just curious

Thanks a lot for the information and your opinions. @dresdentech „The PhD duration in Europe is shorter than at prestigious US universities and PhD is regarded as a toxic chemical substance outside academia.“ I know some people in german economics programs, who will receive their Dr. within three years. So do others in „phd-schools“ here in germany. So your chances on the job market depend on the degree you received, not the knowledge you collected and the expertise you have? @all of you: I agree with you, the quality and the reputation of the university and the master-program itself is a much more important factor than the existence of a good beh.-econ-faculty. The good programs you recommeded are quite expensive. At this point I just cannot afford them. I applied for some stipens, but the decision takes months (you know how it is). Given my financial situation, i think picking the best possible program is my way to go. I am particularly interested in programs focussing on microeconomic theory. Which programs/universities would you recommend (europe, germany)? I do not think about chances on the job market outside the academic world right now. I "just" want a good, research oriented program at a good university, that provides a basis for a phd-program. I want to have the opportunity to collect knowledge about the topics I am interested in and learn from professors who are actually researching in these topics/fields.

Thanks for your post. Thats what I thought about beh.econ.-masters. The master-program should give me a general overview about economic topics. I am not sure whether I understand you correctly. Is it common practise to make as much advanced courses as possible to have greater chances to be admitted to a phd-program outside the university you do your masters at?

Hi, in the last few weeks I collected much information about master-studies. But its difficult for me to estimate some factors like the reputation of the university. So I hope you can help me. Here is my situation: I am majoring in mathematics (minor economics) and I’m very interested in behavioral economics (prospect theory,…), theory of decision making (both behavioral and rational) and game theory (especially evolutionary game theory). I’m looking for a university that offers courses in these topics, has a good reputation (among economists) and prepares me for a phd-program. The university should be in europe. At the moment I am thinking, that the economics-program in Bonn would be a good decision (if I will be admitted of course), because it combines the standard microeconomic approach with some courses of behavioral economics and statistics and moreover has a good reputation. What do you think about Bonn? Although its almost sure, that I will apply for this programme, I’m still looking for alternatives. What are your suggestions? What do think about the "new" behavioral-economics-master-programs?