Career Opportunities for Economics PhDs
Introduction
This post presents some research notes we made while investigating the value of economics PhDs. We were motivated to do this research because we have some reasons to think that an economics PhD is a particularly good way to build career capital and keep one’s options open. We have coached several individuals who are considering applying to economics PhD programs. We lacked information about a) how useful an economics PhD is for high impact careers outside of academia and b) how important attending a top ranked program is for different career options. With more information, we can be more confident in determining whether an economics PhD or an alternative is the best option in individual cases.
Summary
Key findings from our research are:
A majority (about 60%) of economics PhDs place into academic positions immediately following graduate school. About one-in-six place into government, and a similar percentage place into the private sector. Very few place into nonprofits or think tanks.
Program tier does not appear to affect what sector one places into, but placement types can vary widely between individual programs.
Within academia, professorships in top departments are largely held by graduates of top tier programs. For example, twenty-six percent of faculty at the top 15 departments earned their PhDs at Harvard or MIT.
One-in-three professors at LSE and Oxford, top ranked departments outside of the US, went to a 1st tier program in the US.
Prestigious awards within economics tend to go to individuals who graduated from top-ranked programs.