What kinds of non-academic careers can economics PhD's do?

[ASUleadtrumpet]

I'm curious. I like backup plans. Last semester, I worked as a math instructional assistant, helping with grading, tutoring, and generally helping the class run smoothly. I really enjoyed this job. I'm currently working as a grader, which I enjoy less, but I'm plenty capable of doing it. Currently I have to put in extra hours to combat cheating though. :doh:

 

Anyway, I am curious as to what other career options are out there. I like to keep my options open.

[oleador]

Non-academic career for Economics PhD is usually (very briefly):

- private sector (consulting, research in private companies etc; there are also lots of positions in financial sector)

- government, NGOs, international organizations, think tanks (lots of kinds of jobs related to economic research, analysis or consulting)

 

Also look here to get some idea (search for non-academic jobs): http://www.aeaweb.org/joe/listings.php

Edited June 14, 2010 by oleador
added more info

[AppliedEcon]

From the US Occupational Outlook Handbook:

 

Individuals with a background in economics should have opportunities in various occupations. Some examples of job titles often held by those with an economics background are financial analyst, market analyst, public policy consultant, researcher or research assistant, and purchasing manager

.

 

It should be noted that a master's degree is sufficient for most of these positions.

[Guest _nanashi]

Government all levels. People simply think of IMF/FED/World Bank, but Deptarments of the Federal government hire quite a few especially Labor, Federal Reserve. Work for private corporations doing Econometric Analysis or NGOs. My understanding is, But I'm not sure this is 100% true since I'm using anecdotal evidence. The type of work your doing is lower level than academia. Your generally given data sets and expected to run regressions. You probably could do most of this as an ABD, but the PhD gives you a sort of management credentials. You'll likely be leading a team of people with M.A. or undergraduate degrees.

 

Jobs are somewhat field dependent. Applied Micro especially I/O, Finance is better for private sector jobs. Government Jobs of course Macro/Labor/Metrics/ and Ag econ. I think Health and Enviro are on the rise for private/public sector.

[eigenman]

The type of work your doing is lower level than academia..

 

Not necessarily true in a Fed research department.

[Guest _nanashi]

Fed Research Department/IMF/World Bank are the exception to what I am stating.

[golden_bears]

The speaker at our Economics Commencement was the head economist at Google. So, I'm guessing along with the financial sector ... pretty much every large tech company would have a chief economist?

 

But, I was under the general impression that in most cases economists with a PhD from not highly regarded schools are usually the ones that enter the private sector -- as getting placed at a big research university would not be an option.

[Guest _nanashi]

Google's Chief Econoomist Hal Varian who wrote the leading Intermediate text, and the leading graduate text in Economics for the longest time. He's also a big name among business intellectuals and had a long running NYT column, and presence in business news. He also has been a professor at both Michigan, Berkley, and go knows where else. Bottom line not a typical example of economists in the private sector. I doubt he does the jobs the rest of google's economist do, and he is probably more of an advisor than anything else.

 

I have not gotten cleared info on whether private sector takes a lot of economists from lower ranked schools. From what I see lower ranked schools place a lot of economists as faculty at smaller universities that aren't predominately for research. The private sector seems to like failures from top ranked schools.

[Tex Jansen]

Consulting (the absorbing state of economics) firms and other private sector jobs typically hire from the bottom 2/3 of highly ranked Ph.D. programs. Graduates from lower ranked places are more likely to end up at teaching jobs.

 

Obviously this a generalization with considerable exceptions in both directions.

[dreck]

Google's Chief Econoomist Hal Varian who wrote the leading Intermediate text, and the leading graduate text in Economics for the longest time. He's also a big name among business intellectuals and had a long running NYT column, and presence in business news. He also has been a professor at both Michigan, Berkley, and go knows where else. Bottom line not a typical example of economists in the private sector. I doubt he does the jobs the rest of google's economist do, and he is probably more of an advisor than anything else.

 

I have not gotten cleared info on whether private sector takes a lot of economists from lower ranked schools. From what I see lower ranked schools place a lot of economists as faculty at smaller universities that aren't predominately for research. The private sector seems to like failures from top ranked schools.

 

Google is a bit of an outlier; most tech companies do have chief economists but they're rarely so famous.

 

More importantly, the lower-ranked half of a cohort on the job market from a top-ranked school does not consist of failures. Getting that PhD means doing the work to the standards of a prestigious institution, and these people might be bound for their dream job in the private sector. A business would almost never hire an individual it perceived to be a "failure." Maybe when you meet the intelligent people in this category you'll understand.

 

Finally, from what I have learned from a friend working as an economist for a power company: whether a particular business (or government agency, for that matter) targets the high- or low-ranked schools depends a lot on preferences of the hirer. There will be a few that only look at the top 5, others that look only at local schools regardless of the ranking, and still others that look for strong outliers at the low-ranked places. Consulting firms in particular tend to prefer graduates from highly-ranked places, perhaps because of the prestige bias.

[Guest _nanashi]

More importantly, the lower-ranked half of a cohort on the job market from a top-ranked school does not consist of failures. Getting that PhD means doing the work to the standards of a prestigious institution, and these people might be bound for their dream job in the private sector. A business would almost never hire an individual it perceived to be a "failure." Maybe when you meet the intelligent people in this category you'll understand.

 

I am not denying these peoples level of achievement. They are obviously smart people. They got in, and through a top PhD department. However, that does not change the fact that most admission committees try to avoid candidates whose aim is to go on the private sector. Top departments are in the business of training researchers and people who have new ideas that they want to get published. They are not in the business of teaching people who want to go into consulting . You also have to realize most professors are people that never have worked in corporate world, only a select few academic economists can stomach a econ PhD have respect for such jobs and generally view them as being beneath them. As a result most of the economists who end up on private sector are generally viewed as being lemons from private schools who couldn't survive the stiff competition on the academic job market.

 

This thread especially is an eye opener about getting a PhD to go into a private sector.

http://www.econjobrumors.com/topic.php?id=10646

http://www.econjobrumors.com/topic.php?id=8496

 

If you are in industry, If you do not publish it is very difficult to also go back.

 

 

Also by in large also why on earth would you do a PhD in economics if your dream is to go to private sector? You will have far better job prospects and a easier time if you do a PhD in Business. Since the only skill set that private sector firms really value from economists is their econometrics skills you get just as much background from a PhD in Finance or Business Admistration. The pay is also much better, and the coursework is generally lighter. This is something that most departments will tell you.

[dreck]

I don't disagree with you. I would never say that you should do a PhD without an interest in being an academic for the rest of your life. This thread started as a discussion of a backup plan. I just take issue with the idea that getting a private sector job when your initial goal was academia constitutes failure; my definition of success is, I guess, more broad. I probably should have changed "dream job" to "a fulfilling, interesting job" in my earlier post.

[Guest _nanashi]

I think you mistook what I said, and it is because of my choice of words. I personally don't view people who go to private sector as failure. I myself am likely going private sector, though I am most likely leaving with a masters and will have SAS Level Base and Data Mining certifications. The major reason is I don't have the desire to be stuck teaching average undergraduates (there average ACT is a 19) for 70K a year, and have to play politics necessary to get published in good journals from non R1 universities or top LACs. (Reality check for a lot of people JPE is published by Chicago press, IER is published through MIT, who do you think gets the most pubs in those journals? ) Which is the type of placements that lower ranked PhD programs get. I am 100% positive that many people at top 30 schools would rather go to private sector then do what I've just outlined.