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The Undergraduate Origins of PhD Economists

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Author Info
John J. Siegfried (Vanderbilt University)
Wendy A. Stock () (Montana State University)

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Abstract

The authors document the types of undergraduate colleges and universities attended by those who earned a doctorate in economics from an American university from 1966 through 2003. They examine relationships between type of undergraduate institution and attrition and time-to-degree in PhD programs. The total number of new economics PhDs awarded to U.S. citizens has declined precipitously over the past 30 years. Concurrently, the number of new economics doctorates who hold undergraduate degrees from U.S. universities has fallen by half, from a high of about 800 in 1972 to about 400 in 2003. Among those who have earned undergraduate degrees from American institutions, the mix of schools attended by the doctorates has remained relatively stable, with about 55 percent of those who earn a PhD in economics each year holding their bachelor’s degree from a university that offers a PhD in economics and a bit more than 10 percent holding a bachelors degree from a selective liberal arts college. Currently, 18 of the 25 American undergraduate institutions that send the largest percentage of their graduating classes on to earn a PhD in economics are liberal arts colleges. Graduates of liberal arts colleges also have shorter time-to-degree and higher verbal Graduate Record Exam (GRE) scores than other economics PhD students.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Helen Dwight Reid Foundation in its journal The Journal of Economic Education.

Volume (Year): 38 (2007)
Issue (Month): 4 ()
Pages: 461-482
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Handle: RePEc:jee:journl:v:38:y:2007:i:4:p:461-482

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Related research
Keywords: economics education; PhD economists; undergraduate degrees;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
A11 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Role of Economics; Role of Economists
A14 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Sociology of Economics
A22 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - Undergraduate

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Wendy A. Stock & T. Aldrich Finegan & John J. Siegfried, 2006. "Attrition in Economics Ph.D. Programs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 458-466, May. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. John J. Siegfried, 1999. "Trends in Undergraduate Economics Degrees, 1997–98," Journal of Economic Education, Helen Dwight Reid Foundation, vol. 30(3), pages 325-328. [Downloadable!]
  3. Wendy A. Stock & Richard M. Alston, 2000. "Effect of Graduate-Program Rank on Success in the Job Market," Journal of Economic Education, Helen Dwight Reid Foundation, vol. 31(4), pages 389-401. [Downloadable!]
  4. Siegfried, John & Getz, Malcolm, 2006. "Where do the children of professors attend college?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 201-210, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Siegfried, J.J. & Stock, W.A., 2000. "So You Want to Earn a PH.D. in Economics: How Long do you Think it Will Take?," Williams Project on the Economics of Higher Education 53, Department of Economics, Williams College.
    Other versions:
  6. John J. Siegfried, 2000. "How Many College Students Are Exposed to Economics?," Journal of Economic Education, Helen Dwight Reid Foundation, vol. 31(2), pages 202-204. [Downloadable!]
  7. John J. Siegfried & Wendy A. Stock, 1999. "The Labor Market for New Ph.D. Economists," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 13(3), pages 115-134, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Wendy A. Stock & Lee W. Hansen, 2004. "Ph. D. Program Learning and Job Demands: How Close Is the Match?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(2), pages 266-271, May. [Downloadable!]
  9. Richard B. Freeman & Emily Jin & Chia-Yu Shen, 2004. "Where Do New US-Trained Science-Engineering PhDs come from?," NBER Working Papers 10554, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Wendy A. Stock & T. Aldrich Finegan & John J. Siegfried, 2006. "Matriculation in U.S. Economics Ph.D. Programs: How Many Accepted Americans Do Not Enroll?," Working Papers 0609, Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Wendy A. Stock & T. Aldrich Finegan & John J. Siegfried, 2006. "Attrition in Economics Ph.D. Programs," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 458-466, May. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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This page was last updated on 2009-10-29.

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