Worried about interests in economics

[seniorplow]

I've been interested in going to grad school in economics for a while, but I've recently been worrying about a few things. I don't really know which subfields I'm particularly interested in, and while many topics (such as game theory, macro, public finance, among others) have crossed my mind, nothing really sticks out. Is this normal? I feel that many people who enter grad school have a specific idea of why they want to go. For me, it seems like a broader interest in the field.

This questioning comes at a time when I have to decide between a research assistant position and a trading job. While the research assistant position would definitely give me more experience in economic research and better inform me of whether or not PhD Econ is right for me, I also feel that it kind of closes doors for me in case I find that I don't want to do it. Do people from trading ever go into econ grad school?

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

[hedgehogging]

This question worries me also. It comes at a time, when working part time (only 25-30hrs per week) in a hedge fund I've been earning over 50k a year, and giving this up for 5 years of research is difficult...

I have to say, I dont know anyone who did a top5 phd after being a trader/fund manager. I know people who were doing part time phds while on the job but in finance. I know people who went into trading after good phds - but the benefit of that in itself is debatable, though perhaps it gives you personal satisfaction and potential options later as well as reputation etc.

In my case, I hope to do a phd because I am more interested in academic economics (or econometrics in my case) than the trading/hedgie job. I can, to some extent, afford not to work for another 5 years I feel. Also, I feel that I can contribute more to the world by doing research.

If you on the other hand want to make millions fast - a PhD is not necessarily the way to go, unless you find some amazing statistical way to exploit arb ops., which will allow you to repeat the returns of Medallion :.

[Oikos-nomos]

Well, when I was about to graduate, I took a job as a trader. I only lasted 4 months, then I ran away. It was way too boring and unchallenging. So, after that I started an MA en Econ as a path to the Econ Phd. Taking that job helped me to see that I REALLY wanted to do the Phd, in fact I think I couldn't do anything else.

So, as it happened to me, a real world job may help you decide how much you want the Phd. I couldn't imagine myself working my whole life as a trader or financial consultant . But I wanted to have that experience and it was pretty useful, not only in discovering that I wanted to do the Phd more than ever before, but it also gave me an insight on how markets ACTUALLY work and how traders ACTUALLY trade. That real world experience will be valuable for me in the future I think.

And as for the fields, don't worry, most people don't know what they want to do when thet get to grad school, and some of those who think they do then discover that there are plenty more fish in the sea, and end up changing their fields. I for instance don't really know which ones to choose yet. But I'm aware we have plenty of time to decide, and that there are other things to worry before that, so we should keep relaxed about it.

Oh, and I also did RA for 1.5 years, It's not the same to assist people with they research than doing your own. Most of the time you get to do only the tedious stuff like data preparing, which will come in handy some day, but certainly it's not funny. And you work in topics that may not interest you. You get an idea how that 'researching' works, but when you actually do it you will have a more precise idea, I think.

Hope this helps!

Cheers

[Karina 07]

Have to comment: your thread title is fantastic!!