Getting Your Work Published

Frederic Vermeulen explains the process given his experience as editor at Economic Journal. Watch the entire video. Very useful tips for graduate students just starting. 

An Introduction to RD Design

John Holbein has very generously shared some slides he put together on regression discontinuity design. They are not only entertaining, but also very informative and helpful. I love all of the examples. My thoughts: The more examples of RDDs you see and think about, the more likely it is that you will develop a great idea for a paper using a discontinuity.  

How to Choose a PhD Advisor

Here it is: a quite excellent guide. Not only does it describe the relevant information, but it also explains how to get this information.

Stata Tip: Making Maps in Stata

Click here to see detailed instructions on coder's corner.

In case the link ever stops working, do a search for the Stata command spmap.

H/T: David McKenzie.

The Best Description of What It's Like To Write I Have Ever Seen

I have been reading Angela Duckworth's book, Grit. Definitely worth a read especially when you're in a slump. My favorite part of the book comes at the end where she writes down words spoken by Ta-Nehisi Cates on the process of writing. So powerful. So true. 

The challenge of writing
Is to see your horribleness on page.
To see you terribleness
And then to go to bed.

And wake up the next day,
And take that horribleness and that terribleness,
And refine it,
And make it not so terrible and not so horrible.
And then to go to bed again.

And come the next day,
And refine it a little bit more,
And make it not so bad.
And then to go to bed the next day.

And do it again,
And make it maybe average.
And then one more time,
If you're lucky,
Maybe you get to good.

And if you've done that,
That's a success.