Detour

John Morrow over at the University of Wisconsin is branching out from his work on econgrads.com to start a new venture in his spare time (you know the ample amounts of extra time an econ PhD student has while obtaining the coveted Dr. title). His newest project is called Working Paper dot net.

The goal of WorkingPaper.Net is to promote the exchange of referee reports on working papers which are in an early stage, as well as create social and research networks across researchers and working papers. Within five minutes at the site, a researcher can list a working paper and a personal page listing working papers and a Mini-CV will be automatically generated.

WorkingPaper.Net allows researchers to exchange the service of reviewing each others’ papers on a mutual basis. Researchers post and read current papers in a fashion similar to a Blog (sorted by JEL code) and other researchers can offer to exchange a review of a posted paper for one of their own. The site includes Social Networking features and a means to link one’s working papers to related work, helping researchers get both exposure and feedback on their work.

I love the idea of networking students and professors at various universities in an informal social network to reap the benefits of social interaction in advanced level economic research. The more interaction a student can get with other people interested in the same sub-field the stronger the resulting research and papers will be. All the best on your new endeavor John.

Update: Thanks for the link Kyle. Economize This Rocks!