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Should I get an advanced degree in Econ if I want to learn how to develop?


fmill019

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Should I get an advanced degree in Economics if I want to learn how to develop and grow (improve the livelihoods) an impoverished region in the world and turn it into a regional super-power, either a city, a state, or a country?

 

I really am trying to decide on a graduate program that would best give me the skills towards doing this whether it be Finance, Economics, Business Administration, etc.

 

But I am really confused as towards which discipline would help me in this.

 

Thanks any and everyone for any advice!

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This sounds a lot like Developmental economics. There are some schools that are strong in this area. As to whether you require postgraduate qualifications to learn, I don't think so. If you want your ideas heard, qualifications tend to add stock to what you say and make people more interested in what you propose.
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This sounds a lot like Developmental economics. There are some schools that are strong in this area. As to whether you require postgraduate qualifications to learn, I don't think so. If you want your ideas heard, qualifications tend to add stock to what you say and make people more interested in what you propose.

 

Oh awesome! Thank you so much!

It is surprising that you say post-graduate qualifications aren't necessary in learning this!

 

Usually the advice given over the internet is that Economics at the undergraduate level is completely useless, and that in order to understand anything at least a Master's is needed!

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I feel the need to qualify my statement made earlier. You don't strictly need postgraduate qualification to study it. You can read up and learn on your own. It's just that if you're looking into doing meaningful work and hoping to effect change at a higher level (presumably in your own country), then no one will take advice from a measly graduate with a bachelor. Getting a PhD will lend some credibility in the stuff you suggest, assuming you intend to enter policy work.
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Sounds like you'd be better off studying politics, public administration, or public policy, to be honest.

 

Economists are positive researchers. The work you do in an Econ program focuses on what is not what ought to be or how to alter it to be the way you wish. I'd recommend you read William Easterly's "Tyranny of Experts," Jonathan Katz's "The Big Truck That Went By," or Nina Munk's "The Idealist" to understand how economists would view the ideas you propose.

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Econ Ph.D. is the most useful program in development economics field, since you can place yourself inside academia as well as outside academia (ex. intergovernmental organization, think tank and other NGOs). Also, If you want to be a scholar in the development front (ex. Banerjee, Duflo, Karlan), then Econ Ph.D. is must.

 

Otherwise, there are other graduate programs which are still useful in development area. A lot of economists with non-econ degree (ex. public policy, information science, etc.) are conducting researches and publishing papers. If you are more interested in field work than in theories, then non-econ programs are also great options to consider.

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  • 1 year later...
Sounds like you'd be better off studying politics, public administration, or public policy, to be honest.

 

Economists are positive researchers. The work you do in an Econ program focuses on what is not what ought to be or how to alter it to be the way you wish. I'd recommend you read William Easterly's "Tyranny of Experts," Jonathan Katz's "The Big Truck That Went By," or Nina Munk's "The Idealist" to understand how economists would view the ideas you propose.

 

Sorry but are you sure about this? I just got through meeting two economists who work at the IMF who just released a book studying how best to develop the Caribbean as a regional economic super-power! They trekked everything from how to deal with crime, to different energy sources each Caribbean country should tap into to make their region more competitive with the rest of the world.

 

Both of them were PhD Economists.

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Econ Ph.D. is the most useful program in development economics field, since you can place yourself inside academia as well as outside academia (ex. intergovernmental organization, think tank and other NGOs). Also, If you want to be a scholar in the development front (ex. Banerjee, Duflo, Karlan), then Econ Ph.D. is must.

 

Otherwise, there are other graduate programs which are still useful in development area. A lot of economists with non-econ degree (ex. public policy, information science, etc.) are conducting researches and publishing papers. If you are more interested in field work than in theories, then non-econ programs are also great options to consider.

 

This is excellent! Thanks for this! Unfortunately yes I am interested in doing field work as well which makes my path quite difficult to decide! Currently it's a toss up between Economics PhD and PublicPolicy. Public Policy seems a tad bit too fluffy but at least the bulk of the discipline involves actively putting forth solutions to issues of economic and social inequality. I'm not sure if Economics as a whole really concerns itself with such things.

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Sorry but are you sure about this? I just got through meeting two economists who work at the IMF who just released a book studying how best to develop the Caribbean as a regional economic super-power! They trekked everything from how to deal with crime, to different energy sources each Caribbean country should tap into to make their region more competitive with the rest of the world.

 

Both of them were PhD Economists.

 

One thing to consider, writing a book about theoretically developing a country is different from actually developing a country. Anyone can speculate about the effects of their policy recommendations. If that is what you want to do, development economics is for you and a PhD in economics is the path to getting paid to make those speculations. This path is also good if you want to make marginal contributions to development like improving efficiency of microfinance or charities. If you want to actually develop a country, you should prepare yourself for success in whatever political mechanism the target country uses to allocate power.

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One thing to consider, writing a book about theoretically developing a country is different from actually developing a country. Anyone can speculate about the effects of their policy recommendations. If that is what you want to do, development economics is for you and a PhD in economics is the path to getting paid to make those speculations. This path is also good if you want to make marginal contributions to development like improving efficiency of microfinance or charities. If you want to actually develop a country, you should prepare yourself for success in whatever political mechanism the target country uses to allocate power.

 

I guess I'm just a little confused on what you mean by "if you want to actually develop a country". Isn't giving the best policy recommendations possible to a country also "actually developing" that country? And by political mechanism are you referring to political parties and becoming a politician? I wouldn't hate to be a politician. Playing an analyst role is my forte.

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Sorry but are you sure about this? I just got through meeting two economists who work at the IMF who just released a book studying how best to develop the Caribbean as a regional economic super-power! They trekked everything from how to deal with crime, to different energy sources each Caribbean country should tap into to make their region more competitive with the rest of the world.

 

Both of them were PhD Economists.

 

You said "Should I get an advanced degree in Economics if I want to learn how to develop and grow [an economy]?"

 

Writing an analytical book is not even close to the same thing. It's like the difference between making an iphone and making a youtube review of an iphone.

 

If you want to learn how to analyze, interpret, and evaluate policy and how to causally identify road blocks to development then you need serious training. Actually doing boots-on-the-ground development work, rather than analyzing what others are doing, is a totally different thing (and the way you asked your question, it seemed like you wanted to do the boots-on-the-ground stuff).

 

In either case, a PhD in Economics is not the best route. Get an MPA with a focus on technical skills and you'll be better off. Why waste 6 years in grad school when you could be out there making the world a better place by analyzing the efforts of others?

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Based on what I read you seem to be interested in the practical side of things. If so, a PhD in Economics is NOT what you want to pursue. Posters above who said otherwise are doing you a disservice. Pick some famous development economist who publish well (Duflo, among others - this is not my field so I have no idea). Do you see them actually make policies? The answer is no, because that's not their job. They may design field experiments that seem to be policy-relevant, but their end goal is to publish, not to "develop and grow (improve the livelihoods) an impoverished region in the world and turn it into a regional super-power, either a city, a state, or a country"

 

Given your goal, the best bet is to do a master's degree in public policy or global affairs. Many schools give funding (some even offer full tuition scholarships and stipends) for that, especially if you're from a developing country.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guessing from what you've said thus far, you don't actually seem to have any background in economics. Are you a sociology or anthropology major?

 

Hi, yes-- I am an Anthropology major.

 

Funnily enough, I just got through emailing the web developer for the AEAwebsite trying to get clarification on the difference between JEL Code O10- Econ development and O20- Development policy/planning, and am STILL not understanding the difference in the way he was trying to explain it to me:

 

"Re your request for clarification of JEL codes:

O10 deals with topics related to general areas of economic development, while O20 focuses on matters of policy and planning. So if one were interested in industrial development in Thailand, for instance, the code would be O14 (perhaps cross-classified with L60), but if interested in industrial policy, then O14 would be cross-classified with O25 and L52. Also, matters dealing with developing country macroeconomics would be classified under O10 (and the appropriate E category), but if the topic focused on policy, then O23 would be added.

We have updated the guide to reflect more accurately the meaning of O10 and distinguish it from O20. Thank you."

 

I suppose this must have something to do with my background in Anthropology and the rather strange way we approach things as opposed to the other social sciences. Even our "practitioners" in the discipline don't actually do anything -- as the discipline requires the Anthropologist to distance themselves from their objects of study. So naturally our "practice" is not much different than academic publishing or policy recommendations.

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You said "Should I get an advanced degree in Economics if I want to learn how to develop and grow [an economy]?"

 

Writing an analytical book is not even close to the same thing. It's like the difference between making an iphone and making a youtube review of an iphone.

 

If you want to learn how to analyze, interpret, and evaluate policy and how to causally identify road blocks to development then you need serious training. Actually doing boots-on-the-ground development work, rather than analyzing what others are doing, is a totally different thing (and the way you asked your question, it seemed like you wanted to do the boots-on-the-ground stuff).

 

In either case, a PhD in Economics is not the best route. Get an MPA with a focus on technical skills and you'll be better off. Why waste 6 years in grad school when you could be out there making the world a better place by analyzing the efforts of others?

 

Thanks for this! I think I'm finally starting to understand. A development policy analyst is pretty much a spectator on the sidelines separate from the activity with no skin in the game, while a development practitioner could pretty much only be a politician that wields enough influence and power to make substantive changes in the local economy?

 

Interesting! I always envisioned the analyst as the proper subset of the practitioner-- so that they were virtually one and the same. So for instance a politician, in say Jamaica, who wanted to increase jobs would already have a team of analysts who would then analyze, interpret, and evaluate the best strategy for doing so. Or at least the politician would consult an economist and then proceed forward with whatever economic plan(s) the economist would give them. This latter role is what I was looking for.

 

But from the way it sounds, this is not usually the case?

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If you want to learn how to analyze, interpret, and evaluate policy and how to causally identify road blocks to development then you need serious training. Actually doing boots-on-the-ground development work, rather than analyzing what others are doing, is a totally different thing (and the way you asked your question, it seemed like you wanted to do the boots-on-the-ground stuff).

 

In either case, a PhD in Economics is not the best route. Get an MPA with a focus on technical skills and you'll be better off. Why waste 6 years in grad school when you could be out there making the world a better place by analyzing the efforts of others?

 

So an MPA is good for either being an analyst or a practitioner? I've always heard that when it comes down to MPA vs. Econ.. that the Econ should be chosen because it is always more rigorous, and versatile.

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Based on what I read you seem to be interested in the practical side of things. If so, a PhD in Economics is NOT what you want to pursue. Posters above who said otherwise are doing you a disservice. Pick some famous development economist who publish well (Duflo, among others - this is not my field so I have no idea). Do you see them actually make policies? The answer is no, because that's not their job. They may design field experiments that seem to be policy-relevant, but their end goal is to publish, not to "develop and grow (improve the livelihoods) an impoverished region in the world and turn it into a regional super-power, either a city, a state, or a country"

 

Given your goal, the best bet is to do a master's degree in public policy or global affairs. Many schools give funding (some even offer full tuition scholarships and stipends) for that, especially if you're from a developing country.

 

Oh, thank you so much!

 

So the PhD in Economics would be a mistake as the emphasis would be on "publish or perish" and not about getting to the bottom of my real substantive interests or issues I would be looking to probe?

 

It's actually interesting because taking a look at some of the people whose work I love (Joseph Stiglitz, Daron Acemoglu) I would have never gotten this impression but I guess it makes sense! Both of those guys push out tons of work-- and I am not sure the "publish or perish" mindset would allot me enough time to really dig in deep into my work like I would like. Kind of ironic though, as I could have sworn the PhD was pretty much crafted for people who wanted to do deep research.

 

My only worry is that MPA would be too easy and nowhere near enough of a challenge and not rigorous like Economics would be. I've already had enough fluff Anthropology/Sociology courses in my undergrad.

If you don't mind me asking, what MPA program out there is considered the best/hardest? I'm getting ready to take Real Analysis next semester and I would love to be in a MPA program that's going to kick my *** as much as RA will, if not more!

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Oh! One last thing! MPP/MPA- that's only good for the public sector, correct? But what about the private sector? Surely there is much more in the way of a country's economic "development" than can be controlled or even initiated by the government!

 

Will an MPA/MPP hamper my ability at thinking outside of the "let's-rely-on-the-government" box? Too many anthropologists and sociologists already rely too strongly on the state for delivering solutions. Is this not yet another argument for Econ over PP/PA?

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