Course Details

<b>Learning objectives</b><br> Students learn the "nuts and bolts" of scientific research. The course places special emphasis on the critical analysis and discussion of existing literature.<br> <b>Content</b><br> The goal of the course is to hone doctoral students' research skills. It will accomplish this by looking at recent advanced research, discussing critically innovative papers from the literature in economics.<br> <b>Papers</b><br> The lecturer will prepare a list of papers. Students may suggest their own papers to be presented but they must be related to the general topic suggested by the lecturer. Otherwise, they will choose from the list provided by the lecturer. The chosen papers need to be of great relevance and provide a good basis for a discussion that is interesting to a broad audience. Students and lecturers have to agree on the papers to be presented. Generally, the paper should be published (or publishable) in a top journal, and should not be older than 10 years.<br> <b>Presentation</b><br> Students have to introduce, discuss, and lead the discussion of the papers presented. All students will have to read and thoroughly study all the papers. For each paper, there will be a short presentation by a student, followed by a discussion. The presenter will also lead the discussion. You need to target the presentation at the seminar audience, i.e. students who are familiar with advanced economic/finance reasoning, but who may not have advanced knowledge in the specific field. It is important to present the context of the paper and set the paper into the perspective of the literature. The presentation should take about 35 minutes, including the critical discussion of the paper.<br> <b>Topics in the fall term 25:</b><br> The focus of the paper list will be on empirical and theoretical micro, especially topics in industrial organization, financial markets, and labor. However, students may suggest their own papers to be presented.<br> <b>General information</b><br> Please see <a href="https://www.unisg.ch/en/studying/exchange-programme/incoming-guest-students/guest-auditors-and-individual-course-participation/">this website</a> for information on how to participate in the course. Please write to <a href="mailto:phd@unisg.ch">phd@unisg.ch</a> by <b>September 7, 2025</b> and request the form that is needed to register for an individual course participation at the doctoral level.