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The issue is that in nearly every PhD Econ program, first year students take a sequence of courses where the Spring semester builds upon what was taught in the Fall semester. Also, the pre-reqs for the field courses (i.e., second and third year courses) are usually the first year courses.
In all the programs with which I'm familiar, the only way that you could start in the Spring semester is if they considered your MA coursework to be equivalent to their Fall first year PhD courses (note: you'd still have to pass the comps/prelim exams, which would be based in part on material covered in the fall semester). However, departments very rarely award "transfer credit" (e.g., if you want to switch schools after your first year, then you almost always have to retake the first year courses at the new university). Besides academic reasons, I think that you'd be further disadvantaged by not starting with a cohort (you may think that its a trivial concern, but study groups are essential).
So I really can't envision a scenario in which you'd be able to start in the Spring. And even if you could find a program that would allow you to do it, I would strongly recommend against doing so.
Originally Posted by martanio
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