wonderful

I have a binary choice model in which agent choose either option A or option B. Suppose the agent's utility takes the CES form. I would like to estimate the paramers of the utility function based on the observed choices. E.g., if the agent prefers A to B then: Ua>Ub e.t.c., Given nonlinear functional form of CES, for equality we can use nl in Stata to estimate the interested parameters. How about inequality? Can you suggest a solution? Thanks!

Suppose, I had a model: Ui = Vi + ei {Ui: true utility, Vi: representative utility, e: error term). I would like to estimate parameters of Vi e.g., C-D. The standard approach assumes that Vi is the same for every observation, thus, V's estimated parameters will be the same for every individual. Is there anyway one can estimate these parameters specifically for each individual by allowing Vi to differ from individual to individual?

I would like to share with you the following email I just received from UC Berkeley alumini association: President-elect Barack Obama announced last week his intention to nominate UC Berkeley macroeconomist Christina D. Romer, an authority on monetary policy and business cycles, to chair the White House Council of Economic Advisers. Romer is the Class of 1957 Garff B. Wilson Professor of Economics and has taught at UC Berkeley since 1988. Go CAL!

Europe is certainly a good place to consider. You can find great behavioral and experimental economics program in France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland and others. It seems that Europe is more active than the US in doing research on experimental economics. You might also consider University of Hawaii. The professors in Econ and Sociology department work closely in the area of experimental economics. Have A Great Day!

Since he took Micro 1 and Econometric 1 at the graduate level is his country, the AdCom may have better evaluation of his application if these two course are comparable two those in the US. One of the criteria is the textbooks used the classes.

The best person you can contact is the department secretary. S/he usually knows all information regarding the application process. Sometimes she may refer to the department graduate chair (adviser) who is always in the AdCom to give you the answer.

The same applies for GRE. The key is that the AdCom may view receiving an IMO's gold medal as a signal "potential" of one's ability to fulfil the Ph.D in economics successfully.

Having an IMO gold medal is certainly a big plus in your application. Several people with IMO medals have been admitted to Harvard. Other aspects of your application are also strong. Especially, taking Econometric I and Micro I can boost your application if you had good grade as well as your classes used standard textbooks such as Green or MWG. As such, I would say you have a good chance of being admitted to top ten. Applying somewhat lower ranked to diversify the risk is also an option you may consider. Have A Great Day!

As for behavioral economics, UC Berkeley and Caltech have an excellent program. MIT, UC San Diego, Havard are also worth looking at. Have A Great Day!

This class seems to be a psychology class. However, it it very helpful if you are interested in experimental economics. Also, some concepts such as randomized experiment can be integrated into the treatmen effect model which has been popular. Have A Great Day!

Regarding question 2 on RA, the answer would probably vary from departments to departments. That said, one of the most popular way of getting an RA position is to take a class by the professor with whom you would like to work for as an RA. It could work the other way round. Sometimes you took the class with no intention of becoming RA for the instructor; however, you really like the subject and the professor research during the time taking the class. After that, you may be interested in becoming his RA. Certainly, your performance in his class will play a role in granting you an RA position. As for kind of jobs that an RA usually does, it depends on a number of factors such as your experience and strength, the research you are involved with and so on. For the beginning, you will most likely to do literature review, data entry and/or data analysis for empirical work. As you get more experienced the professor may invite you to coauthor with him. Overall, RA is a great opportunity to improve our research skills, in many cases we may end up with dissertation ideas or better yet good publications. Have A Great Day!

I also think that AER is somewhat less "technical" than other top econ journals say Econometrica; thus, it gets a greater attention from a broader circle of audiences. That said, AER is highly reputed among econ circle itself. Regarding the the time it takes to publish a paper in top journal it is very true that it requires a great deal of time, effort, and persistence even among top professors who have been publishing for a while. In many cases, the working papers are cited long before the papers are published. Thanks to the internet research ideas can be exchanged much faster than the time when reading journal was the key method of gaining ideas. JPE is certatinly one of the top journal. However, it might have Chicago's influence. Anyway AER, JPE, EMA are certainly the top three economic journals. Having papers published in these journals is a big plus in the job market. It is a bit hard for grad student to publish in top econ journal. However, it is possible. I know one Harvard Ph.D student has a forthcoming paper in AER. He received an offer from Stanford to be an assistant professor.

I would like to initiate a discussion on the importance of publishing papers in top economic journal. To start, following is my questions with integrated opinions: 1. What do you think to be the TRUE top Economic Journal? I would say AER which is consistently ranked number 1 on a number of different studies. One of the reasons is that, unlike other journals AER is published by the AEA which is independent from any university research institute. Accordingly, one can expect to see a less biasness in the selection process. Equally important is the perception that having a paper published in AER is considered one of the most beautiful things to mention in a CV for an economist. Thus, most economists would like to have the paper published in AER which in turn lead to high competition. The result of this competition is that only the top papers can be published in AER. The same could be applied for other top econ journal; however, the perception that AER is the true top Econ journal seems dominant in economic field. 2. How to publish in top Econ journal? I would say one of the best way is to coauthor with some famous professors. The great thing is that we can benefit greatly from the process of team-working. Thanks to the internet, it is very easy to write a paper with others from different universities by exchanging emails. 3. Does publishing in top economic journal significantly increase your probability of finding a good job or getting admitted to top school? This is certainly true, especially with respect to academic positions. The above is my personal opinions. Yours may vary. Please feel free to share any thing relating to journal publication with us. Have A Great Day!

Regarding Economics and Demography, I would recommend UC Berkeley. Ron Lee, who is one of the top economic demographers, is a faculty in both demography and economics department. Students in demography ha sthe option of doing MA in economics to fulfil part of the Ph.D requirement in demography. A number of Economics student have grant from the demography department. If you are interested you can email Ron Lee for further information. Have A Great Day!