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GREG MANKIW'S BLOG
Random Observations for Students of Economics
S AT U R D AY, O C T O B E R 0 7 , 2 0 0 6
ABOUT ME
How to Write Well
When I was CEA chair, I sent the following guidelines to my staff as
they started drafting the Economic Report of the President. A friend
recently emailed me a copy, and I thought I would share them with
blog readers. They are good rules of thumb, especially for economists
writing for a general audience.
ERP Writing Guidelines
GREG MA NKIW
UNITED STATES
I am a professor of
economics at
Harvard University,
where I teach introductory economics
(ec 10) among other courses. I use this
blog to keep in touch with my current
and former students. Teachers and
Stay focused. Remember the take-away points you want the
students at other schools, as well as
others interested in economic issues,
reader to remember. If some material is irrelevant to these
are welcome to use this resource.
points, it should probably be cut.
V IEW MY COMPLETE PROF ILE
Keep sentences short. Short words are better than long words.
Monosyllabic words are best.
The passive voice is avoided by good writers.
USEFUL LINKS
Positive statements are more persuasive than normative
My Harvard Website
statements.
My Favorite Textbooks
Use adverbs sparingly.
Avoid jargon. Any word you don’t read regularly in a newspaper
is suspect.
Never make up your own acronyms.
Old Columns and Talks
The Best Way To Learn Economics
Blog Map for Textbook Users
Avoid unnecessary words. For instance, in most cases, change
o “in order to” to “to”
o “whether or not” to “whether”
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o “is equal to” to “equals”
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Avoid “of course, “clearly,” and “obviously.” Clearly, if
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something is obvious, that fact will, of course, be obvious to the
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reader.
Thomas Schelling
The word “very” is very often very unnecessary.
Keep your writing self-contained. Frequent references to other
Home Runs, Base Hits, and Nobel
Prizes
works, or to things that have come before or will come later, can
Ig Nobels of Economics
be distracting.
Put details and digressions in footnotes. Then delete the
footnotes.
To mere mortals, a graphic metaphor, a compelling anecdote, or
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Epstein on Intellectual Breadth
Cowen on U.S. Health Spending
Can growth in China be bad for the
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http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-to-write-well.html
a striking fact is worth a thousand articles in Econometrica.
3/16/11 2:32 PM
U.S.?
Keep your writing personal. Remind readers how economics
affects their lives.
Remember two basic rules of economic usage:
ADVICE FOR STUDENTS
o “Long run” (without a hyphen) is a noun. “Long-run” (with a
Advice for Aspiring Economists
hyphen) is an adjective. Same with “short(-)run.”
Where do economists come from?
o “Saving” (without a terminal s) is a flow. “Savings” (with a
terminal s) is a stock.
Buy a copy of Strunk and White’s Elements of Style. Also,
William Zinsser’s On Writing Well. Read them—again and again
and again.
Choosing a Graduate Program
Advice for Grad Students
Advice for New Junior Faculty
Which math courses?
Keep it simple. Think of your reader as being your college
Why Aspiring Economists Need Math
roommate who majored in English literature. Assume he has
Love Econ, Bad at Math
never taken an economics course, or if he did, he used the wrong
Summer Reading List
textbook.
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My Life as a Student
pe r m a n e n t l i n k
PhD or not?
Education Beyond the Classroom
<< Home
An engineer seeks career advice
A Question about Learning
Economics
Good Academic, Bad Human Being
Are B-school economists different?
How to Write Well
PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS
Translated
Animated
Rap Version
Acrostic Version
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A Must Read
The Pigou Club Manifesto
Resolutions for Another New Year
Outsourcing Redux
How do the right and left differ?
How to Decentralize Monetary Policy
On Inequality
How to Recapitalize the Financial
System
My Personal Work Incentives
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