Write a short essay structure (introduction, body, conclusion). Write in your own words (it is not okay just to
‘change the words of someone else a little bit’)
of what the econometric results on the next slide tell us. Suppose a researcher uses survey microdata and
estimates the following model of the correlates of life satisfaction in Canada:
LS = a + b1 Poor + b2 Rich + b3 Atlantic + b4 Female + u
LS is the respondent’s rating of life satisfaction on a scale from 0 to 10
Poor is a dummy variable = 1 if household income is less than 50% median equivalent income; = 0 otherwise
Rich is a dummy variable =1 if household income is in the top quintile of the equivalent income distribution; = 0
otherwise.
Points to include:
- What is the point of the model? (What is the underlying research question apparently being asked?)
- How do we interpret the estimated coefficients? (Which explanatory variables are statistically significant and
how do you know? What are the effect sizes? What is being controlled?) - What is the predicted life satisfaction for a poor man living in Atlantic Canada?
- What is the over-all goodness of fit?