The Research Seminar in Economics exposes PhD students to frontier research and provides a platform to present and discuss their own work. Students gain insight into cutting-edge economic research through presentations by established researchers (both internal and external speakers) as well as by PhD students themselves. By presenting their own work, students have the opportunity to discuss it with junior and senior members of the Department of Economics. They also develop critical evaluation skills by writing referee reports. The seminar is structured as follows.

• Winter term: Held on Tuesdays with internal or affiliated speakers. Priority for presentation slots is given to students enrolled in the seminar. You can register: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nmH_uZr96DGf9tWg2h5MTwIoMa3w-QRnRYgIfDkdyvI/edit?usp=sharing. Empty slots are offered to other researchers from the Department of Economics. See the program online: https://www.wu.ac.at/en/economics/research/internal-economic-research-seminar.
• Summer term: A department retreat will be held from May~7 to May~9. Department members will be informed automatically; external participants interested in joining are invited to contact Martin Halla.

In this course, students

• ain insight into research conducted by internationally renowned economists;
• present and discuss their own research projects or papers with members of the Department of Economics;
• learn to critically evaluate academic research by writing referee reports.
  
  

Mandatory attendance.

Presentations and discussions (referee reports).

Doctoral Programs:

• Attendance and active participation (20%).
• Referee report on one presentation (40%).
• Research concept or presentation of own work during one of the Tuesday units (40%).

PhD Programs:

• Attendance and active participation (20%).
• Referee report on two presentations, one from a Tuesday unit and the other one from a Wednesday unit (40%).
• Research concept or presentation of own work during one of the Tuesday units (40%).

Instructions for Referee Reports

Your assignment:
Select one (or two) presentations and check whether a written paper version is available. Submit a referee report as if you were reviewing this paper for a leading general-interest journal (such as the EJ or JEEA).

What is a referee report?
A referee report is a structured critique of an unpublished academic research paper. For a general overview, see the Wikipedia entry on “peer review.”

How do I write a referee report?
If you have not yet written a referee report, you can consult Chapter 3 (pp. 103–118) of William Thomson (2003), A Guide for the Young Economist, MIT Press, Cambridge.

Guidelines:

• Length: 3–4 pages (1.5 spaced, 12-point font).
• Begin with a brief summary of the paper, outlining its research question, approach, and main contributions.
• Discuss the paper's structure and main arguments. For empirical papers, focus on the research design, data, and econometric implementation; for theoretical papers, focus on the model setup, assumptions, and internal logic.
• Evaluate the validity and relevance of the identifying or modeling assumptions, the strength of the theoretical or empirical evidence provided, and the robustness of the main results or insights.
• Highlight potential weaknesses or limitations and, where possible, suggest improvements or extensions.
• Comment on aspects that are particularly strong, original, or policy-relevant, and on the paper's overall contribution to the literature.
• In summary, your referee report should provide a critical yet constructive assessment of the paper and demonstrate a sound understanding of the applied methodology.

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Economic Research Seminar (Wednesday units): harald.oberhofer@wu.ac.at

Internal Economic Reserch Seminar (Tudesday units): martin.halla@wu.ac.at