A Guide for the Young Economist: Writing and Speaking Effectively about Economics.

William Thomson.

Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001. Pp. xiv, 118. $17.95 (paperback).

Is there a need for this slim book? Anyone who answers no surely has not read a graduate student's draft thesis chapter, attended a job-market seminar, or refereed a paper. Indeed, this Guide should be read by every young economist under the age of 90. The volume is especially relevant for economic theorists, as much of the author's exposition, particularly in the first essay (which constitutes over half the three-essay book), deals specifically with writing papers in economic theory--the author's subspecialty.

The book grew out of an essay in the Journal of Economic Literature. The expanded version of that essay forms Chapter 1. Much of the advice is offered with specific "dos" and "don'ts", and much is presented in the form of lists. The advice specific to theorists includes information on (i) writing proofs with the proper mix of mathematics and English, (ii) appropriate notation, (iii) mixing numerical illustrations with generalizations, and (iv) avoiding excess verbiage. Much of this advice can be viewed as constituting a Strunk and White Elements of Style, for economic theory. Just as everyone in the United States over age 45 read and benefited from that volume in high school or college, so could every theorist read and benefit from this chapter.

Even old-fogy nontheorists like me can learn a lot from this chapter, whereas graduate students and young economists can gain even more. Thomson urges students to write in short sentences to maintain clarity. He makes it clear that a literature review should not be a guide to the literature. Instead, it should be integrated into the author's presentation to elucidate how the new work expands upon previous efforts. Most important, Thomson repeatedly stresses that the market is flooded with economics papers. One must indicate clearly how one's product is differentiated and why the reader should devote time to it.

Chapter 2 is an essay on presenting work verbally--at seminars, conferences, or professional meetings. Much of the focus is specifically on job-market seminars, often the first venue where the young economist confronts a potentially unsympathetic audience. The importance of using transparencies is stressed, although Thomson rightly appears to deplore what has recently become an excessive reliance on transparencies (including implicitly the bane of the late 1990s, the PowerPoint presentation). The opposite extreme--essentially reading one's paper--is also implicitly anathema to him. He delineates the variety of dimensions along which the written exposition of a theoretical idea must differ from its oral presentation. Thomson and other senior people expect to make mistakes in seminars, to acknowledge them and move on, and younger researchers should do the same. His advice on dealing with questions and interruptions repeatedly conveys in various forms the most important general advice to presenters: You are in c ontrol--it's your paper and your seminar.

The final, shortest chapter offers guidelines on writing referee reports. Most important, Thomson stresses that the report has two audiences: The (associate) editor who solicits advice, and the author(s) whose work might be improved upon by the referee's comments. In an era and at an age when economists believe that time is extremely valuable, Thomson's advice on the private benefits of a young person's accepting a refereeing task (and performing it with alacrity) is extremely welcome.

Despite my general approbation, I differ with Thomson in several areas, mainly in terms of emphasis or direction. His discussion of the "Acknowledgments" footnote will lead the young author to extend the proliferation of thanks and perhaps also to turn that footnote into a professional travelogue. With the secular increase in the number of people acknowledged, young authors should lean toward parsimony in their written expressions of gratitude. Thomson fails to stress sufficiently the role of fear and nerves in presenting seminars. A little bit of fear is a good antidote to cockiness. Feeling fully at ease before a seminar, I have discovered the hard way, almost guarantees an embarrassing performance. Thomson recommends jotting down seminar participants' comments only intermittently, in my view too mild a prescription. Too many young people write down too few of the suggestions they receive at seminars. This signals the audience that they are uninterested in comments or are cocksure about the inherent perfect ion of their work. The chapter on refereeing fails to suggest anywhere nearly strongly enough that a large part of the referee's job involves expressing a judgment (not merely an opinion) about what is important. For junior people, the variance of whose self-assurance may be higher than senior people's, being firm without being cocky in expressing an opinion about a paper's value cannot be stressed enough.

I giggled often (with one guffaw) while reading this book. My giggles in reading economics are often generated by dismay over the errors I see, but here they were generated by delight. The book is truly beautifully written, as one would expect from the topic. Extremely rare among economists, the writing is also erudite. There are clever allusions to offbeat intellectual topics, very cute relevant jokes and bizarre but interesting examples. My favorite combination of these features is Thomson's example (p. 50) of a proof with too much math relative to English, an inscription in hieroglyphics about Amenhotep II, of which Thomson notes, "I can only make out that it states the existence of ducks [one of the hieroglyphs] having certain properties." BUY THIS BOOK!