Economic Research Paper Proposal

Final Research Paper Proposal

ECON 180 Independent Study

Full Name

Semester

Instructions: You must complete a 10-12 page term paper for this independent study, and you

must develop the research project first. Complete this template with information for your own

planned research project. Use complete sentences throughout and check for spelling and

grammar.

Research Question: [Make sure this is stated as a question! Do you have a testable hypothesis?

If so, state it here.]

What has been the impact of occupational licensing on the employment and salaries for

nurse practitioners (NPs)?

Data Source(s): [Include the name of the data sources you plan to use to evaluate your question.

You must have at least one dataset from a legitimate data source, e.g. a government agency, a

research institute, etc.]

Total Number of Nurse Practitioners, The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

http://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/total-number-of-nurse-practitioners-by-gender/

Nursing Licensure Compact. https://nursinglicensemap.com/faqs/nursing-licensure-

compact/

Nursing Scope of Practice. https://nursinglicensemap.com/advanced-practice-

nursing/nurse-practitioner/nurse-practitioner-prescriptive-authority/

Citations: [Include at least five economics journal (peer-reviewed) citations related to the topic

you are researching. Format the citations using the Chicago Manual Style. ]

Baumol, William J., and Robert D. Willig. 1981. “Fixed Costs, Sunk Costs, Entry Barriers,

and Sustainability of Monopoly.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 96 (3): 405.

Methods: [State whether you plan to do a quantitative or qualitative study, and state the

research method you are using, e.g. OLS regression, historical trend analysis, survey, etc.]

I will employ panel data on NP employment and salaries, and occupational licensing

requirements, in an OLS regression. I will conduct a trends analysis to research the

association between NP licensing and employment over time. As women comprise a

large share of the NP labor force, I will also consider the impact of licensing

requirements on the employment of female NPs over time.