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It's Better Being an Economist (But Don't Tell Anyone)

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  • Richard B. Freeman

Abstract

This paper contrasts the job market in economics with the job market in physics and mathematics, which attract students who are, by conventional measures, smarter than economists and where the base of knowledge is better established than ours. Despite this, economists earn more and have better career prospects than physicists or mathematicians. The paper offers several reasons for our better economic prospects, ranging from lack of glamour attracting bright young people to the dismal science to our inability to solve important problems, which puts us higher up on the marginal product curve for basic research than these fields.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard B. Freeman, 1999. "It's Better Being an Economist (But Don't Tell Anyone)," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 13(3), pages 139-145, Summer.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:13:y:1999:i:3:p:139-145
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/jep.13.3.139
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    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jep.13.3.139
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    Cited by:

    1. John P. Conley & Mario J. Crucini & Robert A. Driskill & Ali Sina Önder, 2020. "Publication lags and the research output of young economists," Vox eBook Chapters, in: Sebastian Galliani & Ugo Panizza (ed.), Publishing and Measuring Success in Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 1, pages 67-72, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    2. Pühringer, Stephan, 2016. "Still the queens of social sciences? (Post-)Crisis power balances of "public economists" in Germany," Working Paper Serie des Instituts für Ökonomie Ök-22, Hochschule für Gesellschaftsgestaltung (HfGG), Institut für Ökonomie.
    3. Marion Fourcade & Etienne Ollion & Yann Algan, 2015. "The Superiority of Economists," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(1), pages 89-114, Winter.
    4. Christian Grimm & Jakob Kapeller & Stephan Puehringer, 2017. "Zum Profil der deutschsprachigen Volkswirtschaftslehre: Paradigmatische Ausrichtung und politische Orientierung deutschsprachiger Oekonom_innen (On the current state of German-speaking Economics: Para," ICAE Working Papers 70, Johannes Kepler University, Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy.
    5. Arne HEISE, 2016. "‘Why has economics turned out this way?’ A socio-economic note on the explanation of monism in economics," The Journal of Philosophical Economics, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, The Journal of Philosophical Economics, vol. 10(1), pages 81-101, November.
    6. Song, Moohoun & Orazem, Peter F. & Wohlgemuth, Darin, 2008. "The role of mathematical and verbal skills on the returns to graduate and professional education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 664-675, December.
    7. Marion Fourcade & Etienne Ollion & Yann Algan, 2015. "La superioridad de los economistas," Revista de Economía Institucional, Universidad Externado de Colombia - Facultad de Economía, vol. 17(33), pages 13-43, July-Dece.
    8. Jakob Kapeller & Stephan Puehringer & Christian Grimm, 2022. "Paradigms and policies: the state of economics in the German-speaking countries," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(4), pages 1183-1210, July.
    9. Claudius Graebner & Stephan Puehringer, 2021. "Competition universalism: Its historical origins and timely alternatives," ICAE Working Papers 125, Johannes Kepler University, Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy.
    10. Charles Wyplosz, 2020. "Covid Economics - A new kind of publication," Vox eBook Chapters, in: Sebastian Galliani & Ugo Panizza (ed.), Publishing and Measuring Success in Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 1, pages 147-157, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    11. Mohsen Javdani & Ha-Joon Chang, 2023. "Who said or what said? Estimating ideological bias in views among economists," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 47(2), pages 309-339.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J44 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Professional Labor Markets and Occupations
    • A11 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Role of Economics; Role of Economists

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