040135 KO Conversatorium for Master Candidates in Economics (2019S)

Advisory:
(i) This course does not evaluate the Masters’ thesis. In fact this is not allowed as grading the Masters’ thesis is the sole job of the advisor of the thesis.
(ii) This course independently evaluates whether the student is able to communicate the contents of his or her Masters’ thesis to a broad audience, convince others that he or she has made a novel contribution, and whether more generally, through giving feedback on the work of others, he or she can articulate themselves as an economist.

Format: This is a mandatory class for the Master in Economics at the University of Vienna and is only for those who have started to work on their Masters’ thesis. Each student has to present twice. The first presentation gives the ideas and related literature and highlights what kind of results are aimed for. The second presentation shows the results and added value and puts these in light of the literature. Prior to the second presentation the advisor of the Masters’ thesis has to approve in writing to the instructor that at least 60% of the thesis has been completed.
To have completed 60% of the thesis means that a central result has been obtained, that the detailed outline of the thesis is ready and that the related literature has been summarized. 60% are not ready if only the data has been gathered or only a model has been formulated.

Objective: In our economics bachelor students should learn how to understand economic reasoning. In our master they are supposed to be able to execute own economic reasoning. This masters’ course is about showing others that the student is an economist at the master level. It will be about learning how to identify novelty and how to present economic results, both in theory and empirically.
The first presentation lasts 10 minutes. The second presentation 15 minutes. Time limit is strict. No handouts are allowed. Prior to each presentation a title of the thesis and abstract of at most 100 words is handed to the audience. The abstract is like one of a published paper, it is a teaser to make the reader be curious. It is not a summary nor a table of contents of the paper. The title is like that of a published paper, it should be not too long, catch the attention, have some content and be related to the results. The presenter will get feedback on the first drafts of the slides if these are sent to the instructor at least 3 days prior to the date of presentation. This feedback will not be graded, it is only meant to improve performance.
After each presentation each member of the audience has to be ready to give immediate feedback orally. Good feedback has two parts, praise and critique. Good feedback has substance where one notices that this is based on knowledge acquired during the economics studies. The main element that needs to be commented on after the first presentation is the related literature (is it clear what has been done before and what has not), after the second presentation it is the novelty of the contribution (what was known prior to the thesis, what is the change in understanding due to thesis, can the listener explain the result in his or her own words). We will also be eliciting feedback on style of presentation (hands in pockets, format of slides, speech).
Participants are also encouraged to give feedback to the presenter outside of the class.