode, we're joined by Garima Sharma, currently a post-doctoral fellow at Princeton University and soon-to-be Assistant Professor at Northwestern. She discusses her paper, Monopsony and Gender , which served as her job market paper. Dive in to explore not only the backstory of her paper but also insights on balancing modeling with empirics, selecting the right tools for structural mo...

Pascaline Dupas talks about her paper titled  Colonial Origins of Fertility Behaviors: Evidence on the Role of Forced Labor Migration in Burkina Faso.  Riccardo and Pascaline discuss the background of her paper and her advice for graduate students in economics.

In this episode we spoke to Gustavo Bobonis, a Professor of Economics at the University of Toronto, and discussed his paper titled  Norms of Corruption in Politicians’ Malfeasance.  Professor Bobonis speaks about his inspiration for the paper, how he studied the cultural incentives that can drive or diminish political corruption, and his draw to the field of political economy.

Aakash and Riccardo speak with Seema Jayachandran about her paper titled "Reshaping gender attitudes in India through schools: An 8-year follow-up study." Join in on their discussion to learn more about the origins of the paper, insights gained from it, and advice for graduate students.

Join us as we talk to Diego Comin, a distinguished scholar specializing in macroeconomics and technology. He delved into the origins and insights of his paper, “TECHnological Factor Productivity,” co-authored with Xavier Cirera and Marcio Cruz from the World Bank

In this episode of the UCSD Backstory Podcast, we sit down with Lelys Dinarte-Diaz, an esteemed Economist from the World Bank's Development Research Group. Lelys shares the inspiration behind her paper, 'Violent Discipline and Parental Behavior: Short- and Medium-term Effects of Virtual Parenting Support to Caregivers.' Among other things, we explore the intricacies of collaboration, t...