PhD in Economics

[ImamicPH]

Quote from a529612:

I wouldn't says easily. There was an infamous story about an unemployed Harvard MBA grad in Time mag a few years back. There's no such thing as guarantee in life.

Plus this guy says he like economics. Why would he subject himself to a marketing or management class? Have you ever sat through a management course? Took a written exam on conflict resolution?

If wallstreetgolfer has a passion for economics, he might go on to write great papers for a journal. Okay, let's face it, he's not going to cure cancer but it's a legitimate science. It's not physics but it's something. Not something you want to pass over for information systems MBA class. This is a database . . . .

 

[moo]

Quote from ImamicPH:

We need economists and if they are doing their job, we don't know we need them.

Disagree. Most economists are worthless. There's the small minority who are original and brilliant, but the rest are just cheerleaders. I don't understand why every bank wants to have one, but perhaps it's a marketing thing. Like the "analysts", who supposedly add value by giving their opinion on stocks.

IMO, economist / strategist is a miserable job.

 

[ImamicPH]

Quote from moo:

Disagree. Most economists are worthless. There's the small minority who are original and brilliant, but the rest are just cheerleaders. I don't understand why every bank wants to have one, but perhaps it's a marketing thing. Like the "analysts", who supposedly add value by giving their opinion on stocks.

IMO, economist / strategist is a miserable job.

I've never worked with an economist. I've had two market-related jobs. You go down and talk to a broker and ask to speak to their economist, you're not going to find one.

But we definately need them. Fed Funds Rate/money supply etc. This is all the crap we take for granted that economists are responsible for.

I've seen economic papers that were interesting, and if all the data was correct, would predict markets in theory, no question.

But as far as a trading company LLC or something, economists aren't needed. This is EliteTrader, right? so I see where you're coming from.

 

[Bernoulli]

WallStGolfer31,

I was considering something similar about 20 yrs. ago and was in the masters program in economics at NYU. Back then it was a pretty poor program by my estimation. In the past few years they have gone on a hiring binge and really improved the quality of their faculty. I don't know how well structured the program but I imagine it is better than it was. When I was there the graduate courses were in the evening so I could work during the day. BTW take a look at the quality of the students entering the department; that is a good reflection of the competitiveness of the program.

Columbia has recently beefed up its program also and would be very competitive in the NY market. I personally think it is the best choice.

You might want to consider looking at getting a PhD from a business school. That may be better aligned with your interests.

 

[IV_Trader]

Quote from paperboy:

When the air comes out of the balloon then i think those jobs will be hard to find. Better to learn growing your own tomatoes

best post on this thread

 

[piezoe]

The job market for Ph.D. Economists has been poor for some time now. Consider what the market will be before investing the time and money, unless you are independently wealthy and just don't care. Economics at the Ph.D. level has become highly mathematical. If you like advanced applied math, partial differential equations, that sort of thing, you'll find Economics interesting. A Ph.D. in Finance is were the big bucks are, but not as intellectually challanging. In some disciplines, the hard sciences in particular, a masters degree is a consolation prize, and therfore carries a certain stigma. I don't know about a masters in economics, but i sure would check that out.

 

[a529612]

You can't go wrong with something Ivy League under your belt.

 

[annaland]

WallStGolfer31,
I'm currently pursuing my PhD in Finance at Rutgers. By the time you’re at the PhD level, every single professor supports you and is more than willing to work with you. If you’re dedicated and enjoy it, it’s definitely worth it. Just make sure you understand that you spend at least 2 years just doing research and writing. It takes some people 2 years to collect the data they need for their study and another two years to write their dissertation, so it can be a tough road but is extremely rewarding. There are plenty of jobs that prefer PhD candidates and there is a large demand for Finance professors - I’m not sure about Econ. I know that entry level finance professors at RU start at $150,000. Not too bad for entry level considering that most of them only teach 1-3 classes a semester! If you have questions, feel free to PM me.
Best of luck,
Anna

Quote from WallStGolfer31:

On the question of schools I'm not sure yet. I'm still a junior, but I'll have an idea of the different schools I will apply to by the end of the school year.

My dad is a NYU BS,MS, and PhD alumni so I'm assuming I'd get a legacy application for NYU (No assurance of acceptance, but it increases your chances a little.)

The schools I'm thinking about are:

NYU
Columbia
Rutgers
Duke
& Boston College

Backups:
Indiana U
& KU


For Yannis,

I really love both finance and economics. It's more for personal enrichment than for salary purposes. I'd like to teach part-time on the college level when I retire though. Though Yannis, I do appreciate your detailed response! I need all the opinions I can get.



Thanks for all the replies everyone, anyone else who wants to comment is still welcome!

 

[moo]

Quote from ImamicPH:

But we definately need them. Fed Funds Rate/money supply etc. This is all the crap we take for granted that economists are responsible for.

Fed Funds - don't need that either. Nor the whole central banking system. Central banking is hugely harmful to the world.

And money supply? Most economists don't care about it! When they certainly should - it's probably the most important piece of data they should focus on. But they don't because they are clueless. Instead they focus on guessing the meaningless monthly reports of every little data that's supposed to be important, but are just random noise.

Yes, we do need good economists. That's just not what we get. Like we don't get mutual funds who could even match the market, nor stock analysts with valuable advice. The average economist is like the average person, just follows the crowd and babbles about whatever that is currently in fashion. No courage to produce or even think about anything original.

 

[ImamicPH]

Quote from moo:

Fed Funds - don't need that either. Nor the whole central banking system. Central banking is hugely harmful to the world.

Why don't you propose a better way to handle it then.