Some musings on productivity
Jake Thornock
University of Washington
Executive summary
• Live a balanced life and find your “why”
• Find great co-authors and be a great co-author
• Think first, then do
Don’t work too hard
• Why would I say this is my number one
point?!
• Balance => success, not the reverse
• We clearly understand the law of diminishing
returns. Do we truly believe it??
• Efficiency is the operative word
• Celebrate the wins
Find your “why”
• Why
• Why & who > what > how
• If we believe that balance leads to success,
then why can’t we admit that we got into this
business to try for a more balanced life?
Finding co-authors
• This is a people business
– Friends not necessarily good co-authors
• Find people with
– complementary skills,
– but similar research interests and hunger
– research synergies
Being a co-author
– Don’t let stuff get stuck on your desk
– Don’t sweat small stuff
– Be flexible
– Work with teaching/service schedules
– Emphasize your personal comparative advantage
– You will likely do the heavy lifting early on
• MB = MC
Think first, then do
• Learn to write clearly, argumentatively, and
persuasively
• Your opinion counts, but the opinion of the
editor, reviewer and reader counts more
• Develop thick skin
• Hardest part is “why”, then “what”, then
“how”
• Work on paper’s contribution; Papers mostly
rejected on RQ not RD
Don’t worship at the altar of ***
• T-stats and *** do not make a good paper!
• A good question > a good test
LET’S WRITE A
PAPER TOGETHER!!!
DEPENDENT VARIABLE
CASH ETR
GAAP ETR
CURRENT ETR
???????
-0.000***
-0.000***
-0.000***
(-4.87)
(-2.59)
(-3.18)
???????
-0.000***
-0.000***
-0.000***
(-9.68)
(-7.67)
(-7.27)
???????
0.000***
0.000***
0.000
(2.89)
(3.67)
(1.47)
VARIABLE
???????
SIZE
ROA
SALES
MARKET TO BOOK
LEV
0.000
-0.000
0.000
(0.89)
(-0.31)
(0.69)
0.013***
0.017***
0.018***
(15.61)
(22.05)
(21.21)
-0.000
0.000
0.000
(-0.53)
(1.50)
(0.26)
0.000*
-0.000
-0.000
(-0.21)
(-0.56)
(1.77)
-0.000
-0.000
-0.000
(-1.60)
(-1.05)
(-0.97)
0.000
0.000
-0.001*
(-1.72)
(0.55)
(0.72)
-0.004***
-0.003**
0.000
(-3.00)
(-2.54)
(0.28)
-0.078***
-0.062***
-0.079***
(-20.57)
(-19.41)
(-21.74)
-0.000
-0.000
0.001**
(-0.28)
(-0.47)
(1.97)
FORINC
0.007***
0.005***
-0.003
(3.77)
(3.01)
(-0.72)
EQINC
-0.032**
-0.020**
-0.032**
(-1.98)
(-2.12)
(-2.46)
0.000
0.000
0.000
(0.38)
(0.39)
(0.50)
0.000
0.001
0.000
CASH
NOL
CHG_NOL
PPE
INTANG
INDUSTRY FIXED EFFECTS
YES
YES
YES
S.E. CLUSTERED BY:
FIRM
FIRM
FIRM
OBSERVATIONS
29,754
29,754
29,754
0.084
0.112
0.096
ADJUSTED R
2
DEPENDENT VARIABLE
VARIABLE
CASH ETR
GAAP ETR
CURRENT
ETR
???????
-0.000***
(-4.87)
-0.000***
(-9.68)
0.000***
(2.89)
0.000
(0.89)
-0.000***
(-2.59)
-0.000***
(-7.67)
0.000***
(3.67)
-0.000
(-0.31)
-0.000***
(-3.18)
-0.000***
(-7.27)
0.000
(1.47)
0.000
(0.69)
INDUSTRY FIXED
EFFECTS
S.E. CLUSTERED BY:
OBSERVATIONS
YES
FIRM
29,754
YES
FIRM
29,754
YES
FIRM
29,754
ADJUSTED R2
0.084
0.112
0.096
???????
???????
???????
DEPENDENT VARIABLE
VARIABLE
CASH ETR
GAAP ETR
CURRENT
ETR
ZIP CODE
-0.000***
(-4.87)
-0.000***
(-9.68)
0.000***
(2.89)
0.000
(0.89)
-0.000***
(-2.59)
-0.000***
(-7.67)
0.000***
(3.67)
-0.000
(-0.31)
-0.000***
(-3.18)
-0.000***
(-7.27)
0.000
(1.47)
0.000
(0.69)
INDUSTRY FIXED
EFFECTS
S.E. CLUSTERED BY:
OBSERVATIONS
YES
FIRM
29,754
YES
FIRM
29,754
YES
FIRM
29,754
ADJUSTED R2
0.084
0.112
0.096
???????
???????
???????
DEPENDENT VARIABLE
VARIABLE
CASH ETR
GAAP ETR
CURRENT
ETR
ZIP CODE
-0.000***
(-4.87)
-0.000***
(-9.68)
0.000***
(2.89)
0.000
(0.89)
-0.000***
(-2.59)
-0.000***
(-7.67)
0.000***
(3.67)
-0.000
(-0.31)
-0.000***
(-3.18)
-0.000***
(-7.27)
0.000
(1.47)
0.000
(0.69)
INDUSTRY FIXED
EFFECTS
S.E. CLUSTERED BY:
OBSERVATIONS
YES
FIRM
29,754
YES
FIRM
29,754
YES
FIRM
29,754
ADJUSTED R2
0.084
0.112
0.096
GVKEY
???????
???????
DEPENDENT VARIABLE
VARIABLE
CASH ETR
GAAP ETR
CURRENT
ETR
ZIP CODE
-0.000***
(-4.87)
-0.000***
(-9.68)
0.000***
(2.89)
0.000
(0.89)
-0.000***
(-2.59)
-0.000***
(-7.67)
0.000***
(3.67)
-0.000
(-0.31)
-0.000***
(-3.18)
-0.000***
(-7.27)
0.000
(1.47)
0.000
(0.69)
INDUSTRY FIXED
EFFECTS
S.E. CLUSTERED BY:
OBSERVATIONS
YES
FIRM
29,754
YES
FIRM
29,754
YES
FIRM
29,754
ADJUSTED R2
0.084
0.112
0.096
GVKEY
AREA CODE
???????
DEPENDENT VARIABLE
VARIABLE
CASH ETR
GAAP ETR
CURRENT
ETR
ZIP CODE
-0.000***
(-4.87)
-0.000***
(-9.68)
0.000***
(2.89)
0.000
(0.89)
-0.000***
(-2.59)
-0.000***
(-7.67)
0.000***
(3.67)
-0.000
(-0.31)
-0.000***
(-3.18)
-0.000***
(-7.27)
0.000
(1.47)
0.000
(0.69)
INDUSTRY FIXED
EFFECTS
S.E. CLUSTERED BY:
OBSERVATIONS
YES
FIRM
29,754
YES
FIRM
29,754
YES
FIRM
29,754
ADJUSTED R2
0.084
0.112
0.096
GVKEY
AREA CODE
SIC
Don’t just take my word for it:
some quick advice from some friends
• Leslie Robinson, Dartmouth
• Sarah McVay, Univ. of Washington
• Mike Drake, BYU
Leslie Robinson
• I keep three lists – long-term, medium-term, and shortterm tasks. On the long-term list would be things that I
needed to schedule large chunks of time for (i.e., an
entire week) while short-term things were things that
would take an hour or two at most, and then
everything in between on the medium list.
• I exercise religiously. Have a hobby to recharge!
• I ask for help.
• I keep a clean, uncluttered, well-organized office. The
state of my office and the state of my ability to think
clearly are correlated 100 percent.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Sarah McVay
1.
Think carefully about project selection. A project generally takes 3-4 years to
complete. Is it interesting? Is it testable? Do you believe it? Be sure it’s worth it.
2.
Work on closest to submission/publication first, the newer projects are
always more fun and often seem more promising since they haven’t yet been
rejected. New projects are your reward for getting your old projects under review.
3.
Try to have something under review at all times. Your pipeline should
include (at least) one data-stage, one presentation-stage and one review-stage
paper (rolling).
4.
Play “hot potato” with your co-authors. If a paper is on someone else’s desk,
it’s making forward progress without your time and effort.
5.
Submit to conferences! For publication or not, it gives you a deadline and
visibility.
6.
Volunteer as a reviewer and discussant! It’s good visibility and it’s amazing
how many people expect someone to review their paper, yet don’t volunteer to
review others’ papers.
7.
Remember, it won’t always be this hard! This profession front-loads a lot of
start-up costs into the early years. Hang in there!
Mike Drake
• Avoid data overload
– Fehrenheit 451: data gives you “a sense of motion
without moving.”
– Research is much more about reading/thinking
then it is about writing programs.
• Identify solutions
– Doctoral students are generally excellent at
finding problems
– Productivity comes from solving problems, not
just finding them
Conclusion
• For me, being productive occurs when
– My life is somewhat balanced
– I work with other productive people
– I’m thinking clearly and selectively
• My recipe for success will differ from yours
Conclusion: Pep talk
• Best job ever!
– Great people
– Entrepreneurial
– Flexible
– Rewarding relationships students