Economics Vs. Finance in academia

[Panda77]

Let me add something to the discussion ...
First, I would agree with what seems to be the majority here and say that a PhD in Econ is more marketable simply because it's more general.
Second, don't even think that entering a PhD program in Finance is easyer! Perhaps it's even harder given that far less schools offer it and that they are generally very small (with entering classes of 15 to even 5 students!)
Third, there is indeed a very big difference in the focus of these two programs. Finance programs generelly focus heavinly on corporate finance, so if that is your area of interest they can fit you well, but if you are interested in other aspects of finance ... let's just say that you can still look at finance issues from an economics department and probably find a research supervisor much more easily.

[IvyBoy]

Just to make a couple things clear about my original inquiry - I am trying to compare the job market for Econ Professors and Finance professors (a supply and demand question with a ceteris paribus condition...so assume equal interest in both fields). As far as the difficulty of entering these programs, I think it is easier for someone with the same credentials to enter into a finance program than an econ program. My informal research has revealed to me several important things to note. One thing I should mention is that more than 70% of all economics faculty in the u.s. are from what would be considered "the top schools", whereas this is not true in finance. I also think that where as "reputation" is the most important thing for econ departments, AACSB accreditation is most important in finance as far as placements. If you go to a school which has both econ and finance phd programs and check out their placements (this is mostly true for lower ranked schools), their finance placements are more impressive.

[Slothrop]

Let me add my two cents here. In the job market, it will all come down to your research work at the PhD program. Taking that as given, I would even risk saying that it doesn't matter if you are coming from an economics or finance department. My view: weight your prospects of securing a great advisor highly. Finance programs enroll very few students, so they have a great advantage in this aspect; for the same reason, however, I do think they're harder to get in.