Many applied economists are concerned with average effects of  a policy intervention or changed economic conditions on economic subjects. Often linear regression is their tool of choice for conducting impact analysis. However, focusing on the mean might mask some interesting effects along the distribution of the outcome variable.

Suppose you were interested in evaluating a labour market reform that possibly has an impact on the wage distribution. Then, calculating the average effects on wages could be useless – imagine the politically sensitive case when mean wages remain constant but increase in the upper quantile while decrease in the lower quantile. That is, focusing on the mean masks the fact that the reform resulted in higher inequality. In the case of applied economics, the use of quantile regression has therefore become quite popular to get insights into the effects that occur below or above the mean.

For the same reason we have to consider the effects along the whole wage distribution in applied labour economics, we have to look in the tails when considering the economic impacts of climate change: We just might miss the relevant stuff! (more…)

Concern about differences in priority over Climate Change between specialists and the public

As a young researcher I see a vast disparity in the way in which Climate Change is seen by the general public and in academia. In academia, we are intensely occupied with the solutions for achieving sustainability, supplementing our own work by attending conferences and reading journals. The general public will see Climate Change articles in the media and some may find themselves watching a documentary on the subject every now and then. But this gulf goes with any topic where ‘specialists’ are involved; take medicine for example. The question is – does this matter? (more…)

In recent news, the OECD PISA study on Gender Equality in Education reminded us again of the well-known fact: girls and women are under-represented in science A-levels, university graduates and scientific careers. What’s new, are their survey results, according to which “girls lack the same self-confidence as boys in science and maths” despite achieving high scores. Also, “differences in parental encouragement” seems to “exacerbate the problem”. Considering my parents’ generation this would seem likely, but still? Has the apple really not fallen further afield by now? (more…)

Do lines of equations make your head spin? Do you ever sit staring at a journal paper and not know where to start? Probably not. Many of those reading this will be accomplished scientists themselves and those that aren’t probably experience most of their science through mainstream, or increasingly, science-specific media.

Such is the role of media in our world today, and I say we are all the richer for it. Life is a series of choices and better communication of science means we are all able to make more informed ones from the way we use energy and value the environment to what we eat and the way we exercise. (more…)