Solicitation no.2

Post the application packet for Oxford postdoc.

Email my supervisor about yesterday's solicitation of my job application from IIES.

Start preparing my mock job talk which is scheduled next Monday. Planning the introduction takes the whole afternoon. Cox (2000) helps a lot.

Bump into my supervisor in the Sticerd kitchen area. He looks happy. :)

Back up my data files used for the job market paper. Last week, someone's desktop PC was stolen from CEP (another research centre at LSE, STICERD's neighbour downstairs). You never know.

Receive scam phone call to my mobile, perhaps because I post my number on my CV on the web for the job market purpose... Googling the caller's phone number takes me to this discussion thread.

Receive email from the LSE Economics Department's job placement director, saying that the recruiting chair at Penn State solicited my application. I already posted the packet to them last Monday. In such case, he says, I don't need to do anything.

Start preparing answers to "Expected Frequently Asked Questions" during my job talk. A job market guide says, "Draft your answers to expected questions."

Applications continue, and 1st solicitation!

Check the November issue of JOE, finding that some schools I want to apply for now have job openings.

Email Sue and Leila to additionally send reference letters to these schools. In response to Leila's request, I create a new Excel file containing the addresses of these schools (rather than adding these addresses to the previous Excel files sent to Leila). As Sue and Leila deal with references differently, I need to tailor my request to each one's need.

Finish online application for Caltech. Only after the submission, you will know the email address to which recommendation letters can be sent. I already asked Sue and Leila to send them via post.

Start dealing with the application for Oxford University Nuffield College's prestigious Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (PRF). Their application requirement is the most demanding. Not only CV and JMP but also a one-page description of your current research, a one-page description of the research you would plan to undertake as a PRF, and an additional research paper.

Receive a couple of email replies from LSE faculty members in response to the invitation to my mock job talk. Some cannot come but others say they will. Reply immediately to thank them.

I learn that even if schools accept applications via email, their pre-formatted application form is often difficult to fill in electronically because they provide it in the PDF format. With my PC setting, I cannot fill in the PDF form. As these schools prefer email application. I try transforming the PDF file into a Word file to fill in the form electronically, but this file type transformation destroys the layout of the form. I end up printing the PDF form out and fill in by hand-writing and send it by post, which is actually much easier.

Find that application to Essex requires a cover letter including "how you meet the requirements of the post". Need to think about it...

Leila tells me that all the reference letters except for those from Robin are ready for the first batch of schools. Robin already told me he might be late in writing letters. I tell Leila to send the letters today. This is when asking four references helps as one job market guide suggests. But I also think that as long as my application arrives in time, they will wait for references (this is what administrators in Toronto told me when I called them).

Start writing cover letters for the next batch of schools to apply. While writing one for IIES, receive email from Torsten, soliciting my application to IIES. According to the Harvard job market guide, if a school has requested your packet you will want to change the cover letter and state clearly that your materials were solicited. So I do.

Bump into Raja in STICERD. He asks me to send my job market paper. So I email him the address at which to download the paper. I also tell him references on ethnic identify I talked about yesterday.

Back to writing cover letters. Find that Pompeu Fabra has a weird application requirement: list of courses taken. Why not transcripts?

After going home and having dinner, resume writing cover letters. Now I realize that I'm writing cover letters for schools whose deadline is 30 November. I come to think that most reference letters that are now scheduled to post on 14 November can actually be delayed one week. Which is better for me because I plan to do the final revision of the job market paper from 14 November, after my mock job talk. Email Leila if she's happy with this change of my mind...

Write up one-page descriptions of current and future research for Oxford postdoc applications (see above) and then go to bed.

How to market yourself, dinner with faculty, and applications

Online application with CV uploaded for Columbia Business School. But you still need to send CV and job market paper (JMP) by post.

Torsten stops by. Invite him to my mock job talk next Monday. He gives me a positive answer.

Talk to Tim. His advice includes:

1. Do not drop the measurement of democracy part. The literature is moving in that direction though many have not noticed it. If I drop it, my paper is a public health paper, which few economists have interest in. I need to interest anyone interested in political economy.

2. Begin with Africa is not a good idea. It narrows down the scope of the paper too much. I don't want to sell myself as an Africa expert, do I? Begin with the question of whether democracy improves the quality of government, policy-making, and the lives of people. Previous studies exploit country-level data with democracy scores. My contribution is two fold. Using micro data. Measuring democracy in a precise way.

3. Political economy of development is a niche in the market of economists. Development people need someone in this field. Political economy people want to have someone familiar with development. But sell myself as a development economist interested in political economy, not the other way around. Economics departments like to hire development economists while many think of political economy as luxury.

4. Leave the latest version of the paper into Tim's mail box in Sticerd by Monday morning. He will read it and attend my mock job talk and give me feedbacks.

5. When the paper is finalized, ready for circulation, send it to Tim with two lists of schools I apply. One list includes schools with openings in development (and in political economy, if any). The other includes schools with any field. Based on these lists, he will email his friends in schools listed to recommend me.

6. Change the title of my job market paper. "Mother fixed effects" sound too nerdy. It takes time for the reader to think what that means. "Evidence from Micro Data" is better as it provokes interest. People will be like "How do you do that?"

Following his advice, revise my paper, rewriting the abstract and changing the title of the paper accordingly.

Post 25 application packets via LSE Post Room. The department will pay the postage. Realize that my cover letter includes the title of my paper, which is no longer accurate. Let's forget it.

Send application packets via email to University of Arizona and University College of Dublin. Fill the online application form and email CV and the paper to University of New South Wales.

Receive email from Simon Fraser University, saying that they receive my online application.

Receive email from Arizona, asking to complete application by clicking the link provided, which requires login.

Finish online application for University of Toronto, uploading CV and JMP. The final screen says that I can update my CV and JMP by clicking the link emailed shortly. I wanted to know this beforehand...

Dinner with today's seminar speaker (see 3 November), my supervisor, Oriana, Raja, and Daniel. I can't talk anything as the topics of conversation are the salary of economics professors, episodes of data manipulation by scientists, the weirdness of Oxbridge... But talking to Raja is productive. I ask him what the job market for him was like. "Not everyone is nice." "People ask the same question. The challenge is how you motivate yourself in giving the same answers many times." He shows an interest in my second paper. I manage to tell him about a couple of case studies by political scientists for his theoretical work.

After dinner, come back to my desk in Sticerd. Oriana tells me, "The first time at dinner with economists is always like that. You don't know what to talk. In five year's time, you will get used to it. Don't feel bad."

Online application for Caltech requires not only uploading CV and JMP but also a letter of application describing my current research in the PDF copy. Once I'm ready for that, fill in online application form, finding out that I need to describe my research interest in 50 words. After a glass of wine, I can't think hard about this. Let's do this tomorrow.

Email some LSE faculty members to invite them to my mock job talk next Monday. Let's see how it goes. They should have learned something about me as the faculty meeting on job market candidates was held at the end of last month. If my supervisor and/or Tim pushes me well at the meeting, they would be interested in coming to my talk. Fingers crossed.

How to use MS Word Mail Merge

By browsing the Internet, I learn that the top 5 business schools are Harvard, Stanford, Warton (Penn), Kellogg (Northwestern), and Sloan (MIT). The top 7 include Chicago and Columbia. Duke and NYU are ranked in top 10 or top 15. Europe's top 3 are Insead, LBS, IMD, perhaps ranked in top 20 in the US. Since some development economists are in business schools, I plan to apply to business schools as well.

Buy 90 C4 manilla envelopes (A4 size) at Ryman, 10 minute walk from LSE. Costs 12.48 pounds. Sounds expensive, but don't have time to check other stores. LSE Student Union shop does not sell envelopes in bunches.

Finish writing cover letters. Here's how to efficiently write cover letters by using MS Word mail merge.
1. Create address lists in Excel. The top row should be "First Name", "Company", "Address 1", "Address 2", "City", "State", "Post Code", and "Country". This will facilitates the matching of fields.
2. Save it and close it.
3. Open MS Word and select "Tools -> Letters and Mailings -> Mail Merge..."
4. (Step 1 of 6) Choose "Letters" and click Next.
5. (Step 2 of 6) Click Next unless you already have a template letter.
6. (Step 3 of 6) Click "Browse" and choose the Excel file created in steps 1-2. Then click Next.
7. (Step 4 of 6) Write a template cover letter. Click a location where you want to put the address. Click "More items..." Choose a field you want to put. Click "Insert". Repeat this until all the fields show up. Then click Next.
8. (Step 5 of 6) By clicking ">>" or "<<", choose the address of the school. Click Next.
9. (Step 6 of 6) Click "Edit individual letters..." and edit the template. Save it.
10. Click "Previous" to go back to step 5 of 6. And repeat 8 to 10 until all the letters are completed and saved.

I also need to make address labels which I stick to envelopes.

How to use MS Word's mail merge to create address labels:
1. Create address lists in Excel. The top row should be "Last Name", "Company", "Address 1", "Address 2", "Address 3", "City", "State", and "Country". This will facilitates the matching of fields.
2. Save it and close it.
3. Open MS Word and select "Tools -> Letters and Mailings -> Mail Merge..."
4. (Step 1 of 6) Choose "Labels" and click Next.
5. (Step 2 of 6) Click "Label options..." and choose "8253 - Label" for product number (this works best for me). Click OK and click Next.
6. (Step 3 of 6) Click "Browse" and choose the Excel file created in steps 1-2. Then click Next.
7. (Step 4 of 6) Click "More items..." Choose a field you want to put. Click "Insert". Repeat this until all the fields show up on the address label. Then click "Update all labels". Then click Next.
8. (Step 5 of 6) Make sure that addresses appear in the way you prefer. If not, click "Previous" to go back to Step 4 of 6. If you're happy, click Next.
9. (Step 6 of 6) Click "Print" to print out address labels.

Realize I also need to make address labels for MY address as the sender.

Some schools require teaching evaluations. I create a short note on my teaching evaluation to clarify it.

Revise the CV. Revise the Introduction and Conclusions of the JMP. Go home by the last train.

Cover letter, online application

Prepare cover letters. Read Cawley's advice, only to find that I should run a draft by my primary adviser and the faculty placement director. Too late... (This description seems to disappear in the 2006 version.)

Again this drives me crazy. Not every school follows the same procedure. Some do not require a cover letter as they set up an online application form. Some require online application but still require a cover letter. Some do not require a printed copy of the cover letter as they demand email application. Some require "research and teaching statements". And so on and so forth.

If the online application does not require the uploading of my CV or my paper, I complete it today. If it needs the submission of my CV etc., I will do it tomorrow or next Monday.

There are five major patterns in application requirements:
1. Just send a cover letter, a cv, a job market paper by post.
2. 1 plus a transcript and/or teaching evaluations.
3. Apply online, and send a cv, a job market paper etc. (and the receipt of the online application) by post.
4. Apply online and upload a cv, and send a job market paper etc. by post.
5. Send a cover letter, a cv, a job market paper, etc. by email.

The job market guide for Harvard students says that cover letters for liberal arts colleges should reflect your interest in the school and teaching.

The cover letter samples provided by Georgetown and US San Diego as well as the job market guide for Harvard suggest that including a sentence like "I will be available for interviews at the ASSA meeting in Chicago next January." But this may well be avoided if you apply to universities outside the United States unless they make explicit they are going to interview at the ASSA meeting.

As busy as usual.

Get transcripts from Mark. Some universities require transcripts as part of the application documents.

Oriana offers me to join the dinner with next Monday's seminar speaker. This will be a practice "dinner with faculty during a campus visit". (See Cawley 2006, pp.40-41.)

Send a thank-you email to Iwan. Email one of the faculty members to follow up my answer to one of her questions during the seminar yesterday. I didn't manage to give a convincing answer to her yesterday. If this happens during the job talk, Cawley 2006, p.40, recommends sending email after returning home to provide the best answer you can craft.

Work on Stata to try estimations suggested yesterday. What matters is how many pathways I can exclude. First, birth spacing. The effect of democracy does not pick up the effect of longer birth spacing.

Get vitamin tablets at Holland & Barrett. Maintaining my physical conditions is very crucial.

Bump into my supervisor at the STICERD kitchen area, and he gives me some comments on my job market paper. When I talk to him about Robin's comment (be more aggressive), he doesn't agree. Which means I should see some balance. He also tells me to keep him posted on the latest development in my job market process.

Robin asks me when the first deadline is. He says his reference letter may not be on time.

Email Tim on how to revise/structure my job market paper and job talk as we will meet next Monday.

Receive email from Mark on mock job interview by LSE faculty members to be scheduled on 30 November.

Check a web discussion board where young Japanese economists hang around. One of the discussion threads is about the job market. Find a post by an assistant professor at top 20 school in US: "CV and JMP on your personal website must be the latest version because many recruiters download them from your website rather than reading the one sent via post."

Review my seminar talk yesterday. I learn that some of the questions are pointless. I should have guided questioners that their questions are not relevant. People say something without thinking deep enough. So they may be wrong. I thought any question should have had some point. I guess I was too East Asian. The source of the problem is the same for deferring questions later. I was too nice to questioners by answering their questions immediately. But it is a narrow-minded kindness: I was nice to the questioner but unfriendly to other people in the audience. I even wasn't nice to the questioner as I was lazy to point out their logic was wrong.

(Informal) Campus Visit

Go to a UK university to present my job market paper at their Labour Workshop. Iwan, the host, told me to come by midday, although the workshop would start at 1 pm. I wondered why. It turns out that there is a faculty lunch from midday every Thursday at the department of economics, and Iwan wanted me to join this. I was introduced to several faculty members. It's difficult for me to catch names when being introduced. I shouldn't be lazy about this. A job market guide says, "Try to remember who you met."

Then it's 1 pm. In front of about 20 people (I'm not sure how many of them are faculty members and how many are PhD students), I present my paper. During the introduction, the floor is quiet. But once I get into the body of the talk, questions erupt. Two parts of my presentation turn out to solicit lots of questions: the measurement of democracy and the analysis of pathways. Iwan suggests (after the seminar) deleting the measurement of democracy part. That's what Oriana also suggested. I should talk to Tim on this. For pathways, I learn that I should make it clear at the beginning of the talk that which pathway is unlikely, which is likely, and which cannot be tested. It seems I gave an impression that the only pathway is sanitation. No, that's not what I wanted to say.

When Iwan tells me that I have one minute left, I don't understand that correctly as my mobile tells me I have five minutes---my mobile clock is wrong. So I fail to jump to the conclusion, ending up having no time for the conclusion slide.

After the seminar, one faculty member comes to me, giving some comments. If the number of people wanting to talk after the seminar is an indicator for success, this is not very good.

After leaving the seminar room, Iwan takes me to the office of one of his colleagues. He gives me some comments on my work. I should have asked about his research as some job market guides suggest. I remember this when he is taking me back to Iwan's office. Too late.

Iwan gives me quite a few comments, not only the research itself but also some tips for the presentation style. I ask him, "How do you evaluate my talk today?" He says I should have deferred questions if I will cover them later. Answering all questions on the spot distorts the structure of the talk, leaving the audience into confusion.

We talk until about 3:15 pm. As Iwan needs to teach from 4 pm, we say goodbye.

I don't know if today's talk is an informal job talk as Oriana suggested. Some faculty members including Iwan asked me where I'm looking for a job. I answered anywhere in the world. I added I'm going to apply to their department (which is true anyway). But Iwan told me that his department won't go to the AEA meeting this January (like LSE) because interviewed candidates often refuse to come over to England. This suggests that what they want to know about me is whether I have intention to remain in England.

It was a valuable experience. It's kind of a practice campus-visit. (Maybe it wasn't a practice, though.) I learn loads of things about what's going to happen early next year.

I directly go home, instead of going to LSE. I should relax a bit this evening. From tomorrow, I need to revise the paper, prepare the presentation for the mock job talk a week on Monday, and start sending application packets.

Preparation for Tomorrow's talk

Winter suddenly arrives in London today.

Start preparing tomorrow's presentation for what could be an informal job talk. But my brain doesn't really work clearly...

Check if there are some faculty members at the university I'm visiting tomorrow whose work is related to my job market paper (following the advice in some job market guides). Find there are many! Two labor economists work on child health. Two development economists work on Africa. Two public economists work on how voting affects policy choice. Download these papers (all recent working papers) just in case. Maybe I can browse them on the way to the university tomorrow.

Ask Erlend to read the concluding paragraphs that I wrote last night to see if he likes it. He gives me useful feedbacks.

My brain finally starts working properly after 3 pm. I feel stupid. If I work properly from the beginning of the day, I don't need to go home late with an empty stomach and go to bed after midnight, ending up sleeping less than 8 hours.

Self-depreciating...

Watch Christian Lacroix's catwalk show at V&A with Sonia during lunchtime. A good break from all the hell.

Back in Sticerd, talk to Robin. He read my paper and his main comment concerns the style of my presentation. He says my research result is convincing. But the way I write the current version of the paper is "self-depreciating". We are talking about the job market in the United States, a country that loves aggressiveness and assertiveness, a country that embraces the culture of self-promotion. So he guides me through how to write the conclusion and the introduction. For example, I include a few limitations in the concluding section. But Robin tells me to delete them. He also suggests restructuring the organization of the paper, making it flow naturally. He also tells me to use 12pt font size (I was using 10pt) to get the paper legible and to discipline yourself in terms of the length of the paper. As I need to submit applications by the beginning of next week, he tells me to revise the paper by the end of this week, and then he will read it through quickly.

Then Oriana asks me to come to her office. She says my invited seminar talk at a university in UK the day after tomorrow (see 22 October) can be an informal job talk. UK universities are late to place job opening ads. By the time they do it, the American job market is cleared with few good job candidates left. Consequently, they sometimes invite job market candidates at this time of the year and see the quality of their job market paper etc. "So don't be too relaxed about this seminar. Be prepared." That's what Oriana tells me. (She tells me this because she read a short note I attached to explain my CV for her to write reference letters. It seems to be always a good idea to tell your referees everything that's happening to you.) Oriana also gives me one piece of advice. If someone raises a question to which you don't know an immediate answer, always say, "It's a good question," and tell what you can do in terms of estimation if you come up with it immediately, or otherwise say, "We can discuss it later as I don't know an answer to it right now."

Start rewriting the introduction and the conclusion of the paper in response to Robin's comments. I learn that the conclusion consists of (1) the summary of findings in which each sentence deals with one finding; (2) implications of such findings (bridging the gap between the findings and the reader's interest) written in an assertive way; (3) re-stress the innovation of the paper in a different way than the introduction does; (4) stress the importance of the methodology taken in the paper for future research.

For the introduction, Robin says that the first paragraph should include the specific research question the paper deals with. Also the very first sentence should raise a broad question that interests every economist - in my case underdevelopment in Africa.

While revising the paper, I also refer to comments written on the earlier draft of my paper by Oriana and Dave. I learn some subtle usage of English phrases:

1. "seem to be" and "appear to be" are different, with the latter more assertive.

2. "life" is an uncountable noun and "someone's life" is a countable noun.

Robust to foreign aid

Work on Stata to do a couple of suggested regressions. Find that foreign aid to health sectors does not change after democratization in Africa, which supports my claim. After going home and cooking dinner, feel sick. Still tired from the trip to Belgium.

Back in London

Back in London by the first Eurostar train in the morning. After washing my clothes, go to Sticerd. But my brain doesn't work much...

Sightseeing in Brussels

A day off to explore Brussels.

4th Development Economics PhD Seminar at Namur

Attend the 4th Development Economics PhD Seminar at University of Namur. Am a bit nervous because this is the first time to present my job market paper in front of people and because I didn't practice it at all. During a coffee break after the keynote speech, I go out of the seminar building and practice my presentation by talking to myself. After the break and another student's presentation, it is my turn.

What I worry a lot is whether I can finish my talk within the time limit. The allocated time length is 25 minutes (plus 10 minutes for my discussant and 10 minutes for questions from the floor). But I'm surprised that I manage to finish it without rushing. I'm also surprised that I manage to handle all the questions. Most questions and comments are those someone else already raised before. But it's useful to learn what questions are likely to be asked over and over again.

After the whole seminar is over, we attend the seminar dinner at a cool restaurant nearby. There I enjoy an academic talk with Gani, a former visitor to Sticerd and now assistant professor at Namur. Two Asians talking about economics in Belgium.

Then I have an opportunity to talk to Jean Marie. He keeps saying he likes my paper. That's the most encouraging thing to hear as I admire some of the works he has done. He says, "We - faculty members at Namur - were critical of your work because we wanted you to work more on this." I will. I certainly will.

Off to Belgium

Prepare presentation slides for the PhD seminar at University of Namur tomorrow. Finish it just before leaving for Belgium. Directly from the LSE, hop on to the Eurostar to Brussels. Change there to a train to Namur. Stay at the place of three Namur students.

IMF Interview

IMF preliminary interview at the Westbury hotel in London's West End at 9:30 am.

Interviewers are the chief recruitment officer from human resources department and a senior economist (who turns out to be a former member of STICERD).

The recruitment officer first explains briefly what the Economist Programme is like. Then she asks me if I can finish my PhD next year. She says it will be very hard to do the IMF work and the PhD thesis at the same time. She suggests to apply next year if I don't think I can.

The senior economist asks me about my AEA Papers & Proceedings paper written with Tim. He asks if that paper is related to my job market paper, and which paper I'm going to present at Namur.

The recruitment officer also asks me if I apply for the World Bank's Young Professionals programme.

Then she asks me to describe my research.

I first explain the research question and its importance (academically rather than practically). While I'm explaining my methodology, the senior economist asks, "What's the definition of democracy?" So I explain it. Then he asks, "Is Cameroon democratic?" I say no. I'm lucky as Cameroon is one of the sample countries. But I may be asked about other African countries outside my sample. I'd better prepare for such questions.

After explaining my main results, the interview moves on to the next section in which they test my knowledge of macroeconomics. The questions they ask are

1. Regarding the monetary union, what characteristics do member countries of the union need to share? How does the union affect the labour force? Does the monetary union play a role of risk diversification in terms of macroeconomic fluctuations?

2. Regarding Japanese deflation, why is deflation problematic? How did Japan get out of it? (I was asked this question presumably because I'm from Japan.)

3. Regarding China's increasing foreign reserves, who bears the cost of it?



I DON'T KNOW.



I can't talk almost anything. I have absolutely no interest in macroeconomics of rich countries. An overnight review of chapters on open economies in Mankiw's macroeconomics textbook does not help at all.

They seem to be disappointed by my interview performance. The recruitment officer says, "When I saw your CV, I thought you were more suitable for the World Bank."

The interviewers end up advising how to get a job from the World Bank. The facts that (1) I'm a Japanese citizen---international organizations all look for Japanese citizens as we are underpresented in the international organizations compared to the money the japanese government contributes to them---(2) I'm getting a PhD from LSE, and (3) my research is interesting, all go in favour of me. If I have a working experience in a developing country, it will be perfect because the Bank is looking for those with working experience in poor countries. The senior economist suggests working with, say, the ministry of education in an African country next year and then applying to the Bank.

I don't know how to respond to this. Maybe I should ask why then they wanted to interview me? But I don't know such a question is acceptable in this kind of situation...

Leave the hotel and take a stroll of Saville Row, nearby the hotel, for the first time in four years of my life in London. Ozwald Boateng, whose catwalk show I watched at V&A, looks the coolest in the show window.

------

Arrive at Sticerd and start making presentation slides for this Friday. I end up 22 slides for 45 minute presentation. It seems I should forget about a couple of main results and focus on one main result to convince the audience that this main result shows the effect of democracy, not something else. That will be closer to the real job talk. Covering all the main results in a superficial way does not provide a good practice for the coming job talks.

Submit my CV and job market paper to the Royal Economic Society Second PhD Presentation Meeting. To do this, revise my job market paper slightly (just by correcting typos, editing figures, etc.). As one of requirements is an email from the supervisor confirming that I will be completing my PhD by October 2007 and does not hold at the moment a regular position in a department or equivalent institution in the UK or elsewhere, email Sue (my supervisor's secretary) about this.

Many things go on all at once as always

Revise my CV given that I now present my work at a UK university. This is the fifth time revision of my CV.

Receive email from Mark. He set up job market candidates' personal information webpages. Reply to him what part I want to make corrections.

Send address label Excel sheets to Leila and Sue. Also give Leila my CVs and a document that explains my CV for helping my referees to write references.

Have lunch with Cheyok. Ask her how to be calm when you are busy working on many things all at once. Her answer: Prioritize what to do.

Book a hotel room in Brussels on the coming Saturday night.

Receive email from Shoji-kun, a PhD student of economics in Tokyo. He gave me lots of detailed comments on my job market paper. Thanks a lot.

Work on Stata. Run some additional regressions. All of them turn out to be rather not supportive to my job market paper...

A confusing day

When I arrive at my desk in Sticerd, I can't start Windows on my PC.
Ask Joe, an IT staff, for help. He says my PC has got a hardware problem, which means I can't do anything (I don't bring my own laptop to Sticerd today).

So I change my schedule. While the PC is being fixed, I talk to Dave, a fellow PhD student at Sticerd, as he read my job market paper and wanted to give me some comments. He suggests to change the introduction. He has a point. I probably need to write two versions of the introduction and show them to my referrees to see which one is better. Dave also doesn't like the measurement of democracy part.

Attend Monday lunchtime PhD seminar. I keep thinking about what to do today without my PC working. Maybe taking a rest? I don't feel well today...

After the seminar, the PC gets fixed. So I change my schedule again.

While having lunch at Sticerd communal area, Leila comes to me, saying that she's happy with my plan on sending reference letters.

Start working on Stata to do a bunch of additional regressions suggested by Torsten, Oriana, Robin, etc...

I was scheduled to talk to a seminar speaker at today's LSE/UCL Development and Growth seminar, at 1530. Then I received email from Oriana, saying the speaker is arriving late. My slot is cancelled.

Then Dave and Erlend, whose meetings with the speaker are not cancelled as they are among the first to request for meetings, kindly suggested to me and Paolo, another job market candidate, giving their meeting slots. So I end up talking to the speaker as originally scheduled.

The speaker likes my paper. He especially seems to like the measurement of democracy part. Different people like different parts of my paper.

Talking about my job market paper will be crucial in the job market process as I will need to talk to a bunch of people about it at job interviews in Chicago and during campus visits. But it's a difficult task. Even if you organize what to talk and in what order, your listener will certainly interrupt you. Responding to that requires change in the order of what to talk. As a result, my explanation of the paper gets confusing. I need to make a contingency plan.

Back to my PC, working on Stata. Find rather unfavorable results to my main findings...

Time for the D&G seminar. The presented paper is about a randomized evaluation of interventions to improve health systems in Uganda. When the speaker presents the effect of interventions on vaccinations, I speak up. "How did you measure children's immunization status? Measles immunization shouldn't be given to babies aged less than 9 months."

After the seminar, Robin teases me as a child immunization specialist. :)

Go home as I don't feel well. Eat Japanese food. And go to bed early.

Now working on my job market paper again

Start preparing slides for the 4th Development Economics PhD Seminar at Namur this coming Friday.

Also organize job talk tips from various job market guides available on the web. Job market guides tend to be dis-organized in their structure, contrary to what they suggest doing for writing a job market paper and giving a job talk. :-) Unless I spend a bit of time organizing them, I won't be able to absorb the tips offered in a coherent way.

Receive email from Iwan, saying he wants to invite me to his school's labor seminar on 2 November. Oriana mentioned him about my work, after reading my paper last weekend. This is what Tim suggested to do - present my work with a different audience! I'll definitely take this opportunity.

Email Leila about my plan on sending reference letters.

Receive email from Tim, saying he needs my CV when he writes references.

Day Off

Take a day off. Wake up at 1pm. Have a Japanese brunch (rice, miso-soup, baked salted salmon). Wash my clothes. Clean the kitchen a bit.

Go out to buy an international telephone card in Chinatown (I will use this quite often when I miss calls from schools abroad). A cornershop at 86-88 Shaftesbury Avenue (postcode: W1D 6NG) sells a Telco Global OK card which expires 365 days after the first use (usually 60-90 days for this kind of cards) with 45 percent discount. As a result, I can make any international call for less than 1p per minute.

Buy Time Out City Guides for Brussels (see 11 October) and Chicago (where job interviews will take place). I think I should enjoy academic trips.

Have an Ethiopian dinner with Kirsten, Yuri-san, etc.

Done with the sorting-out of "formal" application for the time being.

Bump into Tim at STICERD communal area. Ask him how serious I should be about the formal application. He says that it doesn't count for the US job market. What matters is when the recruiter solicits the submission of your application by contacting placement officers in each school. That's going to be late November. Your job market paper must be in good shape by that time. Some require formal application as a necessary condition. But, in general, US market is based on such informal network. For other countries, formal application may matter.

He doesn't think that applying for 100 schools, as often argued to be the best strategy, is sensible. Applying for 0 school is certainly not the best, either.

Give to Sue documents needed for my supervisor to write references (job market paper, transcripts, CV, and one-page letter which clarifies my CV, describes types of jobs to apply, and requests for including a statement on my English ability in letters).

Discuss Sue about how to arrange letters. She wants to send them all at once. But I won't be able to make all applications before the earliest deadline (according to some job market guide, recommendation letters must arrive slightly later than my own application). So ask her to send letters for the first group of schools, and to pass the rest to Leila. She's very supportive, saying, "I will do whatever you want. I'm a slave for you." This job market madness drives secretariats crazy as well.

Create three Excel spread sheets each of which includes addresses of schools to apply for sending letters of recommendation. Why three? Because my job market paper won't be fully ready before sending out aplication packets to meet the earliest deadlines. I decide to send the packets in three bunches so I can include the revised job market paper for schools with late deadlines.

Find out which school accepts letters via email. This makes a lot of difference. Given that it takes at most 5 days for airmail to arrive overseas from UK, the effective deadline changes a lot depending on whether schools accept letters via email or not.

Email my referees to tell them that the earliest "effective" deadline for sending reference letters as part of "formal" application is 6 November.

I think I've done with the arrangement of recommendation letters. I will make my own application early November, just before the first batch of reference letters will be dispatched on 6 November. Until then, I will focus on my job market paper.