Search for:

Start here
Guides
- Key ideas Understand what makes for a high-impact career.
  Read the full guide →
  Introduction
  Your most important decision
  Summary
  Foundations
  A definition of impact
  Future generations & their moral significance
  Effective altruism
  Global priorities
  Why problem selection is crucial
  The case for reducing existential risks
  This could be the most important century
  Our current list of pressing problems
  Contribution
  Which careers let you contribute most?
  Some solutions are far more effective than others
  Our list of high-impact careers
  Personal fit
  Fit is more important than you think
  Strategy
  What is career capital?
  How much to explore?
  Coordination and impact
  Balancing impact and doing what you love
  Aim higher: a rational case for dreaming big
  Three career stages
  Conclusion
  How much do careers differ in impact?
  Read the full guide →
- Problem profiles Find out about the world's biggest and most neglected problems.
  Go to problems hub →
  Top areas to work on
  Preventing an AI-related catastrophe
  Catastrophic pandemics
  Building effective altruism
  Global priorities research
  Nuclear war
  Epistemics and institutional decision making
  Climate change
  Great power conflict
  Other promising areas
  Promoting positive values
  Space governance
  See more →
  Go to problems hub →
- Career reviews Learn about high-impact career paths.
  See all our career reviews →
  Key categories of impactful careers
  Government and policy
  Organisation-building at effective nonprofits
  Research
  Applying an unusual strength to a needed niche
  Communication
  Earning to give
  List of top-recommended career paths
  AI safety technical research
  Long-term AI policy
  Founder of new projects
  Helping build the effective altruism community
  Grantmaker
  Operations management in high-impact organisations
  Research into global priorities
  Biorisk research, strategy, and policy
  China-related AI safety and governance
  Forecasting research and implementation
  Sometimes-recommended paths
  High-impact but especially competitive
  Promising but under-researched
  Impactful if you're an especially good fit
  Recommended career capital
  Steps to build your skills and network
  Making the most of your current job
  Doing good in any career
  How to invest in yourself
  See all our career reviews →
- Planning & decision making Use our tools to make concrete plans.
  See all planning resources →
  Create a high-impact career plan
  8-week career planning course
  Summary
  Career plan template
  Annual career check-up
  Make good career decisions
  Make an immediate decision
  Improve your decision-making skills
  See all planning resources →
- Browse all our content Pick a topic to explore or check out our most popular pieces.
  Selected topics
  Moral philosophy
  Skills
  Job satisfaction
  Anonymous advice
  Unconventional advice
  What to study
  Advocacy
  Catastrophic risks
  Meta-causes
  Priority paths
  See all topics →
  Top articles from outside our guides
  What makes for a dream job?
  Best charities to donate to
  Misconceptions about effective altruism
  High-impact research questions
  What are your chances of getting elected to Congress, if you try?
  How many lives does a doctor save?
  What's the impact of voting?
  Advice for undergraduates
  All articles →
  
  2017 career guide
  All career guide pages →
Read the full guide →
Introduction
Your most important decision
Summary
Foundations
A definition of impact
Future generations & their moral significance
Effective altruism
Global priorities
Why problem selection is crucial
The case for reducing existential risks
This could be the most important century
Our current list of pressing problems
Contribution
Which careers let you contribute most?
Some solutions are far more effective than others
Our list of high-impact careers
Personal fit
Fit is more important than you think
Strategy
What is career capital?
How much to explore?
Coordination and impact
Balancing impact and doing what you love
Aim higher: a rational case for dreaming big
Three career stages
Conclusion
How much do careers differ in impact?
Read the full guide →
Go to problems hub →
Top areas to work on
Preventing an AI-related catastrophe
Catastrophic pandemics
Building effective altruism
Global priorities research
Nuclear war
Epistemics and institutional decision making
Climate change
Great power conflict
Other promising areas
Promoting positive values
Space governance
See more →
Go to problems hub →
See all our career reviews →
Key categories of impactful careers
Government and policy
Organisation-building at effective nonprofits
Research
Applying an unusual strength to a needed niche
Communication
Earning to give
List of top-recommended career paths
AI safety technical research
Long-term AI policy
Founder of new projects
Helping build the effective altruism community
Grantmaker
Operations management in high-impact organisations
Research into global priorities
Biorisk research, strategy, and policy
China-related AI safety and governance
Forecasting research and implementation
Sometimes-recommended paths
High-impact but especially competitive
Promising but under-researched
Impactful if you're an especially good fit
Recommended career capital
Steps to build your skills and network
Making the most of your current job
Doing good in any career
How to invest in yourself
See all our career reviews →
See all planning resources →
Create a high-impact career plan
8-week career planning course
Summary
Career plan template
Annual career check-up
Make good career decisions
Make an immediate decision
Improve your decision-making skills
See all planning resources →
Selected topics
Moral philosophy
Skills
Job satisfaction
Anonymous advice
Unconventional advice
What to study
Advocacy
Catastrophic risks
Meta-causes
Priority paths
See all topics →
Top articles from outside our guides
What makes for a dream job?
Best charities to donate to
Misconceptions about effective altruism
High-impact research questions
What are your chances of getting elected to Congress, if you try?
How many lives does a doctor save?
What's the impact of voting?
Advice for undergraduates
All articles →

2017 career guide
All career guide pages →
Job board
Podcast
- The 80,000 Hours Podcast
- 80k After Hours
- Effective Altruism: An Introduction
- Effective Altruism: Ten Global Problems
Get 1-1 advice
Newsletter
Book giveaway

New releases
All articles
Community
About

Home Topics Careers Research Graduate study PhDs Economics PhD

Search for:

New releases
All articles
Community
About

Explore our archive by topic...

Big picture (104)
- Longtermism (46)
- Moral philosophy (44)
- Now vs. Later (8)
- True Impact (17)

Problem areas (315)
- Animal Welfare (24)
  - Factory Farming (15)
- Catastrophic risks (129)
  - Artificial Intelligence (44)
  - Biorisk reduction (29)
  - Climate change (12)
    - Geoengineering (2)
  - Nuclear security (19)
- COVID-19 (16)
- Developed world education (1)
- Future generations (39)
- Global Poverty (46)
  - Appropriate Technology (2)
  - Biomedical Research (12)
  - Developing World Education (3)
  - Global Health (13)
  - Immigration Reform (3)
  - Microcredit (2)
  - School Building (1)
- Meta-causes (120)
  - Global Priorities Research (36)
  - Improving Decision Making (33)
  - Promoting Effective Altruism (65)
- Other causes (15)
  - Charter Cities (1)
  - Ending Ageing (1)
  - Gun Control (3)
  - Philosophy (6)
- Scientific research (28)
  - Biomedical Research (9)
  - Science policy and infrastructure (10)

Priority paths (141)
- AI policy (22)
- AI technical safety (29)
- Biorisk strategy & policy (22)
- China specialists (5)
- Earning to give in quant trading (6)
- Forecasting & related research and implementation (14)
- Grantmaker (14)
- Operations at high impact organisations (13)
- Global priorities research (35)
- Roles at effective altruism organisations (16)

Careers (355)
- Arts and Entertainment (4)
- Business (53)
  - Entrepreneurship (47)
    - Social entrepreneurship (8)
    - Startup early employee (4)
    - Tech Entrepreneurship (26)
  - Sales and marketing (2)
- Consulting (5)
- Data science (15)
- Design (2)
- Education (3)
- Engineering (31)
  - Software Engineering (25)
- Finance (18)
  - Asset Management (7)
    - Quantitative hedge funds (4)
  - Investment Banking (8)
- Freelance (1)
- Government (50)
  - Party Politics (9)
- Journalism (18)
  - Journalist (6)
- Law (10)
  - Lawyer (7)
- Medicine (19)
  - Doctor (12)
  - Medical Researcher (6)
- Nonprofit (60)
  - Foundations (13)
    - Foundation Program Management (9)
  - Founding effective nonprofits (31)
  - Fundraising (10)
  - Philanthropic Advising (8)
- Politics (48)
  - Civil Service (11)
  - Party Politics (18)
- Remote (1)
- Research (138)
  - Academic Research (83)
    - History (3)
  - Graduate study (37)
    - PhDs (33)
      - Computer science PhD (10)
      - Economics PhD (14)
  - Research manager (6)
- Resources (4)
Frameworks and planning (184)
- Career capital (48)
  - Skills (26)
    - Judgement (7)
- Career trends (4)
- Decision making (30)
- Decision Tools (33)
- Exploration (4)
- Frameworks (33)
  - Cause selection (8)
  - Solution selection (2)
- Keeping options open (14)
- Personal fit (53)
  - Ability (19)
  - Job satisfaction (24)
- Rules of Thumb (18)
- Your Plan (25)
Other topics (184)
- Anonymous advice (18)
- Best resources (13)
- Effective Altruism (52)
- Forecasting (1)
- High Impact People (10)
- Job opportunities (13)
- Mental health (4)
- Motivation (3)
- Research principles (8)
- Unconventional advice (74)
- Volunteering (7)
- What to study (13)
Strategies (118)
- Advocacy (27)
- Earning to Give (81)
  - Donation effectiveness (12)
  - EtG advice (7)
  - EtG pros and cons (14)
  - Income (16)
- Influencing budgets (7)
Updates (41)

Topic archive: Economics PhD

Filter by content type:
All14
Blog posts7
Podcasts5
Career reviews2

All content tagged "Economics PhD"

2021

October

Forecasting and related research and implementation
Career review

September

#111 – Mushtaq Khan on using institutional economics to predict effective government reforms
Podcast

2020

August

#84 – What India did to stop COVID-19 and how well it worked
Podcast

2018

October

#45 – Economics Prof Tyler Cowen says our overwhelming priorities should be maximising economic growth and making civilisation more stable. Is he right?
Podcast

July

#38 – Prof Yew-Kwang Ng on ethics and how to create a much happier world
Podcast

May

#30 – Dr Eva Vivalt’s research suggests social science findings don’t generalize. So evidence-based development – what is it good for?
Podcast

2016

February

Plan change story: interview with Dillon Bowen, founder of Effective Altruism group at Tufts University
Blog post

2015

June

Why an economics PhD might be the best graduate program
Blog post
Economics PhDs
Career review
Advice on entering a US economics PhD from the UK with a non-quantitative background
Blog post

2014

February

In which career can you make the most difference?
Blog post

2013

December

Economics PhD the only one worth getting?
Blog post

November

Career Opportunities for Economics PhDs
Blog post

October

The value of economics PhDs: A conversation with Robin Hanson
Blog post

Filter by content type:
All14
Blog posts7
Podcasts5
Career reviews2

Join our newsletter

Get regular updates featuring our latest research, events near you, and high-impact career opportunities.

Get 1-1 advice

Want to tackle a pressing global problem with your career?

Speak to an advisor

Our research

Overview: Key ideas
Especially pressing world problems
Effective altruism
Future generations
List of careers
Career guide (2017)
All our research

Take action

Plan your career
Find a job
Get 1-1 advice
Join our community

About us

Why 80,000 Hours?
Meet the team
Our donors
Media coverage
Our mistakes

We're affiliated with the Future of Humanity Institute and the Global Priorities Institute at the University of Oxford.

We work closely with the Centre for Effective Altruism and Giving What We Can.

80,000 Hours is a project of the Effective Ventures Foundation (England and Wales registered charity number 1149828 and registered company number 07962181) with a registered 501(c)(3) Exempt Organization in the USA (Centre for Effective Altruism USA Inc., EIN 47-1988398).

Please contact us to suggest ideas, improvements, or corrections.

We do our best to provide useful information, but how you use the information is up to you. We don’t take responsibility for any loss that results from the use of information on the site. Please consult our full legal disclaimer and privacy policy.

80,000 Hours is a project of the Effective Ventures Foundation (England and Wales registered charity number 1149828 and registered company number 07962181) with a registered 501(c)(3) Exempt Organization in the USA (Centre for Effective Altruism USA Inc., EIN 47-1988398).

Please contact us to suggest ideas, improvements, or corrections.

We do our best to provide useful information, but how you use the information is up to you. We don’t take responsibility for any loss that results from the use of information on the site. Please consult our full legal disclaimer and privacy policy.