Blogging for (Applied) Economists: Dissemina8ng and Popularizing Modern Academic Research

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Harry Holland
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1 Blogging for (Applied) Economists: Dissemina8ng and Popularizing Modern Academic Research Brown Bag Seminar February 26, 2016 Jeffrey Bloem Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics Michigan State University

2 Introduc8on Consider a lighthouse Lighthouses communicate knowledge to the public, preven8ng poten8ally deadly accidents while safely guiding travelers They are easy to see from afar Without lighthouses ship captains would have to sail tenta8vely with constant worry of making a poten8ally deadly mistake

3 Introduc8on Blogs are like lighthouses Blogs communicate knowledge to the public They are easy to access and read Without blogs applied researchers don t have as much access to the knowledge needed to perform top- notch research

4 Introduc8on Throughout this presenta8on Think of blogging like contribu8ng to a public good But, just as Ronald Coase discovered even a lighthouse can generate private returns (depending on the ins8tu8ons) Blogging also can generate private returns

5 WHY BLOG?

6 Why I don t blog I m not paid to write blog posts I just don t have 8me to write blog posts Blog posts don t get cited by other researchers My research is very technical I don t know what I d write about

7 1. Resource Alloca8on You are making a huge investment in your educa8on by ayending grad school. It would be a grossly inefficient alloca8on of resources to limit yourselves to wri8ng journal ar8cles and the occasional book. - Marc Bellemare (

8 1. Resource Alloca8on Becoming an economist and doing applied research takes a lot of 8me and money It d be quite a shame if the only outputs that came from all of this were technical journal ar8cles and synthesizing book chapters Blogging adds value to the research output of the applied researcher

9 2. Policy Impact

10 2. Policy Impact Most policymakers don t have 8me to weed through the details of an academic journal ar8cle Well- wriyen and easily diges8ble blog posts that share key ideas increase the propensity of our work influencing policy Either by policymakers themselves reading our blogs or by journalists reading and repor8ng on our blogs

11 2. Policy Impact One way to reach policymakers is by transla8ng the content of technical work for journalists. If journalists can understand and report on it, there is a prayer it might influence policy. - Aus8n Frakt (

12 3. Private Benefits ( The Impact of Economics Blogs McKenzie and Ozler 2011)

13 3. Private Benefits Find out who else is doing research in your area of interest networking Develop new research ideas with new partners and collaborators funding partners as well Improves wri8ng and communica8on ability of the researcher notoriously weak among economists

14 3. Private Benefits Helps the researcher clarify thinking about various topics allows for wri8ng out ideas Allow researchers to gain instant feedback on their work and ideas Popularizes good research Chris BlaYman: Research without communica8on equals dustbin. It s fun and actually doesn t take much 8me

15 DISSEMINATING APPLIED RESEARCH

16 ( The Impact of Economics Blogs McKenzie and Ozler 2011)

17 ( The Impact of Economics Blogs McKenzie and Ozler 2011)

18 ( The Impact of Economics Blogs McKenzie and Ozler 2011)

20 POPULARIZING APPLIED RESEARCH

22 1. Important = Interes8ng There is nothing important that cannot be made interes8ng If great research isn t making it out, then there has been some failure. And it is not the fault of the audience A fundamental precondi8on to explaining something that is complicated well is understanding yourself

23 1. Important = Interes8ng The first mistake in this failure is the researcher leaving the communica8on and populariza8on of their research up to the communica8ons department There is a tremendous amount of authen8city that comes with the author of a study personally reaching out to journalists or policymakers

24 1. Important = Interes8ng The public isn t too stupid or uninterested to read your research. You re just doing a bad job at communica8ng it. - Chris BlaYman, paraphrasing Ezra Klein (

25 2. Target Your Audience Popularizing research is not a mindless hunt for maximizing readership Popularizing research is gefng your research into the hands (on to the desks) of the people who need to read it Maybe that is the general popula8on, but maybe that is only 5 or 6 policymakers

26 2. Target Your Audience Key ques8on: Of the people who should know about your research, how do you get it to the largest number of them? This is a ques8on of distribu8on more than anything else Develop a strategy on how to get research output to those who need to read it

27 Popularizing Research on Blog Bogging is a great tool to use when popularizing research, because it s Sharable Printable Readable Accessible (able)

28 TIPS FOR BLOGGING

29 Tips for Blogging Before you start blogging build up a pile of fresh material or wait to promote your blog un8l you have a substan8al pile of material. Keep the word count below (or around) 500 words. Split the content into a series of posts, if you need to write more on the topic. Post fresh material oien and in some discernable payern.

30 Tips for Blogging Don t just write about yourself and link to your own research Write about and link to other people s work be professional with cri8ques (don t make enemies and don t be unfair) Write in short and easy to understand paragraphs. As a rule of thumb, I write so that my grandfather can understand my posts.

31 Tips for Blogging When you finish working papers or get papers published blog about them Don t bury the lead State the key point up front or in the 8tle The best way to promote your blog is via TwiYer start following other people who share interests with you

32 Tips for Blogging Don t worry too much about building your brand write about what interests you (write the blog you d want to read) Be original don t be the 10 th person to write about something Don t be afraid to try new things experiment on your blog, be itera8ve

33 Tips for Blogging I use Wordpress for my own blog its easy to customize and free to use I schedule my blog posts to publish at around 5 or 6 in the morning its on top of the inbox for subscribers I also use my blog as my personal website I list other wri8ng, books I ve read, background informa8on.

34 CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

35 Why I don t blog I m not paid to write blog posts In a way you, as an academic, actually are I just don t have 8me to write blog posts Blogging doesn t have to take too much 8me Blog posts don t get cited by other researchers It does influence what gets read and later ci8ed My research is very technical Important research is always interes8ng research I don t know what I d write about Write about your interests and your passions

36 Contribu8ng to Blogs Economics That Really MaYers Run by Cornell s Applied Economics Deparment Focus: Development economics and agricultural economics (econthatmayers.com) Development Impact Blog (World Bank) GREAT blog to subscribe to Focus: Empirical development economics Blog Your Job Market Paper series

37 Final Thoughts Blogging is more than just a source of procras8na8on for readers and writers It provides worthwhile private benefits with substan8al posi8ve externali8es The presence of these externali8es imply that there may be a vast undersupply of good applied economics blogs

38 THANK YOU

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