Trends in Undergraduate Economics Degrees, 1991–2012

The 2007–10 growth spurt (18 percent over three years) in U.S. undergraduate economics degrees came to an abrupt end in 2011 and 2012. Degrees awarded grew less than one percent over the past two years.     

Trends in Undergraduate Economics Degrees, 1991–2010

The trend in U.S. undergraduate economics degrees continued its upward trajectory in 2009–10.     

Two Decades of Trends in Undergraduate Economics Degrees, 1991–2011

The trend in U.S. undergraduate economics degrees continued its upward trajectory in 2010 to 2011, growing by an average of 4 percent.     

Trends in Undergraduate Economics Degrees: A 1993–94 Update

An examination of George Stigler's teaching career clarifies the requirements for an effective teacher of graduate economics and especially sheds light on the nature of the supervision of doctoral candidates. The heterogeneous composition of graduate students in aggregate means that quite distinct approaches can prove to be equally successful.     

Trends in undergraduate economics degrees, 1991–2017

Undergraduate degrees awarded in economics by U.S. colleges and universities were stagnant from 2009–10 through 2012–13, increased rapidly (almost 15 percent) over the two years from 2012–13 through 2014–15, but have again leveled off in 2015–16 and 2016–17.     

Trends in undergraduate economics degrees: 1991–2015

Undergraduate degrees awarded in economics by U.S. colleges and universities were stagnant from 2009–10 through 2012–13, but have increased rapidly (almost 14 percent) over the two years from 2012–13 through 2014–15.     

Authorship,Collaboration, Topics,and Research Gaps in Environmental and Resource Economics 1991–2015

Environmental and Resource Economics is one of the premier journals in the field of environmental economics. It was established with an aspiration to focus more on applied and policy relevant research compared to other established journals, and to establish better channels of communication and collaboration between researchers from Europe and other parts of the world. We present a text based exploratory analysis of 1630 articles published in the Journal from 1991 to 2015 that suggests the Journal has been somewhat successful in meeting both these aims. Perhaps more importantly, it shows the Journal continues to progress toward these goals. The European authors are the largest contributors to the Journal, which is in contrast to other prominent journals (such as Journal of Environmental Economics and Management and Ecological Economics). And while most of the collaboration has occurred within this geographic region (e.g., European authors collaborated with other European authors more frequently), this trend appears to be changing as the proportion of articles written by international collaborators is gradually increasing. Topic analysis reveals that almost all of the articles could be grouped under applied and/or policy relevant topics, and almost two-thirds of the articles are empirical in nature, which suggest that the journal has been able to fulfil both of its commitments. We also investigate trends in research foci over the last 25 years and what kind of research gaps can be discerned.     

Trends in undergraduate economics degrees, 2001–2018

Undergraduate degrees awarded in economics by U.S. colleges and universities were stagnant from 2010 (2009–10) through 2013, increased rapidly (almost 15%) over the two years from 2013 through 2015, but have subsequently leveled off in 2016 through 2018.     

Trends in compensation for production workers: 1948–1995

Between 1977 and 1995, real after-tax hourly compensation for production workers fell by almost 14 percent. Both real pre-tax wages and the real value of benefits fell over this period. These estimates were generated using a cost-of-living index that was adjusted for a wide range of upward and downward biases     

The changing economic status of U.S. disabled men: Trends and their determinants, 1982–1991

We track the level of economic well-being of the population of men who began receiving Social Security Disability Insurance benefits in 1980–81 from the time just after they became beneficiaries (in 1982) to 1991. We present measures of the economic well-being of disabled individuals and their nondisabled peers as indicators of the relative economic position of these two groups. These measures also provide an intertemporal comparison of well-being and hardship as disabled persons and their nondisabled peers age and retire. We first show several economic well-being indicators for new male recipients of disability benefits in 1982 and 1991. We then compare their economic position to that of a matched group of nondisabled males with sufficient work histories to have been disability-insured. Because labor market changes over this decade have led to a relative deterioration in the position of younger and less-educated workers, we compare men with disabilities to those without disabilities and distinguish different age and educational levels within the groups. We conclude by assessing the antipoverty effectiveness of Social Security income support for both younger and older male SSDI recipients. First version received: May 1998/final version received: July 1999     

The time structure of production in the US, 2002–2009

The US time structure of production during the 2002 through 2009 business cycle is characterized empirically using industry-level input-output data. An industry’s total industry output requirement (TIOR) is proposed as a metric for “roundaboutness”. I find that the time structure of production lengthened following the Federal Reserve’s 2002 expansionary deviation from the Taylor rule and then contracted during the Great Recession. Value added growth in the most-roundabout of US industries accelerated relative to that of the least-roundabout industries. Heading into the Great Recession, value-added growth in the most-roundabout industries contracted early and turned negative in 2007 while value-added growth in the least-roundabout industries remained positive until 2009. The stylized facts of the time structure of production are consistent with Austrian Business Cycle Theory.     

Autism in Economics? A Second Opinion

A popular claim among critics is that economic science is suffering from autism, a severe developmental disorder characterised by impairments in social relations and communication, combined with rigid and repetitive behaviour. So far, this allegation has not been substantiated. This essay explores the claim of autism in economics based on modern schemes of diagnostics. A key finding is that the structure of the critique against mainstream economics bears a striking resemblance to the structure of the diagnostic criteria for autism. Based on an examination of three groups of key symptoms, I conclude that the required set of criteria for the autism diagnosis are not met. However, there are parallels which may serve as constructive reminders for the future development and application of economic theories and models.     

Orthodox Core–Heterodox Periphery? Contrasting Citation Networks of Economics Departments in Vienna

ABSTRACT

The notion of an ‘orthodox core–heterodox periphery’ structure and the extent of interdisciplinary links have been widely discussed, and partially investigated bibliometrically, within economic discourse. We extend this research by applying tools from social network analysis to citation data of three economics departments located in Vienna, two mainstream and one non-mainstream, to assess their relative citation patterns. We show that both mainstream economics departments follow the asserted core–periphery pattern and have a mono-disciplinary research focus, while the citation network of the non-mainstream department has a polycentric structure and is both more heterodox and interdisciplinary. These findings suggest that discussions about the future of heterodox economics should pay more attention to the organizational level and seek allies from other disciplines.     

Autism in Economics? A Second Opinion

A popular claim among critics is that economic science is suffering from autism, a severe developmental disorder characterised by impairments in social relations and communication, combined with rigid and repetitive behaviour. So far, this allegation has not been substantiated. This essay explores the claim of autism in economics based on modern schemes of diagnostics. A key finding is that the structure of the critique against mainstream economics bears a striking resemblance to the structure of the diagnostic criteria for autism. Based on an examination of three groups of key symptoms, I conclude that the required set of criteria for the autism diagnosis are not met. However, there are parallels which may serve as constructive reminders for the future development and application of economic theories and models.     

Acknowledgements for refereeing, 1999–2009

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements for refereeing, 1999–2009     

When Galbraith Frightened Conservatives: Power in Economics,Economists’ Power,and Scientificity

In this article, I first expound John Kenneth Galbraith’s general theory of power. Galbraith always took into account phenomena of power in economics, and shed light on the power of economists in particular. I then show how the reaction of conservatives to the broadcasting of the Age of Uncertainty highlights the relevance of Galbraith’s theory. Letters exchanged by conservative Lords in an effort to fight against Galbraith’s ideas paradoxically illustrate his theory. This leads to questions about the status of economists, popularizers, and experts. Finally, I argue that convictions have a crucial role in scientific production, and that Robert Solow’s distinction between the “serious scholars” and the proselyte economist is irrelevant because of its incapacity to understand how economists produce knowledge.