Global Development Institute
Coursework
MGDI60031 Econometric Methods for Development
2025/26
The coursework must be submitted via Canvas
On 27th of November 2025 before 14:00 (UK time)
(40% of final mark)
1 Coursework Task
1.1 Task
The task of the coursework is to test equal opportunity and racial inequality in post-Apartheid South Africa, using the standard Mincer (1974) equation as a starting point:
with ln(wagei) the natural logarithm of real wages, edui years of education, agei years of age and the square of years of age of the i-th individual in the sample. You should start your analysis by replicating the work by Keswell (2010), which will be covered in the lectures in week 5 and 7. You can then expand and improve your analysis, applying the various methods covered in this course.
References
• Keswell, M. (2010). Education and Racial Inequality in Post-Apartheid South Africa. In P. Attewell and K. S. Newman (eds.) Growing Gaps: Educational Inequality around the World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapter 4. [Avail-able via the library - an earlier and identical version is available here].
• Deaton, A. (1997). The Analysis of Household Surveys: A Macroeconomic Ap-proach to Development Policy. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press. Avail-able here. [Chapter 1 on data].
• Relevant chapters covered in Wooldridge and S¨oderbom et al.
1.2 Data
You have been allocated a year wave of the Post Apartheid Labour Market Series 1993-2019. The data can be found under ‘palmsv3.3-stata11’ on this website. Please study the website carefully for a detailed description of the different variables and their measure-ments. There is no need for you to download the data from the website, as the different years have already been uploaded to Blackboard and can be found in the folder ‘Data Year Waves’.
2 Grading
2.1 Grading Scale
The standard grading scale applies. For additional guidance, your coursework should address the following necessary and desired objectives.
Necessary
• Explain and replication of the OLS-based analysis in Keswell (2010).
• Carefully introduce the variables and measurements included in your regression analysis.
• Interpret your regression results and conclude on the state of equal opportunity and racial inequality in South Africa, based on your results.
Desired
• Critically discuss your choice of variables and measurements in your regression analysis.
• Conduct robustness checks of your regression equations that are informed by resid-ual and model diagnostics.
• Discuss the possible shortcomings of your analysis and provide an outlook for future research.
2.2 Plagiarism
The University has a strict policy on plagiarism. Unacknowledged copying of another person’s work will result in the automatic failure of the assignment and may lead to disciplinary action being taken against the study fellow. Your answer must be fully referenced where appropriate. For guidance on how to make sure you avoid plagiarism and other forms of academic malpractice, please consult your handbook. Code chunks will be excluded from plagiarism checks. Collaboration on coding is encouraged.
2.3 Late Submission
Late submission of the coursework, even if only a few seconds, will result in the applica-tion of a penalty. Please allow sufficient time to ‘knit’ your Word document and submit it via Blackboard to avoid penalties. For more information about the penalties applied, please consult your programme handbook.
2.4 Exceeding the Word Count
If you exceed the word count by between 10-50%, your final assignment mark will be capped at 50%. Work exceeding the word count by more than 50% will be viewed as not having met the requirements of the assessment. The work will not be marked and a mark of zero will be recorded.
3 Coursework Format
3.1 Structure
Please see the R Markdown file that has been uploaded as a template on Blackboard for instructions on how to structure your coursework. A corresponding WORD file has been uploaded as well to demonstrate the different formatting commands. If you are using RStudio, you can import the R Markdown file directly and start with your analysis. If you are using R Commander, conduct your analysis first, save your R Markdown file and reopen it in RStudio. You can then copy and paste the structure from the template into your R Markdown file.
3.2 Word Limit
The word limit is set at 1,000 words. Submit a WORD file (knit to Word) that has been created with R Markdown. The word count does not include code chunks (code and code outputs) within the R Markdown document. Everything else is included in the word count.
3.3 Equations and Formatting
R Markdown uses the same syntax as LaTeX/Overleaf to write equations. The following references provide useful information on how to write equations and format your text using this syntax. Basic commands are covered in the R Markdown Template.
• For further instructions on mathematical expressions and equations: https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Mathematical_expressions.4
• For further instruction on Greek letters and mathematical operators: https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/List_of_Greek_letters_and_math_symbols
• For further instruction on text formatting commands in R Markdown:https://r02pro.github.io/rmd-text-formating.html