Does attending a school as undergrad give any advantage in its PhD econ admissions?

[HappyDays]

This is of course, assuming all other things equal (scores just as good, letters just as enthusiastic, great math grades, etc), since I wouldn't expect it to have a huge impact. I'm new here, so apologies if this was asked before...I actually tried searching for it and was surprised I couldn't find any threads covering this. For reference, I attend a high ranking (somewhere within the top 20 or so?) university. It's econ phD program is also within the top 20 or so, but for my particular field of interest within economics, I believe it is within the top 5 or 10. I tried looking back at where past alumni for my current school ended up, but there was only info for less than 5 people or so, all of whom ended up in a higher ranked phd program than this current school....going for an econ phd just isn't all that popular at my school.

[Food4Thought]

There are plenty of people on the high end that do their graduate work the same place as their undergrad. But I think that most people prefer going somewhere else (provided that it is not a downgrade), because it allows them to interact with new people, see a new place, etc.

 

There definitely is a sense of undesirability in hiring your own PhD graduates, but that you want new ideas flowing into the department, and someone who was taught by people in your department are not as likely to have radically new ideas.

 

I would say your advantage in admissions comes from the fact that your letters of recommendation will be well-regarded and trusted by the adcom, since they will be known to the adcom. I have a hard time believing that any school would reject a student for a reason like, "oh, he should go somewhere else to have a different experience!"

 

I think this question is very interesting, and I hope there is good discussion on this topic.