I chose political science. I regret that decision.
Political Science or Economics
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Do you believe money is useful and that more of it is better than less?
Go to econ. If you can't hack it, then go PS and scare the s**t out of your cohort during math camp.
--Tenured political scientist who is making 2/3 of APs in econ and the b-school.
I'm interested in formal theory and econometric analysis applied to government and politics. Should I get a PhD in political science or economics? Which choice is likely to lead to the better academic job prospects? How many political science departments are interested in such fields? What are the best PhD programs for these areas? Where have their recent grads placed?
Sorry for all the questions. I just don't know what to do. It seems that I would probably get better formal training in an economics program, but will get better insights into real world institutions in a political science department. -
I should have added "and publishing in the same goddamn journals"
Do you believe money is useful and that more of it is better than less?
Go to econ. If you can't hack it, then go PS and scare the s**t out of your cohort during math camp.
--Tenured political scientist who is making 2/3 of APs in econ and the b-school.
I'm interested in formal theory and econometric analysis applied to government and politics. Should I get a PhD in political science or economics? Which choice is likely to lead to the better academic job prospects? How many political science departments are interested in such fields? What are the best PhD programs for these areas? Where have their recent grads placed?
Sorry for all the questions. I just don't know what to do. It seems that I would probably get better formal training in an economics program, but will get better insights into real world institutions in a political science department. -
It's not a particularly complicated question. If you want to get a job in political science, get a PhD in political science. If you want a job in economics (or outside the academy), get a PhD in economics.
There are a very small number of econ PhDs with political science jobs. All of the ones I can think of went to top econ programs I think a PhD from an econ program with a ranking in the 20s would be an utter non-starter for political science jobs.
There's also the possibility of getting an econ PhD, an econ job, and publishing in econ journals about substantially political topics. This is a very real possibility if you do development. It's conceivable to do this in a few other areas, such as taxation, but in general it's not something you can do.
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It's not a particularly complicated question. If you want to get a job in political science, get a PhD in political science. If you want a job in economics (or outside the academy), get a PhD in economics.
There are a very small number of econ PhDs with political science jobs. All of the ones I can think of went to top econ programs I think a PhD from an econ program with a ranking in the 20s would be an utter non-starter for political science jobs.
There's also the possibility of getting an econ PhD, an econ job, and publishing in econ journals about substantially political topics. This is a very real possibility if you do development. It's conceivable to do this in a few other areas, such as taxation, but in general it's not something you can do.This is right. The top 5-7 econ departments produce political economy students with better metrics and theory knowledge than every polisci ABD. But after you leave the top 5 or so, the HPS ABDs are roughly as good at the technical stuff and actually know the polisci literature, our norms, etc. And there is no shortage of HPS political economy PhDs.
So if you're an economist, unless you are clearly able to signal that you're technically better than a Princeton political economy PhD, you are at a disadvantage in the political science market.
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Daron Acemoglu, Torsten Persson and Guido Tabellini, among others, beg to differ.
It's not a particularly complicated question. If you want to get a job in political science, get a PhD in political science. If you want a job in economics (or outside the academy), get a PhD in economics.
There are a very small number of econ PhDs with political science jobs. All of the ones I can think of went to top econ programs I think a PhD from an econ program with a ranking in the 20s would be an utter non-starter for political science jobs.
There's also the possibility of getting an econ PhD, an econ job, and publishing in econ journals about substantially political topics. This is a very real possibility if you do development. It's conceivable to do this in a few other areas, such as taxation, but in general it's not something you can do. -
Daron Acemoglu, Torsten Persson and Guido Tabellini, among others, beg to differ.
It's not a particularly complicated question. If you want to get a job in political science, get a PhD in political science. If you want a job in economics (or outside the academy), get a PhD in economics.
There are a very small number of econ PhDs with political science jobs. All of the ones I can think of went to top econ programs I think a PhD from an econ program with a ranking in the 20s would be an utter non-starter for political science jobs.
There's also the possibility of getting an econ PhD, an econ job, and publishing in econ journals about substantially political topics. This is a very real possibility if you do development. It's conceivable to do this in a few other areas, such as taxation, but in general it's not something you can do.Yeah, you can publish this stuff if you are Daron Acemoglu, Torsten Persson or Guido Tabellini. If you are a grad student or an unknown junior AP? Forget it.
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it's a precious few economics departments that have people in "political economy" as economists call this. And they tend to be in the top 15-20 places and a few random depts. here and there. You cannot just study under a random development or labor economist (let alone micro or metrics theorist) these days and expect to do well in this field, either in polisci or econ job markets.
Econ Top 20 > PS HSP > Econ 21-60 > PS(non HSP).It is preposterous to think that Cornell or Michigan economics will give you better training in this field than Princeton politics, or even (given recent news) Chicago polisci. And, say, Minnesota economics is a non-starter compared to NYU politics. So this equation is totally wrong.
It is not just technical training. You actually need people who work in the literature to get a sense of what is there and of course the professional networks in it. And also not to be questioned and dissuaded at every turn to stop studying political economy.clearly you dont know what youre talking about if youre disparaging mich econ in favor of princeton politics which is a top class all around department. strong in both reduced form techniques and structural methods.