A New Alternative for Graduate School--Suffolk University

When I was deciding on graduate school back in the early 1980s there were only 3 choices for students of my interest: NYU, Auburn and GMU.  I also considered Rutgers, VPI, and the New School for a variety of reasons.  But I really wanted to study Austrian economics at the most in-depth level I could.  The newly formed Center for the Study of Market Processes at GMU provided that.

But since that time, Israel Kirzner has retired and while Mario Rizzo and David Harper remain, the program no longer has 3 regular faculty continuously teaching in the PhD program as it did from 1976 to 1998.  Auburn shut down its PhD program. And for a time, GMU's program was the only one where students could formally study Austrian economics.  In many ways, that reality has not changed.  At GMU students can actually take a year long sequence in Austrian economics, take a field exam, participate in a weekly workshop, write a dissertation in that field, and get a good academic job.  But GMU needs competitors to stay sharp.

Those competitors are emerging thanks in part to GMU and also an unusual influx of talented and ambitious young scholars into the Austrian school and the economics profession.  West Virginia University offers Austrian students a great opportunity to study with Chris Coyne, while also learning public choice from Russ Sobel.  And more exciting developments are continuously emerging at WVU.  Students will be flocking to Morgantown over the next decade similar to the way they beat a path to Fairfax in the 1980s and 1990s.  Of course, GMU has had the advantage of the exogenous shock of two Nobel Prize winners.

But the program I want to highlight today is Suffolk University and the amazingly productive and enthusiastic Ben Powell.  I just spoke up at Suffolk yesterday and had the ocassion to discuss the developments at Suffolk with Ben and the Department Chair David Tuerek.  I expect GREAT things to be happening at Suffolk over the next few years and would recommend that students seriously consider it as an alternative for graduate school.  They have a special track in public choice and students would get to work closely with Ben, who in my opinion is fast becoming one of the most insightful and productive applied political economists in the economics profession.  Ben is a thoroughgoing Austrian, but he is also just a great a good economist.  He focuses his research on practical problems in public policy and keeps his methodology to himself.  He writes clearly and forcefully, and speaks clearly on issues of the day.

Good luck to Ben and his colleagues at Suffolk in building up an important research and graduate education alternative.

Comments

[matthew mueller]

What other graduate programs are there that would be suitable for someone with an interest in Austrian economics?

Also, are there any good PhD programs in New Institutional Economics? --- programs that focus on the work of Coase, North, Alchian, etc.?

[Kevin Hilferty]

It's funny you write this today. Right after finishing your midterm exam this morning, Ian Dunois was telling me about the program at Suffolk and how he was applying there.

[Peter Boettke]

Matthew,

We at GMU have a great program in NIE. Just this year John Nye joined our faculty, and we are currently negotiating with Noel Johnson (another student of North and Nye's at Wash U) to join our faculty. In addition, our law and economics program is very strong and very Coasean.

Wash U was historically the best place to learn NIE, but with John leaving I am not sure how much of an emphasis on NIE still exists.

Peter Klein's can perhaps give the best advice on NIE within the Austrian circles.

Pete

P.S.: Matt --- I owe you an email in response to your very good set of questions.

[ZH]

Peter, the New School? Why in the world? Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the New School (I'm a research assistant for a professor who is New School PhD), but why in the world would someone interested in Austrian economics, implying libertarian tendencies (I don't know how libertarian you were in your early 20's, but the fact that you were interested in Austrian economics implies that you were fairly libertarian) be interested in going to the New School?

[Peter G. Klein]

John Nye's departure was a blow but Wash U. is still strong in NIE, particularly among the folks coalescing around CNISS (http://cniss.wustl.edu/). I would also suggest the University of Missouri and CORI (http://cori.missouri.edu) where Mike Sykuta, Harvey James, Mike Cook, Fabio Chaddad, and myself identify strongly with NIE, and folks like Jeff Milyo and Thom Lambert (law) add strength in political economy and law and economics. Besides myself one can also study Austrian economics with Todd Chiles (management), perhaps the world's only Lachmannian management professor. Outside the US I'd look at ATOM (http://atom.univ-paris1.fr/) and PENSA (http://www.fundacaofia.com.br/pensa/).

[matthew mueller]

Peter Klein,

Thank you for the reply. The program does look interesting. It is so encouraging to find instructors listing Coase's Firm Market and the Law and Miller's Managerial Dilemmas as required texts.

It is too bad the program is in agricultural economics. Can one enter academia with a PhD in agricultural economics?

But from the looks of it, this agricultural program seems very strong in NIE.

[Peter G. Klein]

Matthew, most of the Missouri courses and individuals discussed above are housed in agricultural economics, but there are several degree options, as PhD students in economics, agricultural economics, finance, and management can all take these courses and have these professors as members of the dissertation committee. I have been a chair or member of the committee for students in all four departments.

BTW we also have a core PhD course in NIE, which I currently teach. Here's the syllabus from the Fall 2006 version: http://web.missouri.edu/~kleinp/courses/8050_reading_list.pdf

[Per Bylund]

Matthew,

I am currently enrolled in the Ag Econ program at Mizzou and Peter Klein is my adviser. My aim is for a career in academia, so I thoroughly understand your thoughts on and worries about the chances of actually getting a [decent] job with a PhD in Ag Econ. I'm heading the same way and have the same thoughts.

I guess Ag Econ could be a problem if you are aiming for a career as a neoclassical economist. But if you are, then I see no reason whatever to study NIE - it won't be to your advantage.

Since I seem to be in the shoes you are striving for, I have made sure to discuss this with Peter as well as with faculty in other institutions. Of course, Ag Econ could be a problem in the eyes of "real" economists, but since I'm not very interested in doing only neoclassical research it seems the "ag" part might not be too much of a disadvantage when applying for the right kinds of jobs. I'll probably be going for something rather interdisciplinary anyway, which would suit my background and the courses in NIE as well as my fuuture research perfectly.

To be honest with you, I never had an interest in agriculture; I find it as interesting as any other source of data. I am personally much more interested in philosophy and political economy than corn and livestock. But I have had no problems with this program so far - I haven't seen much agriculture.

OK, I have only been through 1 1/2 semesters, but the four core courses (except for the NIE course Peter has already mentioned) are the same as the ones taken in the economics department. And after the first year I'm going for the so-called agribusiness thrust, which I understand as a more in-depth year-long sequence in new institutional economics combined with economic and organization theory. More on the agribusiness thrust here: http://dass.missouri.edu/agecon/grad/agribusiness.php

And then there are the elective courses, which can be from any department on campus.

So far I haven't really got to know the faculty, but it seems there is a strong orientation in the department towards NIE, organization theory, contracting, and entrepreneurship. This translates into the department's courses being less pure math and more social science, in a sense, which is just perfect for me; I don't know whether it is for you.

It seems to me that there are more or less two halves of the department that are almost separated: one rather NIE-based with research in institutions, contracting, organization theory, collective action, etc - and one more "classic" Ag Econ. I haven't had much to do with the latter, so I have only experience of NIE.

So so far I have had no problem feeling welcome in the PhD program even though I am basically a newbie when it comes to economics (read: neoclassical such): I have master degrees in Informatics and Political Science (Political theory) from a couple of Swedish universities.

[Ludwig van den Hauwe]

Sorry, but as a European I may be mistaken about the jargon you use. I thought "graduate school" was an expression used for Ph.D. education. Is that mistaken?

[Per Bylund]

Ludwig, I had the same kind of problems when I was searching for American universities. As a European, I was totally lost in the American academic lingo. Ggraduate school is everything post bachelor's degree ("college"); the term thus encompasses both master and PhD programs.

[Per Bylund]

Ludwig, I had the same kind of problems when I was searching for American universities. As a European, I was totally lost in the American academic lingo. Ggraduate school is everything post bachelor's degree ("college"); the term thus encompasses both master and PhD programs.

[Justin Bowen]

I have a couple of questions which may seem simple to some of you but which I'm having some difficulty with. How does one determine what the best choice is for where to study economics at the undergrad level? It terms of reputable state or public 4-year universities (I live in Michigan, so my first choices would be UMich, MSU, or Western), does it even matter? If so, how much? Would I be correct in assuming that I can just email the professors at the various schools that I'm interested in and ask them what they'll be using?

The reason for asking is because I'm working on my basic requirements and am at the point where I am seriously considering what my major will be. I have been reading some of the AE lit that's out there (most of which I get from the LvMI and the OLL) and am fascinated with it. I'd rather not spend money on an education simply to get a piece of paper, only to then have to re-learn everything just to get access to a grad school.

[Jacob]

Justin, I would advise you to go to the best academic university you can and major in economics. Of course, you won't see any Austrian stuff in your economics classes, which can be very frustrating, as it is for me, but there are of course alot of other interesting classes to take. It's very important if you want to be an economist to be incredibly well versed on the neoclassical and Keynesian methods, especially if you are going against their teachings; you have to be able to have a conversation with typical economists, and you have to be able to communicate with them. Think about Mises and Hayek, two great free market economists, yet also foremost experts on socialism.

[Vedran]

Justin,

The most Austrian undergrad program is definitely Loyola University of New Orleans. While Jacob's suggestion is decent, it does not consider all aspects of the learning process. What's the point of thoroughly understanding the mainstream if you don't thoroughly understand Austrian economics (this is no way to fight the mainstream, you have to know both)? While much can be learned by yourself, Austrian professors have much to teach.

I would go to an Austrian based undergrad degree but from the start look into the math that you will need for grad school and take electives in math courses or statistic courses that would be useful with the mainstream approach. If the school doesn't offer econometrics or math econ, take it at some other college over the summer.

I will be giving a speech at the Austrian Scholar's Conference at the Mises Institute on graduate education this Saturday. I will definitely include Suffolk University as a prime choice for pursuing a graduate degree.

[Devin Snead]

I definitely have to agree with Vedran. Loyola is definitely the best place for Austrian economics and Austro-libertarianism as an undergrad. All of our professors are Austrian (5/5). I took a gamble by choosing Loyola just because of Austrian econ., but it is already paying off during my first year. Learning Austrian econ. first hand by teachers is definitely better than self-teaching yourself. And the best part is I will never have to figure out if a given utility curve is concave upward or downward while I'm at Loyola.