This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

The Undergraduate Origins of Ph.D. Economists

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
John J. Siegfried () (Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University and AEA)
Wendy A. Stock () (Department of Economics and Agricultural Economics, Montana State University)

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

We 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 and examine relationships between type of undergraduate institution and attrition and time-to-degree in Ph.D. programs. The total number of new economics Ph.D.s awarded to U.S. citizens has declined precipitously over the past thirty years. Concurrently, the number of 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 Ph.D. in economics each year holding their bachelors degree from a university that offers a Ph.D. 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 Ph.D. in economics are liberal arts colleges. Graduates of liberal arts colleges also have shorter time-to-degree and higher verbal GRE scores than other economics Ph.D. students.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/Econ/wparchive/workpaper/vu06-w11.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function: First version, 2006
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University in its series Working Papers with number 0611.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length:
Date of creation: May 2006
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:van:wpaper:0611

Contact details of provider:
Postal: Box 1819, Station B, Nashville, TN 37235
Fax: 615-343-8495
Email:
Web page: http://sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/econ/
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Diana Weymark).

Related research
Keywords: Ph.D. in economics; undergraduate degree;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
A22 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - Undergraduate
A23 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - Graduate

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

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)
Full references

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. "Attrition in Economics Ph.D. Programs," Working Papers 0608, Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. 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:
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? IDEAS also indexes books.

This page was last updated on 2009-11-14.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.