ECO383
Economics of Education
Writing
Assignment 2
Please read Louis-Philippe Morin’s very
interesting (2011) paper, which studies the effects of an unusual education
reform in
The paper is posted at
http://homes.chass.utoronto.ca/~mcmillan/lpm_dc.pdf
and you should focus on the
pages up to Section 5 (on page 17).
I would like you to answer the following four short
questions, dividing your answer into parts, labelled 1., 2., 3., etc., and responding to each question in
turn. (As before, no need to type the question
corresponding to each number, given below – you have more important things to
be typing.)
The assignment is worth 5 percent of the overall
grade, as noted in the syllabus. For
each question, I give a breakdown, indicating the number of points each
question is worth, and also approximate guidelines as to the length of a
‘perfect’ answer in each case, enclosed in [...]. The overall length of your assignment should
be approximately the sum of these component lengths – no need to write a book
to do the assignment very well.
Questions (worth 15 points in
total)
1. What
is the main goal of the paper? [Two sentences.] (2 points)
2. How
does Morin make use of the data variation associated with the ‘double
cohort’? Please refer to the nature of
the underlying reform, and why that might be useful, given the main goal of his
paper. [Three
sentences.] (3 points)
3. Are
G12 students better than G13 students, on average? Please refer to any relevant table or tables
in the paper. Then comment on this
evidence. What does it suggest? [Three sentences.] (3 points)
4.
Explain the logic behind equation (2) in the paper. In doing so, please think carefully about why
taking a so-called ‘difference-in-difference’ is appealing, and state what main
contrast Morin will draw – that is, which sort of comparison will he make in
estimating (2), and why? [Hint: control
for certain unobserved factors…] [Half a page, maximum.]
(7 points)
Ground
rules:
1. Please
write in clear English, with proper sentences and correct grammar. (If you think you have trouble with this kind
of thing, let me know, and I can refer you to some good sources for help.)
2. Type
your answers. Use 12-point font, and 1.5
spacing.
3. Please
turn a hard copy of your answers in
at the start of class on November 24, 2011 – no exceptions to this rule.
4. If you
are referring to a particular point in the paper, please note the relevant page
number. If it is a footnote, please
refer to that number.
5. Please
submit your answers to Turnitin under ‘Writing
Assignment 2.’ To that end, you will
need to go to www.turnitin.com to create a student
account for yourself. The class name is
‘Economics of Education 2011’ and the class ID is 4550792. The enrollment password you will need is
‘ne129’ (our room number). The
submission deadline is the start of next class, namely 4:10pm on November 24,
2011.
Just let me know if anything is unclear.
Robert McMillan