Tyler Cowen points to a very interesting article on European economists at US universities.
One-third of the faculty of Harvard University’s economics department hails from Europe. At the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, half of the finance department’s faculty is European. And these schools aren’t alone: European economists are overrepresented at all first-tier American universities and have had a huge influence on economic thinking, doing cutting-edge research in areas ranging from modeling financial markets to assessing risk.
These academics—most of them young rising stars escaping the mediocrity and politicization of economics departments in their countries of origin—see top American schools as the best places to study and teach. “When one wants to become a real economist, to accumulate knowledge and recognition, one has no choice but the United States,” says Chicago’s Luigi Zingales, an Italian who is a leader in the hot field of financial regulation. He’s right—for the time being, anyway.
Cowen has commented on this before.
In percentage terms, fewer and fewer economists are Americans by birth and upbringing. Non-Americans are less likely to be fully fluent in English, which encourages mathematics. Non-Americans also tend to be less market-oriented in their thought. In any case they are less likely to stand along traditional U.S. ideological fault lines or even share ideological fault lines with each other.
The ideology issue is quite interesting.
Obsolete and disproved Marxist and socialist thinking also remained strong within European universities, including in economics departments. Many young economists, scientifically oriented and so recognizing the superiority of free markets, found the climate intellectually stultifying. It remains the case that most French and Italian universities teach economics as a philosophical subject—with opinions mattering as much as facts—not a scientific subject. A Keynesian, statist perspective still dominates most European curricula: free-market professors are an embattled minority.
American economic departments were—and are—much more rigorous and nonpartisan by comparison. Yet isn’t there an ideological opposition between, say, the University of Chicago, known as a cradle of free-market theory, and Harvard, a supposedly liberal campus? “This perception hasn’t much to do with reality,” Bertrand responds. “We are scientists, above all; ideologies do not dictate our research or our teaching.” Alesina, a strong proponent of markets, agrees: “The notion of Harvard being liberal and Chicago free-market doesn’t coincide with academic reality.”
Perhaps Cowen’s ‘less market-orinetated’ European economist is considered a raving right-winger back in Europe.
so what you’re saying is that America is getting the cream of the European crop; and better still (for America) they’re getting the ones who are fed up with the European economic mindset.
daddy dave
28 Jan 10 at 9:25 am
“… most French and Italian universities teach economics as a philosophical subject—with opinions mattering as much as facts—not a scientific subject.”
What an odd comment. Formal logic isn’t about ‘opinions’ but it’s not science, it’s philosophy.
It seems to me that economists don’t avoid the opinion problem with all the formalism and math — they just displace it.
Of course the formal stuff isn’t a matter of opinion. The opinion enters with the claim that the models have anything to do with reality.
Don
28 Jan 10 at 9:30 am
Just to clarify — I’m making three points:
1. Philosophy isn’t necessarily about opinion rather than fact (eg formal logic).
2. Subjects like formal logic are not scientific. To the extent economics is a purely formal exercise, economics isn’t scientific (and yes, I’m aware of Mises nutty apriorism).
3. Claims that the formal models of economics describe the way the world actually works involve opinion (but feel free to make an anti-realist argument involving the f-twist if you wish. There’s always room for philosophical debate).
Don
28 Jan 10 at 9:40 am
Actaully, I don’t think its specific to economics. My bet and observations are that it’s pretty much across the board (the labs I’ve visited are basically full of Chinese, Indians, and Europeans — Chinese nationals now earn more PhDs in the US than any other group, including Americans). I think it is therefore really telling us something rather more general about American culture and their education system (like that their high system is not doing a good job teaching maths and science), rather than anything specifically to do with economics.
conrad
28 Jan 10 at 10:07 am
Isn’t the fact/ opinion distinction a little passe? I know in respect of some elementary matters the distinction is clear but in respect of all others, opinion, certainly considered opinion, is the outcome of a procedure of deliberation based upon facts.
dover_beach
28 Jan 10 at 10:18 am
Actaully, I don’t think its specific to economics.
It is not that specific but I wonder if economics has something to do with it. Just last night I was speaking to someone who who was marking post grad papers and stated she was appalled at the quality of the writing in the papers. One Ph. D. thesis, written by an Asian was littered with so many simple spelling and grammatical errors that she concluded the supervisor never even read the paper. Despite all these errors the Ph. D. was successful! This department was composed of mainly overseas students. All that money …
Have no idea how US universities structure their fees but I wouldn’t be surprised that they make more from overseas students than citizens.
Conrad’s point is backed up by a recent study which showed that the US is losing the lead in science and maths. If I recall correctly similiar concerns have been raised in Australia. Perhaps the movie “Idiocracy” was onto something.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/04/AR2007120400730.html
…
The scores from the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment showed that U.S. 15-year-olds trailed their peers from many industrialized countries. The average science score of U.S. students lagged behind those in 16 of 30 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based group that represents the world’s richest countries. The U.S. students were further behind in math, trailing counterparts in 23 countries.
–
And…
Asian students top latest global math, science study, report Boston College researchers
—–
John H.
28 Jan 10 at 12:23 pm
John H,
in general, US universities are not nearly as dependent on OS money than Aus ones, so it’s unlikely to be that (the private one’s can charge US citizens whatever they want — OS Student moeny would be just petty change to many). In addition, the labs I go to are full of people that have completed PhDs and are getting paid to be there (post docs, higher level staff), and they’re there because no US citizens can do or wants to do the job.
The reason they come from China or India (and sometimes Russia now also) is obvious — it’s because anything is a step up for most of them, so the opportunity cost for them is nothing compared to most US citizens that are well educated, who can get other well paying and potentially easier jobs. The reason they come from Europe is that (a) many places in Europe have a hopelessly corrupt research/university system; (b) many places in Europe do not do much scientific research yet still have universities producing qualified students; and (c) the jobs are just generally better and better paying in the US.
It would be interesting to see what would happen if the supply of foreigners dried up. I’m not sure who would staff the labs then.
conrad
28 Jan 10 at 2:18 pm
Don – the models have *nothing to do with reality* but you also reject a priori out of hand (both are commonly used) – please tell us in spite of the voluminous amount of macro data, what economists can actually measure, predict or at least analyse ex post?
I don’t mean to be rude, but either you are very out of date or extremely up to date on this. What do you oppose in the advances of micro-econometrics for example? I talked to a econometrics Professor who innovated the use of stated preference data to drill down to revealed preferences. His advice on infrastructure was very profitable – but costly when ignored – was his modelling out of touch with reality or not?
Semi Regular Libertarian
30 Jan 10 at 11:57 am