Business Economics is a rather broad area of economics covering everything from business organization, management and marketing to the role of entrepreneurs and impact of the government on corporations. It is also assumed to be one of the most applicable research branches within economics: where today’s academic research might result in tomorrow’s industry implementations.

Finance has become a very attractive field for many people in the last decades as it “smells” of money and promises a successful career after obtaining a degree, even though the financial crisis has slowed down this popularity trend. While many fresh Bachelor and Master graduates massively apply for positions in investment banks and consultancies, some decide to pursue a PhD, which is the way to life-long involvement in the academic world.

University rankings are considered to be an important tool, if not the most relevant one, in determining the quality of education at higher education institutions, schools, departments and programs according to a specific set of factors. Rankings are often consulted by both applicants in the university admission process deciding on their next place of study or work, as well as directors of the institutions measured in the rankings as a benchmark against other relevant institutions.

Econometrics is something towards which many people have mixed feelings: both fear and respect. If you want to get a degree in economics, however, there is no way you can get away without studying econometrics on some level; and if you want to become a great economist you will have to master it: to build models, run regressions and (hopefully) predict the future. The economics profession has been blamed for failing to predict the global financial crisis, but as econometrics is considered to be one of the core disciplines to help prevent a recurrence in the future, we have collected a number of useful links for online learning and self-improvement in this field.

The literature research students need to rely on throughout all of their thesis writing is diverse. Broadly categorized there are three types of literature useful for PhD students: research/topic literature, methods literature, and ‘how to do your PhD’ literature. A somewhat similar classification of PhD materials can, for example, be found in Chris Hart’s Doing a Literature Search: A Comprehensive Guide for the Social Sciences (2010, Sage, p.2), which I recommend immensely.

Less than a decade ago student relied on word of mouth and the information available in their universities when choosing a Masters Program. Today, internet-based searching is the foremost source of advice when it comes to exploring opportunities for postgraduate education. Students who are interested in studying abroad in particular turn to search engines and course-listing platforms in their search, and often make their decisions based on the information presented online. Using our own and published data about online behavior, it is possible to identify the key trends in how people search for study programs. Understanding these trends is vital for universities to stay competitive in the global educational market.

The application deadline for the winter semester in many Latin American universities is approaching. To help those considering further education or work in this region we are sharing a list of top Economics Departments in Latin America. If you are interested in universities in other regions, check out our previous posts on the Top 10 Economics Departments in Europe and Top 10 Economics Institutions in Asia. The following list is based on the QS Latin American University Rankings for Economics and Econometrics.

According to our study last year, 35% of economists are working outside their home countries.  The majority of economists go to work to the US, Germany and France (11% of the respondents respectively), followed by Switzerland (8%), Italy, Netherlands and the UK (6% respectively).

Source: Estadística de Variaciones Residenciales y Estimaciones de la Población Actual, INE.

With the application deadlines for PhD and Master’s courses in Europe approaching, we decided to post a list of Top 10 European Economics Departments to support your decision when choosing the right institution. As all university rankings have their flaws and there is an obvious shortage of rankings for specific disciplines, we combined two ranking systems in one table: RePEc, Top 25% Economics Departments (February 2013) and QS World University Rankings by Subject (2012).

Data Source: RePEc, Top 12.5% Asia, as of January 2013

After our post last summer about the trend for conferences and prizes aimed at young economists, several further events are coming up this year, which could be of interest to PhD students and young researchers. Some of these are specifically for students or junior academics whilst others offer financial support or prizes to those attending or presenting papers at the meeting.

Source: National Science Foundation, NSF/NIH/USED/USDA/NEH/NASA, Survey of Earned Doctorates

With ice on the ground and a chill in the air (at least for those living in northern climes), it is nice to think about the summer and all of the welcome things it brings: warmth, flowers, and, of course, new career and training opportunities.

Source: Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China (China), The Survey of Earned Doctorates, National Science Foundation (US)

Following the entry on this blog last month about countries with the most top 100 economics departments according to REPEC data, I thought it a worthwhile pursuit to look a little more into these rankings, and to seek out some alternatives to that offered by REPEC.

In today’s global world, the transfer of information is crucial to success. Since the start of the recession in 2008 financial issues have increasingly been among the hottest discussion topics around the world – in particular the balancing of books and budgets, whether in supranational financial unions like the EU, individual countries, businesses or households. From the academic perspective, there is still much to be explored in the world of finance.

Following our earlier post from November about Economics Conferences in 2013, we have now published a (chronological) list of Conferences in Economics and Statistics taking place in the Asia-Pacific Region. If you know of other interesting, economics-related events in the region, please share these with us in the comments at the end of this post.

Data Source: RePEc

Considering the remarkable technological progress and the spread of social media in the last few years, it can be challenging to teach and involve students when using an old-fashioned lecture style. Shelving overhead projectors and boring PowerPoint slides, some professors have converted to “education 2.0”, integrating new tools and applications into their class format.