I have trouble with finding phd program of behavioral economics.

[onewayticket]

I'm very interested in behavioral economics and experimental economics and did a lot of homework to find programs and professors specific in this field. However, according to my rather weak profile, I probably won't have the chance to enter universities in the top 30s which are full of professors study behavioral economics,such as Harvard or even CMU. Please tell me some program that are good at behavioral econ. but not in the top 30s. I plan to apply to U Arizona. There are two professors study this. Is that right? Thanks a lot, I'm an international student.

[z109620]

You should post your profile so TMers can better advise you on programs. That being said, I have heard that U Pitt is a good school for experimental economics which is not in top 30 and has pretty good placment. Also Caltech, however, this might be a reach if you have a weak profile which lacks math.

Good Luck.

[GymShorts]

I suspect that CalTech is harder to get into than a couple of the top 20 schools.

[OneMoreEcon]

Originally Posted by GymShorts

I suspect that CalTech is harder to get into than a couple of the top 20 schools.

Because it's possibly top 10 for micro theory and only admits a handful of students each year (and enrolls even less)?



For the OP, one idea is to look at European schools. In some ways, European schools are much more open to behavioral and experimental work. It's harder to get a US academic job from these schools... but if your goal isn't necessarily a job in a US university, then you might be fine with the prospects. If you do some research, you'll find a good mix of European schools that are very open to behavioral and experimental work, some of which have some of the leaders in the field (just ask Antichron ).

As for US schools, my opinion is that you'll find behavioral people at very good and very not-so-good schools. Experimental is a bit different... schools that invest in an experimental lab are much more likely to hire a few faculty members in the area in order to make good use of the investment in the lab.

One of the "weaker" schools I've heard about fairly recently for behavioral is Georgia State. At some point, I got the impression UT-Dallas had some promising researchers who were getting a lot of attention. Depending on your profile, also check out UC Santa Cruz and UC Santa Barbara (Gary Charness has coauthored with Matt Rabin, and you can't do better than that in behavioral econ).

[hawk30]

GMU has a center, headed up by Vernon Smith, for nueroeconomics: The Center for the Study of Neuroeconomics Don't know anything more than that.

[unitroot]

never mind

[ICECOLDECON]

Originally Posted by onewayticket

I'm very interested in behavioral economics and experimental economics and did a lot of homework to find programs and professors specific in this field. However, according to my rather weak profile, I probably won't have the chance to enter universities in the top 30s which are full of professors study behavioral economics,such as Harvard or even CMU. Please tell me some program that are good at behavioral econ. but not in the top 30s. I plan to apply to U Arizona. There are two professors study this. Is that right? Thanks a lot, I'm an international student.

I think that you are right on with Arizona. Definitely look into Florida State, they are trying to make that their specialty. Also, Texas A and M offers experimental/behavioral....placement isnt great though...

[GymShorts]

Originally Posted by hawk30

GMU has a center, headed up by Vernon Smith, for nueroeconomics: The Center for the Study of Neuroeconomics Don't know anything more than that.

I heard he left last semester. The center is still there though.

[unitroot]

Is Neuroeconomics really economics though? Seems like it answers questions of psychology or neuroscience..

[OneMoreEcon]

Originally Posted by hawk30

GMU has a center, headed up by Vernon Smith, for nueroeconomics: The Center for the Study of Neuroeconomics Don't know anything more than that.

I think Kevin McCabe and Dan Houser are the only guys from that group still at GMU. Everyone else was hired away as a group by some school in California without a PhD program (and whose name I don't remember, but you can find easily with Google). However, it's not very clear from the GMU website which faculty are still there and which aren't. Vernon Smith, for instance, is gone... but still listed on the department website. The easiest thing to do is search for the school that hired everyone away and see what overlap appears between the faculties... those guys left GMU.