Alumnus Carlijn Smeets receives first copy of the book “Ethics in Econometrics”

Carlijn Smeets currently studies at Cornell Tech in New York City, in the master's programme in Operations Research and Information Engineering. In 2024, she obtained a master's degree in Econometrics and Management Science at Erasmus School of Economics, specialising in Analytics & Operations Research in Logistics. It also was during this time that Carlijn co-authored a research paper with Professor Philip Hans Franses, titled "Modeling flight delays by an intensity-based Hawkes process," published in February 2024 in the journal Applied Stochastic Models in Business and Industry. And, importantly, during her time as a student at the Econometric Institute she helped with making corrections and spotting errors in the first draft of the manuscript of the book. 

Published by Cambridge University Press, “Ethics in Econometrics” offers a comprehensive guide to ethical research practices in econometrics, enriched with empirical examples and in-depth discussions of real cases. It covers topics such as scientific misconduct, model selection, estimation and interpretation, handling missing data, and the challenges posed by big data and algorithms. Each chapter includes empirical exercises to illustrate key points, with accompanying data available in Excel format for readers to replicate analyses.

Franses' work has garnered praise from academics. Niels Haldrup of Aarhus University notes that the book is ‘an excellent textbook’ that helps readers spot pitfalls in econometric and data analysis. Roberto Golinelli from the University of Bologna commends it for being ‘both easy to follow and rigorous,’ providing applications that help better exploit econometric methods. Jesus Gonzalo of U. Carlos III de Madrid describes it as ‘a unique and indispensable resource for practical econometricians’, suitable for upper-division undergraduate and master's courses.

Carlijn Smeets has always expressed great gratitude for the support of her professors at Erasmus School of Economics who provided invaluable assistance during her academic journey and the admission process to Cornell Tech.