The central thesis of Bellemare’s work is that there exists a significant gap between what is taught in standard PhD programs and what is required to actually succeed as an applied economist.
In graduate school, the curriculum focuses heavily on technique: advanced econometrics, dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models, and game theory. Students spend years deriving proofs and solving theoretical models. However, when they transition to writing a dissertation or working in the real world (academia, government, or the private sector), they face a set of challenges that were never formally taught.
"Doing Economics" aims to close this gap. It is not a textbook on econometric theory; it is a practical manual on the craft of empirical research. It addresses the "soft skills" that are actually hard skills: asking the right question, writing clearly, coding replicably, and presenting findings effectively.
One of the most influential sections of the guide deals with Pre-Analysis Plans. While common in development economics (due to RCTs), Bellemare argues that PAPs are useful for any empirical project. The PDF explains how to write a PAP that specifies your hypothesis, your empirical strategy, and your inclusion/exclusion criteria before you look at the data. This prevents the cardinal sin: fishing for statistically significant results.
Before diving into the text, it is crucial to understand the author. Marc F. Bellemare is a Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the Department of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota. His research focuses on agricultural and development economics, food policy, and political economy. He is also the co-editor of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics—one of the field’s most prestigious journals. doing economics marc bellemare pdf
Bellemare is widely known in the academic community for his sharp, no-nonsense approach to econometric methodology. He is a prolific blogger (on his personal website) and a fierce advocate for transparency, reproducibility, and logical consistency in applied work. "Doing Economics" began as a set of lecture notes for his graduate students but evolved into a manifesto for modern empirical research.
Convert Bellemare’s steps into comments inside your code. For example:
* STEP 4: Data Cleaning (Bellemare 2023)
* - Dropping observations where age < 18
* - Imputing median for missing income (n=45)
* - Merging census data at county level
This forces you to be transparent.
If you have typed this keyword into Google, you have likely encountered a frustrating situation: broken links, Scribd paywalls, or academic repository pages that require university login. Let’s clear this up. The central thesis of Bellemare’s work is that
Important Legal & Ethical Note: Marc Bellemare has made this document freely available for non-commercial educational use. You should never pay for it. You should also not upload it to for-profit sites (like Course Hero or Scribd). The correct way to obtain the PDF respects the author’s copyright and bandwidth.
The document, formally titled "Doing Economics: A Guide to Doing Economics Research," was never intended to be a traditional textbook. You will not find chapters on Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) derivations or proofs of the Gauss-Markov theorem.
Instead, Bellemare wrote the guide to fill a massive gap in standard graduate training. Most PhD programs teach theory (micro, macro, econometrics) and methods (instrumental variables, difference-in-differences, RCTs). However, very few programs teach the process of doing research—from ideation to publication.
The guide addresses the silent, unwritten rules of the trade. It answers questions like: One of the most influential sections of the
If you use Bellemare’s framework in your dissertation or a published paper, it is professional to cite him. The standard citation is:
Bellemare, Marc F. (Year). “Doing Economics.” Unpublished manuscript, Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota.
Check his website for the most recent version year.