How to Write about Economics and Public Policy

How to Write about Economics and Public Policy is designed to guide graduate students through conducting, and writing about, research on a wide range of topics in public policy and economics. This guidance is based upon the actual writing practices of professional researchers in these fields and it will appeal to practitioners and students in disciplinary areas such as international economics, macroeconomics, development economics, public finance, policy studies, policy analysis, and public administration. Supported by real examples from professional and student writers, the book helps students understand what is expected of writers in their field and guides them through choosing a topic for research to writing each section of the paper. This book would be equally effective as a classroom text or a self-study resource.

Teaches students how to write about qualitative and quantitative research in public policy and economics in a way that is suitable for academic consumption and that can drive public policy debatesUses the genre-based approach to writing to teach discipline-appropriate ways of framing problems, designing studies, and writing and structuring contentIncludes authentic examples written by students and international researchers from various sub-disciplines of economics and public policyContains strategies and suggestions for textual analysis of research samples to give students an opportunity to practice key points explained in the bookIs based on a comprehensive analysis of a research corpus containing 400+ research articles in various areas of public policy and economics

1. What is Academic Writing? 2. Research in Public Policy and Economics 3. Research Topics and Paper Options 4. Identifying Literature to Review 5. Reading and Analyzing Literature 6. Research Questions, Hypotheses, and Purpose Statements 7. Research Proposals 8. Structure of a Research Paper 9. Justifying Research: The Introduction 10. Theory and Theoretical Frameworks 11. Situating a Study: The Literature Review 12. Literature Review: Models and Examples 13. Data and Methodology 14. Results, Discussion, and Conclusion 15. Data, Methodology, Results, and Discussion: Models and Examples 16. Writing Skills

Appendix A: Citation Guides Appendix B: Model Papers Appendix C: Sources of Data for Public Policy and Economics Research Appendix D: Journals in Economics and Public Policy