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I want to study the decision-making of rational, altruistic agents. Where do I go?


neuroeconomist

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Hey everyone! So I know what I want to do in graduate school: model the decision-making process of rational, altruistic agents, also known as Effective Altruists (Effective altruism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). However, I'm not sure which programs would be best for this (Behavioral Economics? Decision Sciences like CMU? etc.)

 

Any thoughts on where I should apply would be much appreciated.

 

PROFILE:

Type of Undergrad: Neuroscience major/economics minor at flagship state school

Undergrad GPA: 3.9

Type of Grad: N/A

Grad GPA: N/A

GRE: Will be taking this fall.

Math Courses: AP Calculus BC (5); Multivariable Calculus (A); Differential Geometry (A); Planning to take Real Analysis and Linear Algebra this fall.

Econ Courses (undergrad-level): AP Micro/Macro (5/5); Intermediate Micro (A); Intermediate Macro (A); Econometrics (A); Planning to take Game Theory and Computational Economics this Fall.

Other Courses: AP Statistics (5)

Letters of Recommendation:

1.) Neuroscience research mentor; leader in his field, is actually moving this fall to become Stanford faculty. I've been told he writes great LoRs!

2.) Neuroscience research mentor; post-doctoral fellow who I work with a lot personally. Not as famous, but knows me very well.

3.) I correspond regularly with two of my previous economics professors who were both graduate students at an Ivy league (I transferred from an Ivy League). One now works at Columbia and the other in Southeast Asia. But I am hoping to find an economics professor to work with this summer and get some direct research experience and have a letter of recommendation from him/her.

SOP: I'm applying this upcoming fall.

Concerns: I haven't done economics research! My research area so far has been studying risk-taking behavior, so it's more psychology based. I also work with large fMRI data sets. If I can't get enough research experience in time, I can take a gap year and go work somewhere doing economics research. I'd appreciate any thoughts on this.

Other: I have near-perfect SAT/ACT scores and expect to do very well on the GRE. I transferred from an Ivy League, and the difference in course requirements is a large part of why I switched to neuroscience when I transferred. But I know I want to study economics in graduate school.

Applying to: Unsure.

Edited by neuroeconomist
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According to that Wiki article, it seems that you are wanting to do economics with a moral philosophy. That is largely a no-no in many programs. I will repeat what my behavioral economics professor said to a student who asked about the morality of something we were studying. "As an economist, I kinda don't know what that word, morality, means."

 

But back to your point:

I think altruism isn't necessarily a behavioral topic. I would say it is a topic most heavily studied by experimentalists who dabble in behavioral. James Andreoni at UCSD does a lot of stuff with altruism. Also, since your name is neuroeconomist, Caltech is an obvious school to apply to.

 

 

Do you have a list of schools already made? I think that will give others an idea of which schools you are already considering, and allow us to add to it.

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^Any kind of economics or social science has an implicit moral philosophy. The idea behind effective altruism seems mostly predicated upon a mix of consequentialism and the behavioral assumption that (some) people have a preference for altruism, both of which are compatible with the moral foundation behind mainstream neoclassical economics (which is not true for a lot of other ideas in philosophy).

 

Judging by that article part of the idea is motivated by the desire to make existing altruistic acts more efficient - a kind of information provision - which is more of an activist goal than an area of research, but I'm pretty sure that's not the part that OP is interested in given that he specifically highlights his interests in modeling the behavioral acts of existing, rational altruistic agents.

 

In response to OP's inquiry, there's a fairly substantial literature in economics taking into account altruism in individuals; as Food4Thought mentioned, there's a large micro, experimentalist literature on whether people actually act altruistically and when they do so. There's actually also a smaller, but growing literature that take into account the effects of altruism on a macro-scale (and rational choice here is almost always assumed - perhaps with less justification than it should have), and in particular in its effects on cultural and political institutions, which you might also be interested in. I can't find the paper I was thinking of, but here's an imperfect example: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022053100926784 . The reference list will provide you more, and looking up the background of the different authors will give you a rough idea of what programs work for you.

Edited by chateauheart
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Per your first post, you are looking at very good prospects given the 20/30 rank you are coming from. I can't help but think you're at Ohio State.

 

I second Foods Caltech comment. CMU is also good. Catrina mentioned NYU last time.

 

Although you have set yourself up for a good admissions season, you should still cast your net wide and not expect to break the top 5 although Top10 is possible. Caltech and CMU have very small classes-Admissions is likely much more difficult at these two than anyplace comparable.

 

I must second Food's comment that it sounds like you are less interested in Econ and more in some exotic preference strongly psychology or philosophy driven. Perhaps you should look into some of Binmore's work summarizing morality in games, the philosophical aspect, and some of the seemingly altruistic behaviors observed. This would surely get you some type of list of notable authors to consider.

 

I suspect that you'd be best off not focusing on this type of work for your phd, and instead on something 'worthy' of being hired off the job market (sorry). Sometimes we have to play the games they want us to in order to get the payoff we want. Just the nature of the beast. The only exception might be if you work with someone like camerer, loewenstein, or comparable individuals.

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I worked as RA for a Prof. who does altruistic stuff in a DGSE intergenerational macro context Daniel Barczyk

 

These are the two theoretical papers, one just published and one still forthcoming, both in good journals:

 

http://danielbarczyk-research.mcgill.ca/research_files/TransfPaper_2nd_revision.pdf

http://danielbarczyk-research.mcgill.ca/research_files/TrUncert_FinalVersion_Jan14.pdf

 

And this is the "application" of the model to long-term-care, that I helped worked on:

 

http://danielbarczyk-research.mcgill.ca/research_files/LTC_Midwest13.pdf

 

Really interesting stuff. I don't know if that's what you are looking for but it's an example of how mainstream macro looks at the problem.

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Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I'll clarify my research interests and supply my current list of prospective programs:

 

I am interested in both prescriptive and descriptive questions: How should philanthropic foundations/individuals improve their charitable contributions to do more good (and how do they currently make these decisions)? How do we (should we) compare across broad sectors of non-profits, like climate change with global health with education? How do people value future individuals compared to ones living now in their altruistic decisions? How do people value non-human animals or sentient AI compared to other humans? How would perfectly rational, altruistic agents cooperate and make decisions together? How would a perfectly rational, altruistic individual decide on a career?

 

My list of place to apply so far consists of CMU, Caltech, University of Zurich, GWU, Stanford, Columbia, Northwestern (Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences), Duke (Decision Sciences), INSEAD (Decision Sciences).

 

It is also worth noting that I'm not particularly interested in the moral questions brought up here, although I understand that any prescriptive social science is based on some moral framework.

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I think the statement "I want to study the decision-making of rational, altruistic agents." is somewhat removed from "Where do I go?"

 

Your question only really matters in the sense that you should choose programs that have a large number of people working on game theory, neuroeconomics and behavioural economics. What you should not expect is to begin studying that exact area in your first or even second year of a PhD program. Your list of schools looks good in that regard, but I just thought I would remind you that you will be going to these institutions to study economics, not to study the decision-making of rational, altruistic agents per se.

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I think the statement "I want to study the decision-making of rational, altruistic agents." is somewhat removed from "Where do I go?"

 

Your question only really matters in the sense that you should choose programs that have a large number of people working on game theory, neuroeconomics and behavioural economics. What you should not expect is to begin studying that exact area in your first or even second year of a PhD program. Your list of schools looks good in that regard, but I just thought I would remind you that you will be going to these institutions to study economics, not to study the decision-making of rational, altruistic agents per se.

 

Thanks! That's very true. The answers I was seeking was more of the answer you give in your second sentence,

 

...you should choose programs that have a large number of people working on game theory, neuroeconomics and behavioural economics.

 

I wasn't sure if behavioural economics was the best place for this, or perhaps a PhD in Decision Sciences (usually in Business Schools)

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I wasn't sure if behavioural economics was the best place for this, or perhaps a PhD in Decision Sciences (usually in Business Schools)

 

Your Q&A indicate you want to be a professor post Ph.D. You'll have more luck on the job market, I think, if you pursue an Econ Degree rather than a Ph.D in a business school. That is, a degree from a business school (even if you take similar coursework) will likely limit you from being a professor of Economics. Earning an Econ Ph.D does not limit you the other way around, however, given what you are proposing to research.

 

My comments above characterize what I have gathered from similar questions that I have posted, and posts I have read on this forum. One mitigating factor in this equation is still who your references are when you enter the job market. If you have someone that can place you well, it won't matter as much. You're just going to have a more difficult time finding overlap (to make the call for placements) when earning your degree from the business school.

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Your Q&A indicate you want to be a professor post Ph.D. You'll have more luck on the job market, I think, if you pursue an Econ Degree rather than a Ph.D in a business school. That is, a degree from a business school (even if you take similar coursework) will likely limit you from being a professor of Economics. Earning an Econ Ph.D does not limit you the other way around, however, given what you are proposing to research.

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Are you sure?

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Your Q&A indicate you want to be a professor post Ph.D. You'll have more luck on the job market, I think, if you pursue an Econ Degree rather than a Ph.D in a business school. That is, a degree from a business school (even if you take similar coursework) will likely limit you...

 

No. Just no.

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According to that Wiki article, it seems that you are wanting to do economics with a moral philosophy. That is largely a no-no in many programs. I will repeat what my behavioral economics professor said to a student who asked about the morality of something we were studying. "As an economist, I kinda don't know what that word, morality, means."

 

There are a range of moral discussions of economic theories, many of them made by the progenitors of those theories like Arrow. Most economists who repeat this kind of crap have an insufficient grasp of economic theory and are not confident enough in their own research standing to admit the caveats and subtlety of economic theory.

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I was cautioned against pursuing a similar degree in a business school-the reason being that I would have a more difficult time being hired in an Econ department.

 

Is this inaccurate?

 

Potentially. Your background makes you a better candidate for a business school, though, so you have to think about your decision in terms of the margins you are facing, not the average student applying (which is where most of the canned advice you will receive comes from). A good business Ph.D. that is strong on the econ side will get you a job at a business school without a problem. What's a "good" business Ph.D.? I don't know - you'd have to ask people in business schools. But top 20 is a good rule of thumb across disciplines.

 

If you can land in a top 20 econ department and are extremely confident you want to track towards economics and away from the psychological stuff, there's no reason to go to a business school. I doubt that will happen, though. Neuroeconomics is a negligible subfield in economics compared to other work, and has mostly flamed out from what I understand. If you want to do mathematical psychology with game theory and empirical tests via neurological tools, your best bet is to go to a decision science program that either has strong ties to an economics department (if you want to do theory) or a psychology department (if you're interested in the empirical end more).

 

If you're sick of the neurological stuff and you want to do essentially an amalgamation of sociology, history, and political science, with mathematical modeling and statistics -- that's applied micro. If you want to do a super traditional field in economics like IO or Labor or Macro, then we wouldn't be having a conversation about whether or not to go to a business school, I feel like ;)

 

sorry this was meant for the neuroeconomics person

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Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I'll clarify my research interests and supply my current list of prospective programs:

 

I am interested in both prescriptive and descriptive questions: How should philanthropic foundations/individuals improve their charitable contributions to do more good (and how do they currently make these decisions)? How do we (should we) compare across broad sectors of non-profits, like climate change with global health with education? How do people value future individuals compared to ones living now in their altruistic decisions? How do people value non-human animals or sentient AI compared to other humans? How would perfectly rational, altruistic agents cooperate and make decisions together? How would a perfectly rational, altruistic individual decide on a career?

 

My list of place to apply so far consists of CMU, Caltech, University of Zurich, GWU, Stanford, Columbia, Northwestern (Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences), Duke (Decision Sciences), INSEAD (Decision Sciences).

 

It is also worth noting that I'm not particularly interested in the moral questions brought up here, although I understand that any prescriptive social science is based on some moral framework.

 

I'd go to a business program if you want to do this applied work.

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There are a range of moral discussions of economic theories, many of them made by the progenitors of those theories like Arrow. Most economists who repeat this kind of crap have an insufficient grasp of economic theory and are not confident enough in their own research standing to admit the caveats and subtlety of economic theory.

 

Not to mention that the discipline started as a moral philosophy!

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The market for Business School profs is generally very strong relative to the academic market in general. If your goal is to be a professor in general (open to B School or Econ Dept), then I don't think there is a reason to prefer an Econ PhD over a B School PhD (unless the Econ Dept is significantly higher ranked). If your goal is to specifically be a professor in an Econ Dept (rather than open to either Econ or B School), then a PhD in Econ might be a better choice.
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Also good to note that B Schools are often quite diverse in terms of what programs they offer. Crossover that exists between B Schools and Econ Depts would generally be limited to the more econ-related fields in the B School. Cross-over between fields like organizational behavior or marketing in the B School and an Econ Dept, for example, would be more unusual. So it really is difficult to assess an individual's possibility to cross-over between an Econ Dept and B School without knowing exactly what in the B School that individual would be doing.
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