Keeping Up With Fashion: Recent Trends in the Subfields of Study of Doctoral Students in Economics

Sheng Guo and Jungmin Lee

No 1101, Working Papers from Florida International University, Department of Economics

Abstract: We conduct an analysis of recent trends on the subfields of study that doctoral students in economics choose for their dissertations. By investigating data on the JEL classification codes of dissertations reported by the Journal of Economic Literature from 1991 to 2007, we find that the trends in the subfields of study of doctoral dissertations follow those of articles published at five major general-interest journals (American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Political Economy, Review of Economic Studies, and Review of Economics and Statistics). In particular, the co-movement pattern is salient in subfields such as Microeconomics (D), Health, Education, and Welfare (I), and Economic Development and Growth (O). Our findings suggest that the fashion exhibited in the top-notch research journals is one of the most influential factors when doctoral students choose a subfield.

Keywords: Economics Research; Doctoral Dissertation; Journal Publication; Ph.D. Economist; Economics Job Market (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A11 A14 A20 J44 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 19 pages
Date: 2011-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his, nep-hpe and nep-sog
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fiu:wpaper:1101

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