A Guide for the Young Economist, 2nd Edition in the works

MIT Press is producing a 2nd edition of William Thomson's A Guide for the Young Economist: Writing and Speaking Effectively about Economics.  I know this because I was asked to be a reader for MIT on the new material, which is advice on "Being a Graduate Student in Economics."

Thomson's book is basically common-sense advice throughout, and while directed at those who want to build a conventional career in the economics profession, it provides very important lessons for those of us who are out-of-sync.  The first edition contained excellent advice on how to write and present papers to professional audiences of economists.  To those of us who are out-of-sync, the more we are out-of-sync, the more conventional our presentation style must be.  Unless, of course, you want to present yourself as something other than an economist.  In which case, you will need to find the appropriate audience.

These issues are not just limited to publishing in conventional economic journals, but to the very real concern with obtaining a job in the economics profession.  If you cannot obtain a job as an economists, then you are not an economist no matter how loudly you shout out that you are on the internet.  BTW, the WSJ listed the 25 most important economic blogs the other day, we weren't on it (sign of failure), but Marginal Revolution and EconLog were (congratulations).  This was an important eye-opening piece because while many blogs might gets lots of hits, that doesn't mean they are influential.  Think about that when you make claims about the importance of blogging for the future of economic science.  OK, back to the point of this post.

Among the important pieces of advice for graduate students Thomson provides let me list them:

1. Understand the difference between undergraduate studies and graduate studies.  Undergraduate studies is about the absorbing knowledge, graduate studies is about preparing to, and the act of, creating knowledge.

2. Don't be a stranger.  Work with classmates, attend seminars, take advantage of the opportunities to meet with visitors, and above all else make sure the professors know you, your interests and the quality of your work.  Hiding out in the library studying (or in your apartment), while necessary at times, should not be your main daily routine.  Work in study groups, attend lectures in classes that are not necessarily in the classes you are taking for credit, and seek help from, and provide help to, your classmates when troubles with course and exam material arise.

3. When you teach, teach well, but don't teach too much.  Research will determine your future, not teaching.  Even if you want a teaching job, you have to impress with your research.  But obviously when you teach, do as good a job teaching as you are capable of.

4. Co-author with fellow students and faculty, but not for your job-market paper.  Co-authorship is a norm today in our profession, but avoid co-authoring your job market paper if you can.  Hiring committees will not know how to access the contribution.

5. Read with research in mind.  Don't just aimlessly read, read with a purpose and that purpose for a would-be PhD is to contribute to the stock of knowledge in the discipline of economics.  Always have projects going.

6. Develop a very thick skin and really good set of ears.  Do not hide your work from your peers or your professors, but also don't insist that your work is brilliant and in no need of revision.  Circulate your work, present your work, and learn from the feedback.  But don't circulate too early.  You should not circulate your work unless your main advisor tells you that your paper is worth getting feedback from others. And when you do circulate originally, do so sequentially. First to a few who are very likely to give feedback, and then depending on the reaction to others, etc.  Revise to meet objections, do not get angry at objections.  Remember that the perception of the quality of your work reflects not only on you, but also your advisor so consult with your advisor frequently.

7. Don't sit on papers.  In other words, don't have 10 working papers, let alone 20.  Get them out the door to journals.  But only if they are ready.  Revise until ready, but then submit.  And remember that thick skin when reading referee reports.

8. Think about the job market.  Don't just throw applications out there, but think through the process.  You should have "reach schools", "target schools" and "safety schools" on your list.  You should be ruthlessly realistic in your assessment of your skills and possibilities.  A general rule of thumb that I tell students (Thomson doesn't mention this) is that you should not expect to be able to land a job at a school that would not hire your advisor.  So again the choice of advisor is critical, so invest some time in knowing about your advisors career and perception that others outside of your university have of that advisor.  Simple signals to read are placement of publications, recent departmental research seminars he/she has given, and placement of previous students.  More complicated signals to get might include recent offers that he/she has fielded from other departments, or recent visiting posts they have held.   But neither simple or complicated signals are really that hard to read, you just have to look with your own eyes.

9. Mock Interviews.  Try to get your faculty advisor to set up a mock interview. Also give trial runs of your job talk.

10. Defend, vacation, get to work.  After your defense, stay around a few weeks to make sure everything is good to go with final version, take some time to relax and then get to your new job 2 weeks before school starts and get settled in and ready to go.  Your first job is a critical step in your journey, but in most cases it should not be the end of your journey (my addition).  And remember, while teaching is local, research is global --- so if you want to climb, keep in your eye on that prize and focus your energies on research.

Anyway, all aspiring economists should purchase Thomson's book. The advice on how to write a paper and present that paper is probably the best out there.  Though I think Deirdre McCloskey's various writings on this might be more inspirational for the out-of-sync.  Perhaps some synthesis between the two is in order.  And this advice to graduate students on being a successful graduate student (that I haven't done full justice to) is really quite solid and again should be read by everyone entering into the field (though the 2nd edition is not out yet and will not be for a bit).

Good luck to those you starting the PhD adventure this fall.

Comments

[Rich Carpenter]

I printed out your advice. My further adventures in Economics (read: PhD program) won't begin until the Fall 2010 semester.

[Steve Miller]

An interesting approach to this advice might be to list pitfalls, traps that young economists often fall into. Does Thomson do something like that?

[GilesStratton]

Dr Boettke, from your description this book is mainly aimed at PhD students, is there another book along the same lines that might be worthwhile for an undergraduate economic science student to read?

[Greg Ransom]

Let's look not backward, but ahead. Younger people need to start thinking about this ...

http://www.physorg.com/news166943362.html

All academics is politics, and the politics is going to change ...

[Rafael Guthmann]

Greg,
A bit too radical, don't you think? Wikipedia for example, failed in becoming better source of information than a good old encyclopedia.

[Sinclair Davidson]

"remember, while teaching is local, research is global"

This is a gem. Well said.

[Brandon Robison]

When is the 2nd edition coming out?

[Greego]

"Wikipedia for example, failed in becoming better source of information than a good old encyclopedia."

What an odd statement on a blog devoted to subjectivist economics. Not to mention that by any objective measure it's extremely popular - eg, Alexa rates it as the seventh most visited website in the world.

[Peter Boettke]

GilesStratton,

I don't know of any really good guide to undergraduate study. But I would say the first thing is to be intellectually curious and study widely in the social sciences and the humanities. The second thing I would say is to pick professors not classes. Listen to your classmates and others and do some background research on what your professors are up to writing and lecturing on. Third study economics chronologically --- start with Adam Smith then read Ricardo and J B Say and JS Mill then Menger, Bohm-Bawerk, and then Wicksell and Wicksteed, and then Mises and Hayek. I think if you give yourself two years of intense study of these classics in economics, along with taking classes in philosophy, politics, history, and standard economics. You will have the background to excel in graduate school and build a career as a researcher in economics.

Good luck in your studies. It is a very exciting adventure becoming an economist.

Pete

[cloned]

"Third study economics *chronologically --- start with* Adam Smith then read Ricardo and J B Say and JS Mill then Menger, Bohm-Bawerk, and then Wicksell and Wicksteed, and then Mises and Hayek."

Thanks, Dr. Boettke. I've wondered about that.

[Rafael Guthmann]

Boettke posted:
"Don't be a stranger. Work with classmates, attend seminars, take advantage of the opportunities to meet with visitors, and above all else make sure the professors know you, your interests and the quality of your work. Hiding out in the library studying (or in your apartment), while necessary at times, should not be your main daily routine."

This is valid for undergraduate students too?(I guess it is.) I try to be more communicative but it is difficult in my university because most teachers only like the ones that are very good at math. Except the marxist ones. Here in Brazil study the classics and the austrians like you recommended is not usefull in the short run (for the undergraduate stundent to get to a decent graduate program), but surely, it is the basis for the long run research career.

There is one self identified austrian economist in Brazil, his name is Fabio Barbieri, have you ever heard about him? He got his PHD in 2005, in a local university (his thesis was about the calculation debate and its relationship with market process theory, the standard austrian material). He said that he had great difficulties to get a job because his study focused on austrian economics wasn't usefull in any pecuniary way. Today he teaches undergraduates.

[Peter Boettke]

Rafael,

I never heard of the particular researcher you mention, but I would be interested in reading his work and meeting him.

Did you ever hear of Gilberto Salgado. He earned his PhD from NYU in the 1990s, he helped me with the 3 volume reference work on Hayek, and he contributed a paper to a book that was published not that long ago on sustainability and economic growth.

http://www.sdnetwork.net/pdfs/pegurier_salgado_chapter5.pdf

I have lost track of Gilberto, but in terms of sheer knowledge of Austrian economics he has it so you might want to seek him out. He was a very serious student of Prof. Kirzner's.

Of course, you could also go to Argentina and study at ESADE with individuals such at Martin Krause, or UFM. I actually chaired a dissertation at UFM, so I know students can do their PhD's there.

Pete

[Brad Hansen]

"if you give yourself two years of intense study of these classics in economics, along with taking classes in philosophy, politics, history, and standard economics. You will have the background to excel in graduate school and build a career as a researcher in economics."

I am afraid if you don't throw a fair amount of math in there as well you won't have the background to get accepted to a good graduate school.

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