Comparison of economic development between China and Britain

MSc Econ Dissertation: Do’s and Don’ts!

Panayiotis M. Pourpourides

Cardiff Business School 2020

What is an MSc Econ Dissertation • A major piece of individual research

(with a maximum limit of 12000 words)

• On an economics/finance-related topic

• Setting, testing and discussing a clear, well-defined research question

• To be written between June and mid- September

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What is not an MSc Econ dissertation

• A group project • A descriptive essay/literature review: It must

include statistical and econometric analysis • A descriptive discussion of stylized facts on a

country, sector etc. • An MBA-style case study • An opportunity to relax after the exams!

Students can fail the dissertation if they do not work hard enough.

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Choice of supervisor and topic You will select your supervisor via Learning Central

• The list of supervisors and topics will go up for viewing only on Wednesday, 22nd of April until 27th of April.

• The selection opens on Tuesday, 28th of April at 9am (UK time).

• The selection closes on the 5th of May at 5pm (UK time)

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The Learning Central will display the following:

1. A list of areas of research.

2. A list of dissertation supervisors under each area of research.

3. The number of students that each supervisor can take – numbers will vary across supervisors.

4. Suggested topics of each supervisor.

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The broad areas of research:

- APPLIED MACROECONOMICS - FINANCIAL ECONOMICS - CORPORATE FINANCE - BANKING - APPLIED MICROECONOMICS

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Important remarks • Use the period between the 22nd of April and the

27th of April to make a list of your preferred supervisors/topics before the selection process starts (28th of April).

• Once the selection process opens (April 28), you will be allowed to select only ONE supervisor - the selection process will be monitored by the PG HUB.

• There is a limited number of students that each supervisor can take. This number varies across supervisors. The numbers will be reported on Learning Central.

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Important remarks cont’d • Supervisor selection will be on a first come first served basis (you may not be able to select your first choice).

• Once you make your selection, all other options will be closed/invisible for you. To ask for a change after your selection, you must contact the Hub.

• Once the upper limit of students for a supervisor is reached, the selection of the specific supervisor will be closed.

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Important remarks cont’d

• Due to continuing high demand for supervision of dissertations in the economics, banking, and finance subject areas, some of the supervisors are externals, i.e. highly qualified and experienced academic colleagues from other universities.

• Students who fail to make a selection of supervisor by the deadline (5th of May, 5pm) will be randomly allocated by the PG HUB to supervisors with available slots.

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Officially start working on Dissertation

• After the exam period, you will be contacted by your supervisor.

• You will be expected to reply to the supervisor’s email as quick as possible.

• Talk with your supervisor and establish methods of communication (e.g. email, skype etc)

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• Be aware of your supervisor's availability and make a working timetable.

• Submission date (non-resits) is on Friday, 11th of September 2020 (time TBC).

• Everything will take place online and so it is very important to keep in touch with your supervisor at least 4 times during the process.

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Failure to meet the deadline

• A dissertation submitted after the deadline (11/9/20 at TBC) will automatically get a mark of zero, unless an extension has been granted or there is a satisfactory reason for the late submission, which must be supported by medical evidence.

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Resit students

• Resit students, might be able to work with their supervisor over the summer, unless they have many resits.

• Students with many resits are advised to focus on passing their exams before they start working on their dissertation.

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How to choose topic?

1. Find a topic you are interested in among those listed under the supervisor of your choice,

e.g. Real Exchange Rate Behaviour: Tests of PPP.

2. Formulate a specific research hypothesis on your preferred topic.

e.g. Testing the validity of PPP for US-China

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3.Refer to the suggested reading list (literature) if the supervisor provides one.

*You don’t need to restrict yourself to suggested references. Feel free to do your own research and come up with your own references. Then discuss them with your supervisor.

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Make sure your topic is NOT: 1) Vague/too general, e.g. “The Chinese stock

market”, “The global credit crisis” 2) Over-ambitious, e.g. “The benefits of the single

currency”, “How to reform the banking system” 3) Too narrow 4) On a subject you know nothing about 5) MBA-style case study.

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Make sure your topic is: • On a subject about which you already have some

knowledge • Has sufficient theoretical/empirical literature to refer to • Suitable for econometric analysis (remember, your

dissertation must include econometrics) • One for which data is freely available, preferably from

the data sources available at CARBS • Compatible with the research interests of your supervisor

(have at the list of suggested topics) • Realistic and feasible to complete successfully within

100 days.

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Indicative structure of an MSc dissertation

1. Introduction 2. Literature review (theory and empirical

evidence) 3. Data and empirical methodology 4. Empirical findings: presentation and

discussion 5. Conclusion * List of references after Conclusion

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To get a really good mark we expect you to:

• Set a clear, well-motivated research question • Show evidence of thorough understanding of

your topic’s theory and empirical literature • Apply competently the econometric techniques

you were taught during the year • Discuss and interpret your empirical findings in a

meaningful and informative way • Make a good presentation: cite sources in text,

references list, no grammatical and syntactical errors

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To get a really good mark we do NOT expect you

• To study topics we have not taught you • To apply econometric techniques we have

not taught you • To write a PhD dissertation • But having said so, independent learning

is highly appreciated!

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DO NOT PLAGIARISE YOUR DISERTATION !!!

• It is unethical, unnecessary and a really silly thing to do.

• If you plagiarise, we will find out because we use the Turn-it in software for all dissertations

• The consequences are severe • Make sure that: a) You are fully familiar with plagiarism/unfair practice regulations –

Ignorance of regulations is not a valid excuse! b) You are in regular communication with your supervisor and show

them your work as you go along • Also make sure that you do not disappear from the

university during the supervision period without consulting with your supervisor.

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Contact with your supervisor

• Do not ask your supervisor what should you do in your dissertation. Have a concrete proposal yourself!

• Do not just tell them that you want to do a dissertation on equity valuation. Be more specific!

• Remember, this is your own dissertation, not your supervisor’s!

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Prepare prior to the first contact with your supervisor

Prior to the first contact with your supervisor make sure to have the following:

1. Proposed title: What do you want do? 2. Motivation: Why is it important to study this topic? 3. Previous literature: What do you know about this

topic? What is the basic theory? 4. Research question: What exactly do you plan to test? 5. Data and methodology: How will you test your

hypothesis? Where will you find the data and what econometric techniques will you use?

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1. Proposed title • State clearly in the title what the objective of

the study is.

Bad presentation title “Exchange rate determination”

Good presentation title “Testing Purchasing Power Parity for the USD/GBP exchange rate”

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2. Motivation Be prepared to explain why your topic is interesting and whether

• It has not been done before • It has not been done the way you plan to do it. • It has been done before but the study needs

updating • It has been done before but it has not addressed

the question you are asking. • All of the above

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Examples of Good and Bad Motivation • Bad motivation

“Exchange rates are important”

• Good motivation The validity of PPP has significant implications for:

- Monetary policy and macroeconomic management: A misaligned exchange rate may cause deviations from the natural rate of output and/or high inflation.

- Financial management: Misaligned currencies provide opportunities for profitable international portfolio reallocation.

- It was not tested before for the specific country; it will be tested using a new data set; it will be tested using a different econometric technique compared to other studies. 26

3. Previous literature – Basic theory • Absolute PPP:

Pt = St P*t, , i.e. St = Pt / P*t,

• Relative PPP:

Dst= pt – p*t • Both versions of PPP imply constant real

exchange rate (Qt = St P*t / Pt )

• You may mention 1-2 previous studies 27

4. Data and methodology Provide a clear description of the methodology & data source

• Bad description I will use data to test PPP

• Good description To test PPP I will estimate the following regression model:

st = a + b1pt + b2p*t + yt

PPP implies b1 =1, b2 =-1 and yt to be stationary

I will use data of quarterly series for the period 1974Q1- 2014Q4

Data source: *** . 28

Where to get papers from? May start from …

Information provided on Learning Central by the supervisor.

Also look at … Journals publishing survey articles • Journal of Economic Literature • Journal of Economic Surveys Extensive journal data bases • Econlit (plenty of journals) • J-STOR

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Eviews/Stata Software • If you do not have your own copy of Eviews already,

the student version of Eviews is available for you to download from Eviews website with your student details.

• Given that the student version of Eviews is rather limited and results cannot be saved, you would need to record the output every time you use it.

• STATA availability will be confirmed at a later date.

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Where to get data from?

• All dissertations must use secondary data. • You should take an initiative and be proactive in

discussing with supervisors of availability and accessibility of data you need for your dissertation because this determines the viability of your research.

• Accessing data sources such as Datastream remotely via the University is currently not feasible under these circumstances. If this changes we will inform you in due time.

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The role of your supervisor • Your supervisor will: a) Provide you feedback on your ideas and work b) May suggest indicative references and other

learning material relevant to your dissertation

• Your supervisor will NOT a) Tell you what to do/find you a dissertation topic b) Write your dissertation for you. c) Be available to meet you whenever you decide

you want to talk to them. Work out with them a schedule of contacts, either via e-mail, skype or other electronic means.

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Empirical Workshops • Weekly drop in sessions for technical and

empirical issues will be held online over the summer. They will be run by Postgraduate Research Students to assist you with the empirical part of your dissertation.

• The PG HUB will inform you about the availability and timing of these workshops.

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Ethics Form

• The director of the MSc programmes, Dr Vo Phuong Mai Le, will sign off one form for all who use secondary data.

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Complementary information can be found on the Research Methods Module Description

document • Indicative dissertation grading criteria for Distinction,

Merit, Pass and Fail.

• Before you start working on your dissertation, please refer to this document which is available on the module’s page (BST279) on Learning Central.

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Thank you!

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