Nicholas' ARIA Project: Evidence on the Returns to Schooling: A Meta Analysis
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When I first signed up for the ARIA internship, I was supposed to do some literature review and light analysis for my supervising professor, Prof. Fabian Lange of the Economics Department, in his upcoming paper. However, due to the coronavirus, Prof. Lange took on a more pressing and relevant project related to the pandemic alongside the Cornell economist Lars Vilhuber. The project involved polling Canadians and Americans on their expectations of when non-essential businesses would reopen and when social distancing measures would be repealed, and estimating the distribution of expectations. I was tasked with gathering policy updates from provincial and state governments on what sectors were closed, when they were initially closed, and when they were scheduled for reopening. I was also tasked with reweighting the data points to fit Canadian and American census data after collecting the survey responses from Google Surveys. It was intriguing to be following current events and government updates, as well as the population’s expectations.
In June, I switched from the COVID-19 project to the project I was supposed to work on in the beginning. My task was to go through all the top journals in the past ten years and find papers that were using instrumental variables for returns to education, and to write down some salient qualities of the paper in order to give my supervising professor a good idea of what the paper was about. Instrumental variables are a tool used by economists that consist of using some external variable external to the model, as a proxy for an variable in the model that has measurement error.
I originally planned to partake in ARIA because of my interest in research, and I wanted to see if I would enjoy it. Getting some experience in my field before even graduating is also to get a leg up on my peers and bolster my CV for employment or graduate school after I complete my degree. I had little understanding of what economic research looked like, so it was very enlightening to see it happen and participate. ARIA also lowered the financial burden on my professor’s research grants and allowed me to work from home all summer and secure some income during the pandemic. My objective for this project was to learn what economists actually do, and how papers are developed. I was also aiming to learn outside of the classroom, as ‘chalk and talk’ can only get someone so far. One of my concerns about graduating was whether I would be able to apply the skills I learned in the classroom. Thanks to ARIA, these concerns are gone, and I am very motivated to continue my studies, and confident I am pursuing the right career.
The best part of this project was the work on the COVID-19 paper. Like most people, I was curious to keep track of the numbers as well as the policies put in place across the continent. Having that upkeep as an actual job was fascinating, and the guidance from my supervising professor and his co-author were indispensable. I started learning to program for this project and it kick-started my interest in programming and data science.
The biggest challenge I faced was keeping focused while working from home. Libraries were closed, and I went back to my hometown to isolate with my family. It was admittedly difficult switching between working and relaxing in the same space. During the second half of the internship, where I went through the papers, it was especially difficult to focus. The monotony of the work coupled with little contact with my professor made it difficult to find motivation, especially in the sweltering heat and beautiful weather. Eventually, I found my rhythm and I was able to discipline myself to work in the mornings and afternoons and relax in the evenings.
ARIA has helped me immensely in deciding my future. I had the opportunity to peer into my planned career path of becoming an academic and learned so much thanks to my supervising professor. I will most likely continue into graduate school, largely because of the great experience I had working during the ARIA internship. I would very much like to thank Mr. Mark W. Gallop for giving me the opportunity to work in my field before even graduating. I would also like to thank Mr. Gallop for securing an income for myself during these uncertain times.
