Monday, May 4, 2009

Economics job market

The Atlantic blogs on the economics job market. My take is that the market for "stars" did not change at all. Michigan went 1 for 7 on the junior market and was not that unusual among top departments. At the lower end of the market a lot of private liberal arts colleges went shopping in a year when they could get better talent than usual. What was missing, I think, was the middle of the market - the state flagships and near-flagships (e.g. Michigan State), many of which were not hiring or hiring much less than usual.

The good news, of course, is that you can publish your way up the food chain, if you care to.

Oh, and calling it the "dismal science" is just a trick to reduce supply and thereby raise wages.

Hat tip: Narendra Vempati