ECON703 Applied Econometrics Assignment 1, Semester 1, 2017 Instructions Due Date: Monday May 1st, midday. Late Submissions: Assignments submitted after the deadline will lose 10% of the available marks PER DAY. Weighting: 40% of the final mark Type: Individual Report Length: Approximately 4,500 words. The title, appendix and bibliography are not included in this word limit. Submission: Bar-coded hardcopy submission to WF level 1.   Assignment Brief: Using data from the 2012 European Social Survey write a research report on the factors associated with an individual's likelihood to vote. Details: 1) You have been assigned a country. The details are in a separate document on Blackboard. 2) All data needed for the assignment are from the 2012 European Social Survey and are available on Blackboard. 3) A data dictionary is available on Blackboard. To get you started: 1) Given that you are trying to explain the likelihood of voting, Vote should be your dependent variable in the analysis, 2) Based on the country you have been assigned, you need to first restrict your sample to the individuals eligible to vote. Hints: 1) Survey the related literature on the determinants of voting behaviour. This literature will guide your choice of regression method and choice of variables. This literature will also guide how best to structure the independent variables chosen. 2) Spend time working with your data and understanding its limitations (sometimes variables suggested in the literature are not available in your data, and sometimes you may find other variables that can be used as proxies). 3) Think about how your variables (both dependent and independent) will be defined, as this impacts their interpretation in the results (sometimes you will need to recode a variable to dichotomize it to help with interpretation) 4) Remember to check each variable used and ensure missing values are treated as missing. 5) Most importantly, remember to ask questions as you go through your empirical journey. Ask Gail! Your submission should have the following structure: 1) Title • Make sure it is appropriate. 2) Abstract (250 words maximum) • Provide a brief overview of your paper. (10 marks in total for sections 1 and 2) 3) Introduction (600 words maximum) a) Explain the motivation for the paper b) Detail the questions you seek to answer - note these will be motivated by your literature review. c) Describe the structure of the rest of your paper. (10 marks) 4) Literature Review (1000 words maximum) • Review the appropriate theoretical and empirical literature. (15 marks) 5) Data (1000 words maximum) a) Outline the explanatory variables you will employ, as motivated by your literature review (Hint: take care with coding the variables from your data; remember to clean the data; and consider 10-15 variables as a reasonable maximum for explanatory variables to ensure simplicity of the model), b) Describe and summarise your data. (15 marks) 6) Methodology (250 words maximum) • Describe and justify the regression method and any diagnostic tests you will be using. (10 marks) 7) Discussion of your empirical results (1000 words maximum) a) Clearly and thoroughly describe your results. b) Reflect on whether the results are trustworthy and whether they may be biased. What implications can be drawn from your results? c) Give recommendations for further research (i.e. it would have been useful to also collect data on x, y, z, or pursue alternative lines of investigation because...). (20 marks) 8) Conclusion (500 words maximum) • Briefly summarise your analysis, method, results and reflections. (10 marks) 9) Appendix (10 pages maximum) • Include all relevant tables, graphs and regression outputs. All tables and appendices must be referred to in the main text. (10 marks) Total marks for assignment: 100 marks Hints: • Start this assignment early - it will take time! • Write as clearly and concisely as you can • Complete sections 1 - 3 last • If you need guidance from Gail, then ask Gail! GOOD LUCK!