SV: Economists job market/search costs

[Chresten Anderson]

Let me start by saying that I do not have a Ph.D and do not have an indepth econ background. I am a humble poli sci ABT with a personal interest in public choice theory and therefore Econ. Besides I find it useful in policy analysis as well, however this being said it seems to me that in order to answer the question one must have more information.   I know that you are a almost ABD, but do not know what your dream job is. In order to give advice on job hunting that would seem appropriate. If you want to work in a think tank, then the situation would seem to be rather different than if you want to work at GMU or another unversity. Same goes for the size of University you want to work at. You might easily find a job at a small university but not at a large one.   Essentially what I am saying is that you first need to ponder what you want to do with your doctorate before asking advice on how to seek a job. Not because people cannot give you good advice, but because the advice would depend on the job you seek.   For anyone out there feel free to comment on my analysis as well.   Sincerely Yours   Chresten Anderson -----Oprindelig meddelelse----- Fra: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]På vegne af [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sendt: 30. oktober 2002 23:10 Til: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Emne: Economists job market/search costs (If this is not truly armchair material, I apologize in advance) Dear Armchairs, Advice for novice economics graduates is not scarce in several sources.  As a fourth year phd student from Mason, however, there are some questions that I have not seen addressed very much--and here I want to profit from the considerable armchair audience familiarized with the demand and supply of George Mason (or similar programs) graduates. 1. Once you are almost ABD, what is the opportunity cost of prolonging your graduation one more year, as opposed to just taking your chances at the job market right now? Typically, the advise given is to check with your advisor, and whenever he says "go", one must go into the market.  Which is fine, but, 2. What is the opportunity cost of trying the job market "prematurely", and, worse comes to worse, just cancel the job search if nothing appealing comes about and then try again the year after that? Other advice is that the more (or the stronger) the publications, teaching, and research record, the better your chances are in the market. Surely, but, 3.  What is the benefit, at the margin, of going into the market with say one, two, or zero publications?  (For instance, perhaps the market is so tight that the marginal benefit is not that big--after all, low-tier institutions may not be that different.) Finally, other advice is to be patient and realistic.  Even a non-ideal placement is a good place to start, and from there it's up to yourself to move up--or not.  But, 4.  What increases the chances of better placement in the future more, one more year as a grad student (doing papers, teaching, etc.), or one or two years of work in X-institution? Again, if this posting is off-mark, I apologize.  Otherwise, I'd appreciate any comments. Thanks, -An economist who cannot "do the math" of going into the market. :-)