The money made from selling TV dramas is not comparable to web novels.

In the entire entertainment sector, web novels are at the bottom of the food chain, sharing the same fate with manga.

But for Xu Lin, there's something more important. This TV drama needs to be shot, successfully released, and be a hit in order to be called a blockbuster. Only then can he receive rewards, otherwise, no matter how well the script is written, it's pointless.

"Honey, Professor Huang just gave me the thesis topic."

Seeing Xu Lin close the book, Ning Yuhuan gently poked Xu Lin's arm. Xu Lin had asked her to tell him once Professor Huang gave the thesis topic so he could take a look.

"What's the topic?"

"This one."

Ning Yuhuan showed Xu Lin Professor Huang's message.

Topic direction: Macroeconomic theory and policy, specifically writing about Huaxia's trade policy adjustments under the current de-globalization perspective.

That's the proposition Professor Huang gave to Ning Yuhuan.

It was just something for Ning Yuhuan to practice on. Actually, it's a very simple thesis topic and quite common. For instance, on known websites, a search would yield tons of results, so it's just for practice since Ning Yuhuan hasn't written a thesis before.

Earlier this year, Huaxia and the old U.S. were at each other's throats. The two countries were hedging tariffs, causing major conflicts, and global trade had already suffered significantly.

So, Professor Huang chose this as the topic.

Additionally, Professor Huang required it to be an econometric thesis.

"What is an econometric thesis?"

Xu Lin had heard his microeconomics teacher mention it briefly in class, but he only heard it in passing.

"Honey, take a look at this."

Ning Yuhuan used a thesis-reading software on her laptop to open a paper.

Ning Yuhuan said, "This is an econometric thesis."

Xu Lin started browsing through it.

It was actually his first time looking at a thesis, so he didn't know the difference between an econometric thesis and other types.

"Is it difficult?"

"I don't think it's hard. We had econometrics in the first semester of sophomore year, so there's a basic foundation."

Ning Yuhuan said that for an econometric thesis, one needs to collect data, establish an econometric model, and use either Stata or EViews software for empirical data analysis. It sounds kind of complicated.

Xu Lin, having never encountered this before, felt lost listening to it.

But being rather restless, he said, "I'll help you check some data. What data do you need?"

"Won't that be troublesome? I can take my time doing it myself."

Ning Yuhuan felt that Xu Lin was usually quite busy and didn't want to trouble him.

Moreover, in thesis writing, data collection is the most troublesome part. In contrast, writing the thesis itself happens quickly. If everything goes smoothly, the body can be done in over a few thousand words in one day.

But data, on the other hand, is different. Collecting a set of data can hold you up for ten days to a half month; it's cumbersome. After collecting data, you also need to organize and analyze it.

"Aren't there open databases? It should be quite simple."

Xu Lin brought up a small program he'd previously worked on and placed it on Ning Yuhuan's laptop. He had recently improved this small program to assist with chatting and handle some simple tasks.

Xu Lin asked again, "What data do you want?"

"There's quite a lot."

Ning Yuhuan listed some economic data indicators.

In an econometric thesis, there are dependent variables, key explanatory variables, and control variables. For instance, in this thesis of Ning Yuhuan's, the dependent variable set is gross domestic product, or GDP, and the key explanatory variable is the total value of imports and exports. As for control variables, these include factors possibly affecting the first two, and at least a few of them need to be found. Therefore, at least seven or eight data indicators are needed for this thesis.

Moreover, in order for the thesis to hold a certain value, the data needs to be the latest.

Ning Yuhuan said they needed quarterly indicators.

For example, it's already the last week of 2025, so data for the first three quarters is out. Besides this year's data, they also need several previous years' data.

Xu Lin directly instructed the small program to find a set of data and format it according to the econometric thesis data format.

Soon, the data was ready, all from public databases.

"That was fast!"

Ning Yuhuan was quite surprised looking at the resultant data.

Xu Lin explained, "These data are from those databases, just use them directly."

"Mm, mm, thank you, honey!"

"Is there anything else you need? Let's find it at once and then go eat."

"And related theses!"

Ning Yuhuan thought for a while: "At least twenty of them! Ten in Chinese and ten in foreign languages."

"Then how about thirty? Half each."

"Mm, mm."

Xu Lin let the small program search according to these instructions.

However, reminded by Ning Yuhuan, Xu Lin set a prerequisite for high-quality new theses.

High quality is straightforward: many papers are garbage and have no reference value.

As for newness, it's simple too. Papers from a decade ago in some fields have no reference value; times progress rapidly. Take global trade for example, a decade ago was a time when everyone got along well; the global economy was thriving back then. Now, however, it's de-globalization.

Papers are searched from thesis platforms like CNKI, Wanfang, among others; looking for high-quality new papers, the small program is close to infallible.

"Done!"

Soon, Xu Lin spoke, and there were thirty papers listed.

"So fast!"

"Time is life. Next time you need to find data and papers, ask me. Don't waste too much time on these things that are not very meaningful."

"Mm, mm, thank you, honey."

"No need to say thank you between a couple; let's have some real action tonight instead."

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