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Before the PhD · Start here
Should you do a PhD, and which one?
A PhD is five or six years of your life. Make the decision with clear eyes, and choose the kind of PhD that fits the foundation you have.
A PhD in economics is a serious commitment. The median time to complete one in the United States is close to six years, and stipends at funded programs are modest compared with what the same skills earn in the labor market. It can also be one of the best decisions you make: most programs are fully funded, the training is rigorous, and economists with PhDs have strong employment prospects inside and outside academia. The goal of this page is to help you decide with clear eyes, and to choose the kind of PhD that fits you.
Good reasons, and less good ones
The best reason to do a PhD is that you want to do research: to spend years working on questions nobody has answered, and to become the kind of person who can answer them. A second good reason is that the career you want requires deep technical training, such as a research economist role at a central bank, a senior position in economic consulting, or a research scientist role in industry.
Less good reasons include not knowing what else to do, wanting the title, or assuming a PhD will automatically raise your salary. In many business roles, a new PhD starts at a similar level to someone with a master’s or an MBA, after spending several more years in school. If the career you want does not need research training, a master’s may get you there faster and for less.
The real costs
The largest cost is time. Five to seven years is a long stretch of your twenties or thirties, and the work is demanding: slow, uncertain projects that require self-motivation, much of it spent cleaning data and solving problems no one has assigned to you. The second cost is income you do not earn while you study. The third is that the academic job market is competitive. Top programs produce far more PhDs than there are tenure-track positions, and the market is harder still for graduates of lower-ranked programs.
None of this is a reason not to go. It is a reason to go deliberately, and to keep the option of a career outside academia open from the start.
Which PhD fits you?
“A PhD in economics” is not the only option, and it is not always the best fit. Your foundation and your interests will make you a stronger candidate for one kind of program than another. Apply where your background fits.
| Type of PhD | What it values most | Who tends to fit |
|---|---|---|
| Economics | Advanced mathematics, especially real analysis, plus research potential in economics | Math majors, double majors in math and economics, economics majors with a strong math record |
| Public policy and related policy PhDs | Applied economics, quantitative methods and real policy questions, with less emphasis on proof-based math | Economics majors with solid applied skills but weaker advanced math, and students driven by specific policy problems |
| Business (finance, marketing, operations, management science, accounting) | Quantitative skills applied to business problems, plus research potential | Students with quantitative business backgrounds, for example a math or math-economics degree followed by a master’s in data analytics, finance or risk management |
| Statistics or econometrics-oriented programs | Probability, mathematical statistics and theory | Students who love the methods more than the economic questions |
Policy and business PhDs are not lesser options. They are different ones, often with strong job markets of their own. A student with an economics degree and weaker math can do very well in a policy PhD. A student with a business-oriented quantitative background may be a much stronger candidate for a business PhD than for an economics PhD, and happier there too.
How to decide
Talk to current PhD students and recent graduates in the fields you are considering, and ask what a normal week looks like. Work as a research assistant before you commit; a year of research tells you more about whether you will like a PhD than any amount of reading. And look at where each program’s graduates actually work, because that is where you are likely to end up.
Sources
J-PAL, Deciding if a PhD is right for you; Chris Blattman, FAQs on PhD applications.