Grad School in Econ

3/5/05

Dear Students:

Here is some free advice regarding academic careers in promoting liberty. I realize it is unusual to offer a table of contents in a letter but, hey, I’m a professor. If I didn’t do things like this, they’d kick me off the team.

Table of contents:

a. masters degree alone

b. Ph.d. degree in economics

I. Low prestige, relatively easy to obtain the degree

II. Medium prestige, more difficult to obtain the degree

III. High prestige, most difficult to obtain the degree

In A, you can get a Ph.D. in economics, and Austrian economics is part of the official program.

In B you can get a Ph.D. in economics, and Austrian economics is not part of the official program (but there are Austrians and/or libertarians on the faculty).

In C, you can not get a Ph.D. in economics, and Austrian economics is not part of the official program, but there are Austrian economists on the faculty, and you can get a Ph.D. in some other, related, subject.

In D, further discussion of Ph.D.s not in economics, but in related fields.

This is an attempt to answer, at least in my own mind’s eye, the question of what would I do, now, if I were about 21 years old, knowing what I now know (I’m presently 63), but just graduating from college, and wanted to be paid to do what I like most, promoting liberty. How, that is, could I best prepare myself to earn a decent living as a professor while doing research, writing, publishing and teaching, on issues related to libertarianism.

The reason I am embarking on this course of action is that I had a horrible experience. One of my very best students recently went off to graduate school to earn a Ph.D. in economics, and quit after about two days. When she saw the amount of math she would be confronted with, not only as a graduate student but also, I think she thought throughout her entire career, she recoiled in horror and quit. Although I and my colleagues at Loyola New Orleans had long warned all our students that most economics Ph.D.s required a high degree of sophistication in math and statistics, evidently our

1 warnings were not sufficiently graphic. Being burned by this experience, more than I can tell you, my remarks below will be heavily tinged with considerations of this sort.

In addition to that challenge, certainly in economics but also increasingly in other disciplines, I must warn you of another problem: those presently running higher education are not at all receptive to the freedom philosophy. As you may have discerned from the recent imbroglios involving Larry Summers and his very reasonable remarks about females in the hard sciences, and another one regarding Hans Hoppe and his equally sensible statements about homosexual time preference rates, academic administrators and professors are deeply biased against libertarianism.

But my goal here is not to warn you off. It is, rather, to encourage you to take up precisely this sort of career. Despite pitfalls I have encountered, I am deeply happy that I chose this path. It has enabled me to support myself in a reasonable manner while doing my best to promote the ideas that alone can save western civilization. (Working for libertarian oriented think tanks such as the Mises Institute can also be rewarding; here, however, a Ph.D., while of help, is not almost an absolute requirement. Thus, my remarks are mainly aimed at those who wish to become professors.)

In the event, this young woman was mistaken. It is entirely possible to earn a Ph.D. with a very modest math/stat background. Nor is this necessary for promotion and tenure in academia, except at the highest prestige levels within the profession. In my own case, although my dissertation was an econometric one, I have hardly used such techniques afterward. The difficulties I have had in earning tenure have in my opinion little to do with math, and much to do with my ideology.

One issue must be addressed at the outset. It is possible to have a career of sorts in academia with only a masters degree, not a Ph.D. The former can be attained usually within one year or so, the latter takes anywhere from 3 years (very rarely happens) to an average of 4-5 years (with full time effort) and sometimes longer. With a masters degree you can teach in a community college, and earn a reasonable salary. But you will have to teach, perhaps, at least 4 and quite possibly 5 courses per semester, and this leaves very little time for research and writing. Also, the quality of your students will not be of the highest. An alternative for those with a masters degree is to teach as an adjunct, lecturer or instructor in a four year college. Here, although the student quality will be much higher, the salary and job security will be significantly lower. In many places the salary per course will be $2,500 or even less. This means you will have to teach 12-14 courses a year to reach even gentile poverty (5-6 each semester, and a few during the summer).

If you go this path, my highest, and most enthusiastic recommendation is San Jose State University. They offer a very good masters program, and this is the only one in the world as far as I know where there are more than a half dozen faculty members who are staunch Austrians and/or libertarians. At every other masters program with an Austro libertarian on the faculty, there is only one such. Students are encouraged to contact Ben Powell, [email protected] and/or Ed Stringham, [email protected] for more information on San Jose and to check out the department's website at www.sjsu.edu/depts/economics.

2 The department of economics at San Jose State has twelve fulltime faculty members seven of whom have published in the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, the Review of Austrian Economics, or Public Choice. -Rodolfo Gonzalez, PhD UC Davis 1990, Published in the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics and Public Choice. -Jeffrey Rogers Hummel, PhD University of Texas 2001. Published in the Review of Austrian Economics. -Tom Means, PhD UCLA 1983, Published in Public Choice -Lydia Ortega, PhD George Mason University 1987, Published in Public Choice -Benjamin Powell, PhD George Mason 2003. Published in the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, Review of Austrian Economics and Public Choice. -Yeung-Nan Sheih, PhD Texas A&M 1980, Published in Public Choice -Edward Stringham, PhD George Mason 2002. Published in the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics and the Review of Austrian Economics. The department also has lecturers who were educated in Austrian economics: Mark Brady, Lecturer, no PhD, but coursework NYU Ninos Malek, Lecturer, no PhD, but coursework at GMU We offer a 30 credit Masters degree. It can be completed in one year to a year and a half full-time. Austrian economics and libertarianism make it into most classes. 4 Faculty members have published in Austrian journals and 5 have published in Public Choice. Three GMU Ph.D's and one UCLA Ph.D (from the school's property rights days) are on the faculty. All of the core classes in the MA program are taught by classical liberals/libertarians. In addition to classes we have a regular lecture series that often brings in Austrians from around the country.

There is also a second possibility for those of you for whom the Detroit area is more convenient: Walsh College (contract Harry Veryser at [email protected]). Sorry, but I have no further information on this program at this time.

Let us suppose that you have decided upon a career in college teaching that requires a Ph.D. degree. What now? I list alternatives in the following order.

I. Low prestige, relatively easy to obtain the degree

II. Medium prestige, more difficult to obtain the degree

III. High prestige, most difficult to obtain the degree

I cannot make this decision for you. That has to come from within. All I can do is spell out the various options. In my own case, if my math/stat skills were good, I would apply to the most prestigious graduate school that would have me (III). If they were poor, but not non-existent, I would go with option II. If I had no talent for math at all, at all, then and only then would I consider option I.

I. Low prestige, relatively easy to obtain the degree, no residency requirements

We are now skirting close to the area occupied by diploma mills. There are only two entries in this category, to the best of my knowledge. They are as follows:

3 1. Union Institute and University. See: http://www.tui.edu/.

This is not a diploma mill. It should not be dismissed out of hand. It is not a fly by night operation; they have been in business for decades. As I say, if I had no math/stat skills whatsoever, and still wanted to be a professor of economics, I would embrace this option with alacrity.

My sister, Eleanor Block Lorch, has a Ph.D. from this institution, in sociology. She used it to land a job at SUNY Utica. Ok, this is not Harvard. It is one of the lower echelon places in the SUNY system. But one could do worse, far worse. On the other hand, this information is dated. Her job offer was made decades ago. I do not know the experience of recent grads in landing jobs. You will have to do a bit of research on your own here. (Please share with me what you find out on this score, so that I can update the present section of this advice paper.) On the third hand, my sister and I have served on the dissertation committee for Austro libertarian Bob McGee, and the three of us could possibly now serve on the dissertation committee of anyone who goes this route.

Something to think about.

2. Touro

“Touro University International is about 5 years old, starting as a division of Touro College which has operated in New York State for several decades. They did it that way so they could fit under the wing of the older institution for regional accreditation purposes I think. They think of themselves as a full research university, but they truly are 100% online with no residency requirement clear through the PhD level. They have grown like crazy the last couple of years, serving mostly military students all over the world. For a guy like me, already tenured at a community college a zillion miles from anywhere out in the middle of the great basin, it is really a great thing. At 50 years old, I couldn't afford to leave to go somewhere that required residency. As you probably know, the community college pay scales are just high enough to keep people from leaving unless they get a doctorate, and then if they're middle aged, it doesn't generally pay to get the doctorate because then you'd have to start over again at the bottom of someone else's pay scale. “But perhaps the neatest part of the program is that for the dissertation you have the opportunity to choose your own faculty from any universities around the world. It is kind of a unique opportunity for people to get Austrians to serve on their committees. I feel like this process that they use is somewhat my doing. I couldn't work with the first professor they assigned me three years ago--for philosophical reasons--so I suggested they try getting adjuncts from around the country--at the students choosing--to help at the dissertation level. Surprisingly, within a month or two, they came up with their current program which basically took my recommendations to heart word for word. And they tell me it has really worked well for them. As far as I know, I am the only Austrian type scholar who has done it but I'll bet Bill Anderson will turn some others in that direction with the next ones he deals with. www.tourou.edu.” Addendum: We now have four of us Austro-Libertarians at Touro, working with them as either adjunct faculty or Doctoral Chairs: Bill Anderson, Scott Kjar, Chris

4 Westley, and myself. The PhD is just in Business Administration, but for those teaching at community colleges it fits the bill. Glen Tenney, PhD Great Basin College 1500 College Parkway Elko, NV 89801 775-753-2203 [email protected]

II. Medium prestige, more difficult to obtain the degree

Go get a masters degree at San Jose, and then get your Ph.D. at one of the foreign Ph.D. degree granting places that requires little more than a dissertation written for those who come into their programs with a master’s degree already in hand. Foremost amongst these places are Angers and ESEADE. Drawback: in the former case you will have to have at least a poor working knowledge of French, and in the latter case, Spanish. But, possibly, if you already have a head start in either of these directions, you could polish your skills in this regard during your one-year or so stay at San Jose.

Previously, my advice to economics students was to go directly for a Ph.D., and not worry about the Master’s degree. This, for two reasons. First, in order to have a good career in academia, one needs the Ph.D. A masters degree is in my opinion of disproportionately low value compared to the Ph.D. in business and (gulp!) government. Second, the Master’s at a university granting only a Master’s degree, but not a Ph.D., would not transfer “well” to one granting a Ph.D. There might be some consideration given for courses taken, but one would still have to pass the preliminary exams, and the Ph.D. granting university would look askance at “mere” Master’s training. I still believe this is the correct course of action for all those who are reasonably sophisticated in mathematics. Go get a Ph.D. at the most prestigious place that will accept you.

However, I have recently learned that there are several Ph.D. degree granting universities that place a much higher value on a Master’s degree from a different university. In many of these places, virtually all of them outside the U.S., with very light mathematical and statistical requirements, or almost none at all, only a few more courses or seminars need be taken, and the Master’s student can begin work on a Ph.D. thesis almost immediately.

III. High prestige, most difficult to obtain the degree

This is the core of my advice to you. So, before embarking on the specifics, a bit of background.

Here is a letter I previously wrote, to elicit information from my colleagues, and then one below to students:

Dear Colleagues:

5 We owe it to our students to give them the most full and accurate information we have about Ph.D. programs in economics. See my list, below. Don’t get angry with me if I’ve been unjust to your school, or ignored it altogether. My info is only as good as what I’ve been given; please correct any errors and omissions in what appears there. I’m limiting this to Ph.D. programs in economics! If I am skimpy in my description of yours, it is not because I am purposefully denigrating you. It is due to the fact that I have not yet been corrected by you. Please help me make this the best list of this sort it can be.

After I put together a final draft, I would ask that you use what parts of this that make sense to you, and ignore the rest. I hope and trust it will do some good, because we want our undergrads to make good grad school choices.

I am also circulating another letter, attempting to do for law, history, sociology, political science, what I am trying to do here for economics.

I am particularly interested in being informed by you of the level of mathematical and statistical sophistication necessary to obtain the Ph.D. degree at your institution. Please be specific as to the requirements. For example, how much calculus, statistics, econometrics, LaGrange multipliers, bordered Hessians, matrix theory, linear algebra, linear transforms, modern algebra, etc. Could you please mention courses in which areas of math and stat you would you recommend to an undergraduate as prerequisites for study at your school? If you had to rate your university in terms of a single number indicating your math stat requirements, what would it be? (Ten = lots of math, zero = no math needed).

I am particularly exercised about this issue because one of my best students just went off to a graduate school in econ, and quit during her first week because of the math stat requirements there. We do indeed warn all our students about this, but, evidently, we did not do a good enough job. Ah, well, live and learn.

Best regards,

Walter

Dear Students:

As you know, the best description of my own views is that of Austrian economics, libertarian political philosophy. Hence my focus in this direction. Virtually all Austrian economists are also libertarians in political philosophy, while the opposite does not at all hold true. That is, most free market economists are neoclassicals, public choicers, supply siders, etc., but not Austrians.

Yours truly,

Prof. Block

Okay, I now return to my present letter to you.

6 Here are my recommendations re grad schools. I have three separate lists.

In A, you can get a Ph.D. in economics, and Austrian economics is part of the official program.

In B you can get a Ph.D. in economics, and Austrian economics is not part of the official program (but there are Austrians and/or libertarians on the faculty).

I rank the schools within each category in alphabetical order.

In A, you can get a Ph.D. in economics, and Austrian economics is part of the official program.

A1. Aix-en-Provence, France Aix offers a Ph.D. Program where Austrian economics is considered as a primary field of interest. The Program is provided by the 'Centre d'analyse économique", which is a department of the "Faculté d'Economie Appliquée" (University Aix-Marseille III). The actual director of the department is Pierre Garello who has studied at the Austrian department of NYU. Like Pierre Garello, the majority of the professors and lecturers on the faculty are Austrian economists, or at least oriented toward classical liberalism. For example: Jean-Pierre Centi, Gérard Bramoullé, Elisabeth Krecké, Hervé Magnouloux, Philippe Maitre, Thierry Sebagh, Dominique Augey. Their specific fields of interest include epistemology, monetary economics, law- and-economics, public choice, entrepreneurship. The department regularly invites foreign visiting professors working within the tradition of Austrian economics, such as Mario Rizzo or Bruce Caldwell. Regularly, seminars are organized, where PH.D. students or faculty have the opportunity to present their research and discuss the first draft of their papers. A masters degree in economics is a prerequisite to enter the PH.D. program. Admission depends on acceptance of the candidate by the director of the Program. Contact person: mailto:[email protected]

A2. Angers, France This is from Guido Hulsmann: I can direct PhD dissertations written and defended entirely in English. The only condition to be admitted to the Doctoral School at the University of Angers is to have a master's degree in economics, or the equivalent of this degree at an accredited university.

To sign up as a PhD student in economics at the University of Angers, the only academic requirement is a masters degree in economics, or an equivalent degree. Students do not have to take any economics classes, just write a dissertation under a research director (for example me). The dissertation can be written entirely in English. And the defense of the dissertation can be in English too.

7 MBAs might possibly be accepted too, though this is unlikely. In any case, all foreign masters degrees have to be recognized as the equivalent of a French masters degree in the respective discipline; this will not be a problem in the case of a masters degree in economics.

The University of Angers offers a couple of workshops for PhD students on how to build up a network, how to write a dissertation, and other important subjects. PhD candidates do have to attend a total of 20hrs per annum of such workshops, in French. Presence in these classes is mandatory, but there are no exams (one cannot fail them if one attends regularly).

This means that interested students should possess a working knowledge of the French language, that is, be able to follow a formal talk (less difficult than following a conversation) and to read research papers and other documents written in French. But this would have been advisable anyway, because there will be French professors on the defense committee, and they will expect acquaintance with the French literature in the field. I understand it is current practice in US masters programmes to make foreign- language requirements. Thus you just got to pick French.

It is important to keep in mind that the students we are talking about need to have a working knowledge (reading) of the French language. They can write and defend their work in English, but they need to be able to deal with the French literature on their subject.

The defense of the dissertation takes place before a committee of 4 to 6 professors, based on two written reports from committee members. It is customary here that a majority of the committee members come from outside the student's university (the requirement is that outsiders represent one third of the committee). Thus, a majority would have to come from outside of Angers. Foreigners are welcome, but there is the problem of funding the travel expenses; the department is very unlikely to pay plane tickets for US professors to sit on a PhD defense committee. But private solutions are allowed.

In this context, let me mention the very interesting financial aspect of the whole story, at any rate from the point of view of US students who are used to pay very high tuition fees and living expenses for doctoral studies. Tuition fees in France are ridiculously low, in the order of $300 per annum. And one can live here very comfortably on $1,000 per month (anticipate an extra $700 in the first month); according to the University administration, it is possible for students to live on $600 (how this squares with the elevated notions of minimum living standards here is a mystery to me right now, but that's of course beside the issue). The downside is that the labour market is virtually foreclosed to foreigners (and, as we know, to many Frenchmen too), thus US students would have to take a credit or secure a job (intern) with some US organization in France.

Summary on the cost side: some $15,000 for a year of study (including return plane tickets). The typical length of PhD work here is around 3 years. I personally encourage fast and intensive work to shorten this time.

8 As far as I can see right now, the major obstacle for US students willing to come here to get there PhD are the visa requirements. France cultivates strict reciprocity with the US, that is, local immigration authorities try to make things as difficult for American students to get into France as the the INS makes it for French students in the US. What this means in concreto I cannot tell. Interested individuals should consult the website of the Embassy of France in Washington D.C.

Signing up A. Any interested student should first get in touch with me to discuss their research project. B. This research project is then endorsed both by the research director (me) and the director of the economics laboratory (Prof. Simonin, who is very interested in further internationalizing economic research at the University of Angers.) C. The next step is to sign up at the Doctoral School. The administration of the School mainly checks two things: 1) equivalence of the foreign degree and 2) sufficient financial provisions/financial plan. D. The deadline for signing up is early December; students should write to me at least two months in advance. E. On the details for signing up at the Doctoral School see: http://www.univ-angers.fr/pagdiv.asp?ID=116&langue=1

One last caveat: All information as given above has been obtained from well-informed colleagues here in Angers, from the website of the University of Angers, and from the administration of the Doctoral School. But there is one factor that should never be underestimated: the French public administration and its inventiveness in creating unforeseen obstacles. In other words, we are here in the field of empirical knowledge. Testing is needed. I dearly look forward to our first laboratory rabbit. A3. EIPE

-----Original Message----- From: Jack Vromen [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, October 11, 2004 2:28 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [HAYEK-L:] EIPE

The Erasmus Institute for Philosophy and Economics (EIPE) invites students to apply for its GRADUATE PROGRAMME in philosophy and economics, preferably before February 1, 2005 (later applications will be considered on a first come, first serve basis). The focus of the programme is on interdisciplinary areas where the Philosophy and Methodology of Economics, on the one hand, and Institutional Economics, on the other, meet (with particular attention paid to the new developments in science studies and to the new economics of institutions and organizations).

The programme is strongly international. Its working language is English.

Ideally, applicants have a Master's degree in economics or in philosophy, or are close to

9 completing such a degree. Those with a strong Bachelor's degree will also be considered.

The programme is in two parts. The first part provides a one-year MPhil Degree and it can be done separately. It consists of a set of foundational courses on topics that range from the philosophy and rhetoric of both mainstream and heterodox economics to the foundations of new institutional and evolutionary economics. The core courses are currently given by Mark Blaug, John Groenewegen, Arjo Klamer, Uskali Maki, and Jack Vromen as well as visiting professors (such as, in 2000-2004, by Gregory Dow, Wade Hands, John Davis, and Claude Menard).

Overall, EIPE has some 20 Members who participate in its activities, including teaching, and whose areas of expertise cover a broad range of fields and topics, from philosophy of science, social epistemology, social ontology, and internet ethics to theories of rationality, transaction cost economics, organization theory, game theory, and cultural economics (the current list of members comprises Gerrit Antonides, Mark Blaug, Igor Douven, Sanjeev Goyal, John Groenewegen, George Hendrikse, Jeroen van den Hoven, Maarten Janssen, Arjo Klamer, Barbara Krug, Theo Kuipers, Deirdre McCloskey, Uskali Maki, Bart Nooteboom, Paivi Oinas, Laszlo Polos, Ruth Towse, Jack Vromen, Richard Whitley, Theo van Willigenburg).

The MPhil will be useful for those who want to have a solid introduction to the areas covered; those who want to upgrade their knowledge close to the frontline research on these themes; and those who want to prepare themselves for PhD research at EIPE or elsewhere.

After the MPhil, students can apply for the second part of the EIPE Programme, the PhD programme. PhD theses focus on topics related to the EIPE Research Programme "Institutions".

EIPE organizes a regular research seminar with internationally renowned experts presenting papers. It also runs a PhD seminar to provide a forum for discussion of the work in progress by its graduate students. Moreover, it organises international workshops and conferences on a wide range of topics.

For more information about the institute, the graduate programme, and application procedures see our web site: http://www.eur.nl/fw/onderzoek/instellingen or contact the secretary of the institute, Loes van Dijk ([email protected], +31-10-408 8967).

Please FORWARD this mail to anyone you believe might be interested.

A4. ESEADE, Argentina ESEADE (Superior School of Economics and Business Management) is a 25 year old Graduate School of Business located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 2003 it started a Ph.D. program in Economics, one in Management, and one in Economic and Social History. These programs place the main emphasis on the dissertation. Director of the Ph.D.. in Economics is Juan Carlos Cachanosky, who got his own Ph.D. with the eminent Austrian, Hans Sennholz. Foreign tutors are all Austrian/libertarian (see “Doctorados at

10 www.eseade.edu.ar.) They are: Walter Block; Lawrence H. White; Peter G. Klein; Peter Boettke; Michael Wohlgemuth; Carlos Rodriguez Braun; Jesús Huerta de Soto; Jerry Ellig; George Selgin; Jan Narveson; Richard M. Ebeling; Peter Lewin; Nicolai Paul Foss; Richard N. Langlois; Wolfgang Grassl. Contact: Martin Krause [[email protected]] Krause on math: It is hard to say but in our case I would think our requirement is around 3 (a level needed to read, for example, Varian). For admission to our phd program we make a difference if the applicant comes with an economic degree or not. In the first case he does not need an admission exam (and supposedly already has some education in math), in the second he comes with another degree (a lawyer, for example) in which case he need to go through an admission exam consisting in readings on micro, macro and history of economic thought, and those readings include some math, particularly micro. On English: We have two mandatory courses and a dissertation workshop that are in Spanish, here in Buenos Aires, but we could eventually accept someone who could earn equivalent credits somewhere else. The other requisites (having a graduate degree such as a master; a paper before the dissertation and the dissertation itself could very well be in English)

A5. Universidad Francisco Marroquin, Guatemala. The following comes to me courtesy of Giancarlo Ibarguen, President, Universidad Francisco Marroquín: Universidad Francisco Marroquín (UFM) in Guatemala, under its School of Economic Sciences, offers both a master and Ph.D. program in economics based on the principles of the Austrian School of Economics. UFM’s doctoral program (carried out in English) follows the European model of dissertation and defense. A masters degree in economics is recommended though not requisite, with admission based on the successful completion of a series of exams in macroeconomics, microeconomics and history of economic thought. Juan Carlos Cachanosky, academic director of both programs, took his Ph.D. under Austrian economist Hans Sennholz. The roster of dissertation advisors is an international who’s who of classical liberal scholars, many of whom are either Austrian or strong sympathizers in their economic focus: Donald Boudreaux (chairman of economics, George Mason University), George Selgin (professor of economics, University of Georgia), Lawrence White (F.A. Hayek professor of economic history, University of Missouri at St. Louis), Robert Higgs (senior fellow in political economy, The Independent Institute), Stephen Davies (professor of history, Manchester Metropolitan University), Joseph Keckeissen (professor of economics, UFM), Pierre Garello (professor of economics, Université Aix-Marseille), Peter Boettke (Senior Fellow, Mercatus Center; professor of economics, George Mason University), and Roger Garrison (professor of economics, Auburn University). Contact: Wenceslao Giménez- Bonet, dean, School of Economic Sciences at UFM: [email protected]

A6. George Mason There are quite a few Austrian economists on the faculty: Peter Boettke, Don Boudreaux, Karen Vaughn (who is retiring soon), Richard Wagner, Jack High (Public Policy Dept.), Tyler Cowen, Vernon Smith, Alex Tabbarok. In addition, James Buchanan

11 has some Austrian leanings, but mainly on subjective costs; however, he is to be credited, in large part, for the existence of the Austrian program at Mason in the first place. Bryan Caplan and Gordon Tullock are knowledgeable about Austrianism, albeit critical. Plus there are an additional, dozen or so libertarian but non Austrian profs, several in the law school; for example, Todd Zywicki, Walter Williams, James Bennett, Ron Heiner, Charles Rowley, John Hasnas, Michael Krauss and Russell Roberts. Buchanan and Smith are Nobel Prize winners in economics. Mason features formal course work in Austrian economics, and a field exam in that subject so students can specialize in Austrian economics. In my own personal view, while Mason is not typically rated as a high prestige place like the Ivies, Chicago, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, etc., its two Nobel prize winners show it is really underrated. I expect that by the time you get your Ph.D., Mason will move up in the prestige rankings. You should also look at the web site of the James M. Buchanan Center and the Program on Philosophy, Politics and Economics http://www.gmu.edu/jbc/ppe/index.html, and the RAE web site www.gmu.edu/rae. In addition, many of the Mason profs are members of the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, an organization which holds its annual meetings at in conjunction with the Southern Economic Association: http://it.stlawu.edu/sdae/. Contact: "Peter Boettke" [email protected] and check out his website; http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/pboettke/workshop.html Re math: Up to Calulus 3, and should have stats 1 and 2. Criteria for admission: Automatic YES for admission and strong consideration for funding: GRE -- Quantitative above 750; Verbal above 600; GPA 3.8 and above. Automatic NO for admission: GRE --- Quantitative 600 and below; Verbal 500 and below; GPA under 3.4

So please understand that if you want to pursue a PhD you have to perform strongly on standard measures of academic performance. If you are an undergraduate student in economics with a passion for Austrian economics, you might want to join us here in Fairfax --- it is where the party is at!!! If you don't believe me, ask our graduates or those currently here.

A7. New York University Mario Rizzo and David Harper are Austrian economists on the faculty. There are explicitly Austrian courses available, here. Most importantly, NYU features an informal weekly Austrian seminar attended by several New York City area Austro libertarians, in addition to these two, including Joe Salerno (Pace University), Bill Butos (Trinity College, CT), Sandy Ikeda (SUNY-Purchase, NY) Young Back Choi (St. John's Univ., NY), Roger Koppl (Fairleigh-Dickinson Univ., NJ), James Sadowsky (emeritus Fordham University, NYC), and Thomas McQuade (no academic affiliation but he received Ph.D. at Auburn under Garrison and Yeager). Thomas McQuade is now a visiting scholar at NYU and a frequent adjunct professor. The official colloquium name has been changed this year from Austrian Economic Colloquium to Colloquium on Market Institutions and Economic Processes. Another advantage of this program: there are Austrian Fellowships available at NYU. I.e. you can get a full ride and stipend because of your Austrian credentials. Israel Kirzner, the elder statesman of Austrian economics, is now retired, but it is my understanding that he still has some contact with the program. However, applicants should be aware that the NYU program is highly mathematical. The typical

12 admitted student has: 3-4 semesters of calculus, a course in linear algebra, two semesters of mathematical statistics. Some have taken differential equations. The quantitative GRE minimum is around 770. There is no chance that a student who doesn't have this background can get through the first year. Economics here is now applied mathematics. A successful applicant will have the equivalent of a mathematics minor. NYU gets 700- 1,000 applicants and accepts only 20-25. For further information, see http://www.nyu.edu/econ/graduate/phd/faq.html; Contact: [email protected]. Here is a statement from Mario Rizzo: The "Program in Austrian Economics" is now called "The Program on the Foundations of the Market Economy" to reflect its more inclusive perspective.(See the web-page listed below.) It is a specialization within a highly mathematical course of study leading to the Ph.D. degree in economics. Admittedly, this a paradox. The paradox is resolved by understanding that there is an Austrian presence in a department that has moved in a completely opposite direction. But there are benefits of this. The main benefit is that a student getting his or her degree from NYU will be fully equipped to understand contemporary work in economics at an advanced level (eg., you will be able to read the AER and the JPE). A Ph.D. student here will take all of the major courses in micro, macro, math for economists, and econometrics. (Take a look at the NYU catalogue --- contact [email protected] for the application packet.) However, the student will also be able to attend the weekly Colloquium on Market Institutions and Economic Processes, take courses given by Austrian faculty (currently myself and Professor David Harper; Professor Kirzner has retired), and do his or her dissertation in an Austrian area. (We also have one or two adjuncts who teach graduate level courses in the broad Austrian tradition.) The level of proficiency required in mathematics is high: around 780 on the quantitative GRE, for example. A student should also have taken before coming to NYU: 3-4 semester of calculus, linear algebra, a course or two in mathematical statistics as well as the usual economics courses. Some students have also taken differential equations. It should be clear that this program is not for everyone, so to speak. It is for those few people who both have great competence and interest in mathematics as well as interest in Austrian-New Institutional and related literature. Currently, we have one Ph.D. student in our Program and several MA level students who attend the colloquium. We accept about 40 students each year for about 20-25 places. (Some accepted students go elsewhere.) This is from a pool of about 800 or more applicants.

A7 Rey Juan Carlos’ University, Madrid, Spain The following comes to me courtesy of Massimiliano Neri. Jesus Huerta de Soto is an outstanding Austrian economist in Europe. Furthermore, at Rey Juan Carlos’ University there are many free marketers, albeit some of them not entirely Austrian. For example, Prof. Miguel Angel Alonso (he teaches International Monetary Theory and has received the national prize for the best PhD thesis) is not literally an Austrian but knows this school very well and often teaches the Austrian point of view in his International Monetary Theory class. The same applies to Prof. Victoriano Martín Martín, Director of the Economics PhD Program. Huerta de Soto teaches a 5 hour weekly undergraduate class on Austrian Economics. Moreover he holds a weekly doctoral seminar called Mises Seminar (where the great economist’s bust is

13 never absent). The syllabus of both undergraduate class and the doctoral seminar in included below. Huerta de Soto’s undergraduate class starts from virtually zero and manages it to make you an Austrian economist in one year. The main textbook is obviously Mises’s Human Action. This class attracted Erasmus students and doctoral students from other parts of Europe. Therefore one gets to interact with many other students of Austrian economics who came for the same reason to Madrid: to study with Huerta de Soto and his professorial colleagues. His enthusiasm and teaching abilities are incredibly high and well known recognized among the students. All this creates a perfect study atmosphere. The Mises Seminar has been given regularly by Huerta de Soto for nineteen years. This seminar serves as a sort of capstone for his three PhD courses (“Economic analysis of planning and interventionism”, “Market Processes and Institutions’ Dynamic Efficiency”, “Theory of The Business Cycle”). Its structure is the following: Huerta de Soto makes a presentation every other week, while in the rest of the sessions, graduate students present their investigations. Contact: [email protected]

A8. West Virginia [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, March 05, 2005 11:12 PM To: Walter Block Subject: Re: advise to students on grad school Hi Walter, Since I don't begin at WVU until this fall, right now all I can offer is basic info about the requirements of the PhD program and what (limited) impressions I have regarding the faculty in terms of market-orientation: Like GMU, in terms of math prerequisites, WVU's PhD program recommends familiarity with Calc 1-3, linear algebra and differential equations for entering students. In terms of course work, as is also standard for PhD programs in economics, students are required to take a course in math econ, a course in dynamic methods, and three courses in econometrics (this is actually more than GMU, which only requires one course in econometrics and one course in math econ). To my knowledge, in terms of faculty, Russ Sobel and myself are among the most market-oriented at WVU. Russ is a superb researcher in the public choice tradition and I am strongly Austrian with interests in public choice and New Institutional economics. It is my understanding that there are a number of other very much market-oriented faculty at WVU as well. Finally, I should point out that the department chairman, Bill Trumbull, is an excellent guy, does excellent work, and is very supportive of good economics, regardless of its stripe. Thus, for students interested in doing good, interesting economics, Austrianism should not be working against them at all. On the contrary, it is my impression that there is considerable support for such work at WVU and it is my belief that Russ and I will give GMU a run for its money in terms of attracting students interested in Austrian/public choice type economics. My comments here are of course qualified in that I have yet to begin at WVU. Thus, these are my impressions, for whatever they are worth. After I've spent some time at WVU I will hopefully be able to offer more concrete and substantiated information regarding the PhD program. Pete

14 In B you can get a Ph.D. in economics, and Austrian economics is not part of the official program (but there are Austrians and/or libertarians on the faculty).

B1. University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand The University of Canterbury offers a Ph.D. in Economics in the British tradition; the Ph.D. is awarded through dissertation only following the successful completion of Masters level coursework and the Masters Thesis. While there are no classes taught in Austrian economics, there are a number of faculty members who are at least sympathetic to Austrian and libertarian viewpoints. Eric Crampton is a George Mason graduate and recent hire at Canterbury; his main research focus is in public choice but he's sympathetic to Austrian perspectives. Phil Meguire is a Chicago-trained economist who is knowledgeable about Austrian economics from a history of thought perspective and reasonably sympathetic; he's also quite well versed in public choice. Ken Carlaw is also knowledgeable about Austrian from a history of thought perspective and is a fan of Austrian capital theory insights. Paul Walker, a research fellow at the department rather than a member of faculty, is quite knowledgeable about Austrian theory, particularly Austrian and libertarian political economy, as well as public choice. Alan Woodfield, who is now part-time as he moves towards retirement, is published in Public Choice; he teaches in law and economics. Steve Tucker and Jeremy Clark do experimental economics, some of which has public economics/public choice applications. The department as a whole is friendly to libertarian perspectives (some more than others), though the modal member would approach it from a consequentialist / utilitarian perspective. A person considering an Austrian focused Ph.D. here could likely put together a committee that would be helpful (though likely not well versed in the latest developments in Austrian theory). Also keep in mind that the Southern Hemisphere's academic year begins in February rather than September. Contact person: Eric Crampton: [email protected] Crampton’s statement on math: This is a really tough one for me to answer, Walter. The Masters level coursework is pretty mathy (you'll have to be able to work through Varian), but the PhD is entirely by dissertation, so one could conceivably do a low math dissertation. But, the oral exams are open to anyone on faculty, and if somebody figured that the candidate didn't do any math 'cause the candidate doesn't know any math, and if the person figuring that wanted to make a point of it, questions during the orals could turn ugly. I guess you could probably summarize as follows then: "As to the level of mathiness, expect to have to be able to work through Varian's graduate micro text, though you don't necessarily have to write a mathy dissertation."

B2. University of Chicago. There are lots of free enterprise but non Austrian professors here. Almost all Nobel Prizes awarded to free enterprise oriented economists have had some contact with Chicago, either as students or professors. Chicago is widely known as the most prestigious of all free enterprise oriented Ph.D. programs. (However, see some interesting and critical comments on this program below under the Harvard listing).

B3. Clemson

15 There are several free enterprisers at Clemson. Bob Tollison, Bruce Yandle (APEE), Daniel Benjamin (PERC) and Bob McCormick. http://hubcap.clemson.edu/economics/faculty/intro.htm

B4. The University of Connecticut Steve Cunningham is pro free market, Francis Ahking is a Rational Expectations Chicago oriented economist, and Dick Langlois is a Mises/Hayek professor.

B5. Florida State, Tallahassee Bruce Benson (President of the Association of Private Enterprise Educators – APEE) and Randy Holcombe have interests in Austrianism; James Gwartney, is a strong free enterpriser. Contacts: "Prof. James D. Gwartney" [email protected]

B6. University of Georgia, Athens. George Selgin is highly knowledgeable about Austrian economics. Dwight Lee is a libertarian. I think there are two or three other libertarian non Austrian profs there. Contact: "Prof. Dwight R. Lee" [email protected]; Prof. George Selgin: "[email protected]" [email protected].

B7. Guelph University Glenn Fox is an Austro libertarian. There are Ph.D. programs available in Agricultural Economics, Economics, Environmental Economics and Rural Studies. He can supervise students in all of these programs. While he is the only Austrian at Guelph, his is a relatively free-market oriented department. However, Canada is even more

16 socialistic than the U.S., hard as that is to believe. Contact: Glenn C. Fox [email protected] Statement from Glenn Fox: With respect to the Guelph entry, we also have MSc programs in agricultural economics and in Natural Resource economics, as well as PhD programs in Economics, Environmental Economics and Rural Studies. I am permitted to supervise students in all of these programs. While I may be the only Austrian at Guelph, this is a relatively free-market oriented department.

B8. Harvard University No, this is not a typographical error. I pass along the following statement, which came to me as a result of circulating an earlier version of this list: “One thing about Chicago- most of the somewhat pro free market types are gone- the old limited government crowd of Friedman, Coase, Stigler and so on are long gone. Lucas and Becker are still around, but Becker is in poor health. Many of the newer Chicago guys are just run of the mill Neoclassicals. “On the bright side, Harvard has improved immensely. Galbraith is gone. Robert Barro, Andrei Schleifer, Alberto Alesina, and Martin Feldstein are all at least as free market as Lucas or Becker (better than most economists, though not an Austro libertarian). Feldstien is the premier mainstream critic of Social Security. Schleifer likes Hayek. Greg Mankiw is also vastly different from the old Keynesians, though not as good as Barro or Feldstein. Harvard is arguably more free market than Chicago these days, not that either school is as good as GMU.” In my own view, Chicago is better from a free enterprise point of view than in the opinion of this correspondent; I include his statement because I didn’t realize that Harvard was so good. At the University of Chicago law school alone there are Richard Epstein, Richard Posner and William Landes, all strong advocates of free enterprise; I say this despite the fact that I have had my disagreements with all three.

B10 University of Mississippi William Shughart is the Frederick A. P. Barnard Distinguished Professor of Economics and holder of the Robert M. Hearin Chair in Business Administration at the University of Mississippi. "William F. Shughart II" [email protected]. My former student when I was at Holy Cross (this is Walter Block speaking), Andrew Young, just earned his Ph.D. at Emory and is now on the faculty here.

B10. University of Missouri at Columbia Offers a Ph.D. in agricultural economics. Peter Klein is a libertarian Austrian. There are also offered Ph.D.s in economics, political science, history, finance, management, etc. Klein can be on the dissertation committees in any of those departments. Ag Econ is his home department, so he can only chair dissertation committees in that subject. Todd Chiles, in the Department of Management, is interested in Hayek, Lachmann, and Kirzner. Jeff Milyo, in the Department of Economics, and Thom Lambert, in the School of Law, are non-Austrian libertarians. Contact: Peter Klein [email protected]

B11. North Carolina State. It has a Ph.D. program in economics. While it is not Austrian it is very free market. Steve Margolis is the department chair and many other faculty members are free

17 market, supply-side, Chicago types such as David Ball, Lee Craig, Walter Wessels (Grove City undergrad), Ed Erickson and Mike Walden. Wally Thurman, a PERC fellow, free market environmentalist, has a joint appointment with the Ag and Resource econ dept, as does Tom Grennes with Econ & Ag Econ. Also, there are Austrians around. E.C. Pasour is emeritus but occasionally still teaches. Roy Cordato, an Austro-libertarian, teaches a course there, but only for upper level undergrads. [email protected]

B12. University of Oklahoma. We have a PhD program that would be sympathetic to libertarian students. We have five faculty members (amongst those with any discernable political interests) who could be characterized as libertarian or free market. There would certainly be support for libertarian students interested in working on research related to free markets. In addition we also have one graduate class which covers Austrian economics, although we don't offer a field and wouldn't encourage students to write an Austrian dissertation. Our program is very applied, although rigorous, and a libertarian student could easily write a dissertation related to a public policy topic and bring Austrian and public choice perspectives to bear. Contact: Dan Sutter, Graduate Director, [email protected]

B13. University of Rochester The professors were generally free-market in orientation. The Chicago school viewpoint was very common, in fact a number of professors at Rochester are Chicago PhDs, among them Steven E. Landsburg, Ron Hansen, Gregg Jarrell, former dean Charles Plosser, G. William Schwert, Jerold Warner, and Ross Watts. Contact: http://www.ssb.rochester.edu/faculty/faculty_directory.aspx(Link)

B15. Washington University, St. Louis Murray Weidenbaum is a free market oriented professor, but teaches only undergraduate courses. Douglass North is a Nobel Laureate in Economics with a free market orientation, who thinks Hayek the most important economist of the 20th century. In addition, John Nye (an I.H.S. fellow) and Lee Benham are advocates of economic freedom. To the best of my knowledge, Wash U has more libertarian students than at any other school, virtually none of whom are econ majors. Wash U is also home of the Center for New Institutional Social Sciences, a program of interest to Austrians. Contact: Art Carden, [email protected] who is a graduate student in economics.

Note from Art Carden on math: Math at Wash U Absolutely required: 3 semesters of calculus (NOT b-school calculus—the real thing), 1 semester of matrix algebra. You probably won't get in without this plus a good math score on the GRE (I got a 730--not great, but good enough). If I had it to do over again... For students in b-schools, skip the business math & stat requirements. Take calculus with the engineers and take "mathematical statistics" instead of business stats. Since I have a field in applied econometrics, I also would have taken a course in probability and a course in real analysis. Between my time at Alabama and my time at Wash U, I've taken seven graduate courses in econometrics & statistics, 6 at the PhD level. I still don't really understand it, but I keep hearing that you don't really "get it" until you start doing it. Personal advice to prospective grad students who are interested in the Austrian paradigm: Learn how econometrics can be useful for answering the

18 questions Austrians are asking. "Praxeology" can only carry us so far--when we have four or five candidate explanations for a particular event, logic alone can't tell us which factors "really mattered" and which factors didn't. Most people will tell you that the epistemological foundations of applied econometrics are somewhat shaky, but the discipline is useful for people who are interested in what happened. What's more, the foundations are rapidly improving with the increasingly sophisticated Bayesian approach. On what prospective grad students should do: 1. Figure out which questions you're interested in answering before you start filling out applications. Look at old JELs or ask professors which scholars are working in the fields that interest you.2. If you're interested in "theory," take analysis, measure theory, etc. If you're interested in applied work, you'll never see the phrase "metric topology" after your first year math course. Take stats classes instead.

C1. Auburn University There is no Ph.D. in economics. The agricultural school has a Ph.D. program in agricultural economics. There is a Ph.D. in applied economics, interdepartmental with agricultural economics and forestry, and integrated with the masters in economics. It is flexible so students can write dissertations with people from the economics department. You can also get a "resource" economics Ph.D. from the forestry department which is similarly flexible. Most students take most of their core courses in the economics department. Professors sympathetic to free enterprise include John Jackson in economics, David Laband (formerly of econ. department) now in forestry, Henry Thompson (formerly of econ. department) now in agriculture. Roger Garrison, an eminent Austrian macroeconomist and Sven Thomessen, an Austrian economist instructor, teach only undergraduate courses. Mark Thornton (an Austro libertarian) serves on a few dissertation committees. Further, Roderick Long, a professor of philosophy with a strong interest in the philosophy of Austrian economics, serves on economics dissertation committees. Contact: John Jackson, Economics Department Director of Graduate Studies; [email protected] or Greg Traxler, Director of the Applied Economics Ph.D. [email protected]. A great advantage for Austrian students at Auburn is that the Mises Institute is located right next door. The Mises Institute is the preeminent institution for the teaching of Austrian economics and libertarian theory. They hold numerous conferences, workshops, where those among the best Austro libertarians lecture several times a year. This list includes the senior faculty of the Mises Institute: http://www.mises.org/faculty.asp. At the Mises Institute, the resident faculty includes eminent Austrian Mark Thornton, and Austro-historian and Rothbard scholar Joseph Stromberg. In addition the Mises Institute features such visiting scholars as Ralph Raico, Robert Higgs, John V. Denson, Sudha Shenoy, and Hans-Hermann Hoppe. For more information on the Mises Institute, contact: [email protected]

C2. University of Nevada at Las Vegas

19 There is available a Ph.D. in Political Science and Sociology, but not Economics. Hans Hoppe, in my opinion the foremost Austro-libertarian now writing, can be a member of either of these dissertation committees. Contact: [email protected] D. Further discussion of Ph.D.s not in economics, but in related fields.

1. Pierre Desrochers [[email protected]] “The first is business history. My impression as an outsider is that even though the field has its fair share of leftists and cranks (this is history after all...), it is possible to produce good work and get published if you're strategic about it (by working, say, on the evolution of a "high-tech" or trendy sector). Although he's not a business historian per say, Richard Langlois is a living proof that you can do something along the lines of applied Austrian economic history and get published in the top journals in the field. “Besides, the job market in that area doesn't seem so bad, at least compared to other historical disciplines, as a growing number of B-Schools are hiring economic historians. Harvard, Johns Hopkins and a few other places have actually fairly decent people doing that type of work and I think that an Austrian-leaning student who is not a pain in the neck could get along with those people. “The other path - the one I took more than a decade ago - is economic geography. It was actually a fairly exciting field at the time as the top journals were publishing a lot of qualitative/historical work on places like Silicon Valley and Route 128 with emphasis on tacit knowledge, entrepreneurship, business networks, etc. Unfortunately, American and English economic geography have since been taken over by post-modern deconstructionist/nihilist/cultural types and the quality of the work published in the discipline is declining rapidly in my opinion. I'm not sure I would recommend that path to students in the English-speaking world (although I would be delighted to supervise a good one at some point), but economic geography is still somewhat palatable in the French-speaking world (where it actually has more prestige). “My two cents of wisdom.”

2. Statement of Miro Kollar, University of Economics, Prague “In order to escape the neoclassical/mathematical mumbo jumbo PhD in economics but still willing to do a related PhD why not try PhD in business, business administration, international business, finance or an interdisciplinary PhD, e.g. political science and economics, law and economics, institutions and economics, international studies, etc. (in Europe: e.g. Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, Switzerland)? This possibility enables the student to partially escape tons of mathematics and still have a top-level PhD, studying economics, a little bid of math and statistics and business or other related field, write a good dissertation (not necessarily neoclassical) and still have a good education. For example PhD programs in business (in Europe: London Business School, INSEAD, ESADE, St. Gallen, Switzerland, Frankfurt, Germany, etc.) offer full scholarships and enable the graduates a solid placement at either a good school or in a good company.”

3. General summary comment from Prof. Peter Boettke of George Mason: “Unfortunately, opportunities for advanced study in Austrian economics are limited and good information for graduate students interested in Austrian economics is rare and should be made available to all possible parties. Professor Walter Block is doing an invaluable service in this regard. When I was a student I was fortunate because

20 Bettina Bien Graves (FEE) and Walter Grinder (IHS) took a special interest in me and directed me to study at GMU, but these individuals have since retired and it is my opinion that many students interested in pursuing the advanced study of Austrian economics are falling between the cracks.” “At GMU, an MA degree is valued, but you should remember that we cap the number of credits that will be applicable for a PhD degree so that your old advice is actually accurate. “However, I do think that perhaps many students should not be thinking of obtaining a PhD in economics, but instead should get an MA in one of the programs you state and then go to Law School, or get a PhD in another discipline --- public policy, political science, history, etc. This way they can have a solid training in Austrian economics at the MA level, and then branch out into other disciplines to advance the discipline of praxeology as Mises conceived of it. “NYU’s MA program should not be overlooked in this. It is under the direction of David Harper and students can get a good dose of Austrian economics in that program --- more than in the PhD program actually now-a-days. “With the demise of Auburn's PhD program, and the retirement of Israel Kirzner, GMU emerged as the main US University to study Austrian economics. I don't mind this status, but I also think that more competition is good not only for consumers, but also for producers to make sure we are on our toes. I still think I could make an argument that if you are interested in Austrian economics, you better head to Fairfax for your PhD, but there are US alternatives in Georgia (Selgin), Florida State (Holcombe and Benson), NYU (Rizzo) and now WVU (Leeson). “An alternative to a PhD is to get an MA at say San Jose State and then work on your standard academic measures (GRE etc.) and get strong letters from Ed and Ben and then apply for a PhD at say GMU. Or perhaps you should think about Law School or another area of graduate training other than economics. In fact, I would encourage students who score under the 85 percentile in the Quantitative section of the GRE to really think hard about NOT going into economics --- you just might not have the aptitude to compete in this discipline the way it is taught and practiced today --- and you could do more for the cause by becoming a legal scholar or entering another discipline that doesn't require as much aptitude with mathematical reasoning. In that instance, I do think an MA from San Jose State and then a JD from a top law school might be a wiser career path than banging your head against a wall in a PhD school.

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