Political tilts of Econ departments?

[gzuz]

Originally Posted by macrodude84

I am still unclear on why Krugman is so widely considered an excellent economist. I'm not say he *isn't*, since I doubt people win John Bates Clark medals for nothing. Still, it's hard for me to believe Krugman can be so good of a professional economist and simultaneously be *so* ideological and, at times, almost shrill. Is it that his economic expertise is in trade but he expounds his ideas in other areas, or what? While we're at it, for those more familiar with his work, would you mind explaining what his big contributions have been? I am finding it difficult to access some of his earlier papers...

I've encountered his economic geography work in a couple classes. His most famous paper on the topic 'increasing returns and economic geography' is one of the top 100 most cited papers in the past 20 years. Yea, and he did some shit on the 'liquidity trap' and published some macro textbooks but I'm not an international guy so I can't speak from experience.

[economicus]

Well, he is also the author of the self-stabilization property of exchange zones...

[chauchau]

Originally Posted by economicus

There seems to be an impression that Harvard's eco department is these days even more for "free trade" than Chicago...

http://www.mises.org/classroom/gradschool.pdf

(scroll down to harvard)

Definitely, "liberal" Harvard has long not gotten credit for just how conservative it's most powerful department is... This is just more evidence.

I think, an even more important question to ask is about the political leaning of journal editors. Certainly, the QJE & JPE -- two of the most prestigious journals -- are well-known conservative rags (don't imagine I'll ever be publishing there...), how about the others?

[fp3690]

Well, austrians are definitely the most partisan of all. I read an article from the Mises institute last year, and the author placed some bizarre college (not even GMU) above MIT, simply because it was austrian.

[axwse]

Originally Posted by chauchau

Certainly, the QJE & JPE -- two of the most prestigious journals -- are well-known conservative rags (don't imagine I'll ever be publishing there...), how about the others?

if only we all had the luxury of rejecting the chance to publish in top 5 journals because of our politics...

[peterB]

Originally Posted by fp3690

Well, austrians are definitely the most partisan of all. I read an article from the Mises institute last year, and the author placed some bizarre college (not even GMU) above MIT, simply because it was austrian.

Ha, I read that same article. I had little familiarity with names to describe particular ideologies of economics, so reading that article as an introduction to austrian economics made it sound cult like.

[economicus]

Austrian would perhaps disappoint you...it refuses any use of mathematics. Now how many math classes have you taken so far?

But they are right in many points...those interested in the differences between neoclassical and austrian economics can take a look at:
http://www.mises.org/etexts/methodenstreit.pdf

[chauchau]

Originally Posted by axwse

if only we all had the luxury of rejecting the chance to publish in top 5 journals because of our politics...

nonono. I was saying it's less likely that they would like my work, unless it's not about anything political, like taxation...

[state_school'08]

Is anyone familer with the neo-classical economics taught at Hillsdale college? They don't run a grad program (the school is really, really, small), but they will wet themselves with joy if you bring up Van Mises.

In highschool I attended a seminar on "Economic Liberty 101" (suggestive enough?), and when I remember some of the rediculous positions their profs took, I simply cringe. (Dismantling the national park system to allow the market to determine the optimal use of Yellowstone,etc. was one cheery I recall.)

[Econ2006]

Originally Posted by chauchau

Definitely, "liberal" Harvard has long not gotten credit for just how conservative it's most powerful department is... This is just more evidence.

I think, an even more important question to ask is about the political leaning of journal editors. Certainly, the QJE & JPE -- two of the most prestigious journals -- are well-known conservative rags (don't imagine I'll ever be publishing there...), how about the others?

I don't get the sense that QJE is conservative. If anything, it's to the left of other top journals (and well to the left of JPE). But, perhaps your definition of "conservative" is different from mine.