Questions and Methods in
Institutional Analysis
The research paper
Michael Rochlitz Fall 2016
The research paper
6 to 8 pages, single spaced (including the bibliography)
40% of the final grade
To be handed in by Thursday, December 1st
Can either be a research proposal, or a discussion and literature review of a given question
Option 1 – Research Proposal
Identify a theoretical or empirical puzzle within the topic of institutional economics that you find interesting and that is worth exploring
Critically review the existing literature (short discussion of the 5 – 10 most relevant papers to date)
Suggest a hypothesis to be tested
Identify possible methods and strategies to test the hypothesis, and discuss their relative strengths and weaknesses
Option 1 – Research Proposal
For the research proposal, you do not actually have to
collect the data and conduct the analysis, for the time being
But potentially you could use this proposal as a first step towards writing a real paper, so it is important to keep your ideas about the hypothesis and the data collection realistic
Is this hypothesis really testable within the possibilities you have at hand?
Option 2 – Literature Review
When reading your review, the reader should see that you have read and have a good grasp of the main published work concerning a particular topic or question
The objective of a literature review is that the reader, without having to read the literature on this specific question himself / herself, can get a good understanding of the state of the art on the question at hand
The review should not be simply a description of what
others have published in the form of a set of summaries, but should take the form of a critical discussion
Option 2 – Literature Review
Compare and contrast different authors' views on an issue
Group authors who draw similar conclusions
Note areas in which authors are in disagreement
Are there still gaps in the research? Where would you suggest further research would be necessary?
In general, focus on the most recent research available.
Possible Questions for the Literature Review
You can also suggest your own questions, as long as they are within the topic of institutional economics – the
questions suggested below are just possible examples
1) Are secure property rights at the center of an institutional explanation of economic growth?
2) What kind of specific institutional structures might have prevented successful economic catch-up in many
Possible Questions for the Literature Review
3) What specific institutional features might be at the origin of China’s economic success since 1978? Will China be able to continue to grow in the future by relying on these
institutions, or will China’s institutions have to change to keep economic growth sustainable in the future?
4) Why did the industrial revolution happen in Europe? Do we have an institutional explanation for this, or are there some other underlying causes?
Possible Questions for the Literature Review
6) What might have happened, had the Chinese not ended their naval expeditions after the death of admiral Zhang He
in 1433? Might the Chinese have colonized the world,
instead of the Europeans, and what would have been the long-term consequences for economic development in the colonized countries in this case? Base your discussion on a review of the historical-institutionalist literature describing the European colonization of the world, and its
consequences for economic development today.
Possible Questions for the Literature Review
8) What are the institutional differences between India (after it liberalized its economy in 1991) and China (after the start of reforms in 1978)? How do these differences affect economic development in both countries?
9) Is corruption necessarily bad for economic development, or might a certain level of corruption actually facilitate
economic growth in certain contexts? Does the impact of corruption on growth depend on the respective institutional context?
Possible Questions for the Literature Review
11)For the last couple of years, the Russian Federation has
been growing at a rate far below the potential growth rate for a country with a similar quality of human capital and level of economic development. Why is this the case? Is it possible to explain Russia’s low growth rate by the nature of the
country’s political and economic institutions?
12)Why did industrial policies work only in a few of the countries that tried out such policies during the past 60 years? Is there an institutional answer to this question?
Possible Questions for the Literature Review
14)How would you suggest to transform the way regional officials are appointed and supervised in Russia, in order to create incentives for economic growth?
15)In both China and Russia, regional officials are appointed by the central administration in Beijing and Moscow, but have substantial policy-making autonomy in their
regions. However, over the last 15 years Chinese regions have economically been much more successful than
most Russian regions. Do you think that this is
