How to Write about Economics and Public Policy

How to Write about Economics and Public Policy is designed to guide graduate students through conducting, and writing about, research on a wide range of topics in public policy and economics. This guidance is based upon the actual writing practices of professional researchers in these fields and it will appeal to practitioners and students in disciplinary areas such as international economics, macroeconomics, development economics, public finance, policy studies, policy analysis, and public administration. Supported by real examples from professional and student writers, the book helps students understand what is expected of writers in their field and guides them through choosing a topic for research to writing each section of the paper. This book would be equally effective as a classroom text or a self-study resource.

• Teaches students how to write about qualitative and quantitative research in public policy and economics in a way that is suitable for academic consumption and that can drive public policy debates
• Uses the genre-based approach to writing to teach discipline-appropriate ways of framing problems, designing studies, and writing and structuring content
• Includes authentic examples written by students and international researchers from various sub-disciplines of economics and public policy
• Contains strategies and suggestions for textual analysis of research samples to give students an opportunity to practice key points explained in the book
• Is based on a comprehensive analysis of a research corpus containing 400+ research articles in various areas of public policy and economics

Katerina Petchko is Associate Professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) where she directs the Center for Professional Communication and teaches courses in research methodology and academic writing. She is the developer of GRIPS' Academic Writing Program, which teaches students to write in ways that members of their discipline find persuasive. She has advised graduate students in public policy and economics on dissertation and thesis writing for nearly two decades.