How to Apply to a Summer School: Selecting, Applying and Getting In
Perhaps you’re unsure of how to choose a program that’s right for you, or more importantly, how to get into a summer school at all. In order to keep the application process from being another item on your list of winter woes, we’ve put together a basic guide on how to apply for summer schools in either economics and finance or business and management. Here are some key things to consider: 1. Timing Courses taking place earlier in the summer often have correspondingly earlier application deadlines, so think about when is best for you and scan through offers that work with your schedule. Both of our posts on Econ and Business and Management schools were written according to deadline, and a broader list of programs sorted by approaching deadlines can be found here. 2. Specialization What are you hoping to get out of summer school? If you know precisely which course/s you need, then searching for a program based on its strengths in that area is your best option. As you peruse possible schools, you will notice a wide range of offerings, from financial crises to health economics to urban segregation. Knowing where you’d like to focus will help you find the best fit for you, and making your motivation clear in your application will help secure your spot. 3. Location and reputation If you’re not looking for a specific course but rather a boost to your CV or your academic repertoire, choosing a program based on location or reputation might be more appropriate. If it’s a top school you’re seeking, a quick look through various rankings from around the world can help hone your list of choices. Be sure to plan ahead though, as programs at schools such as Harvard, LSE or Cambridge are guaranteed to fill up quickly. If what you really want is proximity to a gorgeous beach or good nightlife, The University of Crete fulfills both of these options while also offering a rigorous syllabus. Both the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics and the University of Barcelona offer well-renowned programs in one of the most beautiful seaside cities in Europe.CNRS in Nice, France, also combines a fantastic location with a forward-looking focus on economic development. 4. Cost and funding When it comes to cost, summer schools often come with a hefty price tag. If your home institution can’t offer you funding, there are many possibilities for securing outside stipends. For North Americans, here’s a list of options put together by the American Economic Association. For those looking to take courses in Europe, the many scholarships offered through sources such as the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) or Erasmus can be quite helpful. Otherwise, don’t forget to look outside your own department for institutional grants or scholarships offered university wide. 5. The application itself When it comes to tackling the application itself, first think about what you want from the program, then what you can offer them. Treat each application individually, making sure to avoid any silly copy and paste mistakes. Be clear, concise and don’t hesitate to talk yourself up. Familiarize yourself with the professors or theorists you’d like to work with, and show how well your work fits with theirs, and how you can mutually benefit from your attendance in their program. Finally, if you feel you need a reminder about why you’re slogging through the summer school application process in the first place, head to The Thesis Whisperer for a post on how summer school can boost productivity, offer unique opportunities for interdisciplinary crossover and stimulate great discussion. Photo credit: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/17033616@N08/2752095700/in/photolist-5ccdaS-8NC9YZ-9gHL4Z-55cnD8-6CRjmH-7NdJXk-5SSuXb-5MiEkA-6KynsY-6eyAsF-3VjiS-4Fsms9-4SDT63-c26WXC-7FJ8tr-6WBHiy-dWEzvc-4SDTqm-95Wyhe-5DGzBE-5rYvAf-4spf5m-3ewyv7-HNSE-hdCxL-AkFvY-58FPeC-cvVnhj-7HNhwv-kNWuP-6eyAXg-6y8Vo2-77isY3-dKmGF3-9v1rcD-8pmcDE-a6upuW-6ef59F-52QjAb-uNPdg-63Bh9m-etRbv4-4SzENn-hkiEBs-5i93Ee-9PyBT3-ejUkFx-bkkJtp-ef2Lqw-4PE6Bn-j9rJcP">Isaac Bowen
Over the past few weeks we’ve posted lists of Top Summer Schools in Economics and Top Summer Schools in Business and Management. While we are happy to promote the many great programs out there, we also understand that wading through the sea of options might leave you feeling a little overwhelmed.
Popular Fields in Economics – Which Conference Topics are Most Relevant?
Many interesting comparisons can be drawn with this data, particularly regarding which fields of specialization are most popular in each country, and what percentage of survey respondents continue to work in their areas of study. In the above chart it can be seen that Macroeconomics & Monetary Economics are at the top overall, with 12% of respondents having specialized in this field during their studies. While 10% of all respondents chose Other, International Economics and Financial Economics were each chosen by 9% of respondents across the globe. In Spain, Microeconomics was the top field of specialization (13%), while Germany, Switzerland & Austria reflected the global trend, with 12% of respondents citing Macroeconomics & Monetary Economics as their field. Interestingly, Latin America showed an even higher percentage, where 16% of respondents chose this popular field, while in North America Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics, Environmental and Ecological Economics and Financial Economics were each most chosen. When examining the percentage of respondents who remained within their field of specialization when moving on to a job or a higher degree, quite a range can once again be seen across countries, though overall more than a third (35%) of respondents changed specializations. This level of flexibility reflects a high degree of adaptation amongst academics today, indicating a willingness to gain new expertise while also putting old skills to use. Such data could be of great use when planning conferences in various countries, potentially targeting both those areas where certain specializations are strongest and also those most diverse. For specific information about fields of specialization in countries such as Spain, Germany, Switzerland & Austria or the United States & Canada, download full reports here. You can also download the Worldwide Overview, which contains more details on this and many other subjects.
With the release of the Spanish report this week in the worldwide series of INOMICS Job Market Reports, more information has been added to the wealth of data regarding the interests and experiences of economists across the globe.
Salaries of Spanish Economists in the Crisis
In fact, around 78% of economists in Spain are foreigners. The top reasons they cite for seeking employment in the Iberian country flexible working hours, balance between work and personal life and opportunities for development of their own research studies. Despite being highly relevant factors, their qualitative nature leaves out points of a more quantitative nature, such as salary. Seemingly, despite the economic crisis, Spain continues to attract foreign economists. Given the importance of wages in making choices about professional life, we decided to present the average income of economists in Spain, according to their positions. Compared with other European countries, the level of wages of Spanish economists is low. Around 80% of the employed economist population earns less than $55,000 a year; however this data is based on studies with a sample of mostly young economists with limited advanced studies and work experience. Moreover, as is clear from the graph, positions of full professor and analyst/economist are well paid in the Iberian country, while researchers and PhD candidates do not receive high salaries (more information available in the full Spanish report here) In Spain, work experience and professional education have a strong impact on salary. Citing an example, the income of highly skilled and experienced analysts/economists reflect those of their colleagues in countries like Germany and UK. Based on this observation, and according to other information sources, the situation in the Eurozone particularly affects young professionals in the region, while senior economists find in Mediterranean climates more pleasant working conditions with similar incomes to their countries of origin.
Despite the uncertain outlook for the labour market in the Iberian region, the percentage of foreigners working or studying in Spanish institutions is higher than in other countries like Germany or United Kingdom (for more information access reports from other regions here). Many of these economists study or work at one of the numerous highly ranked institutions found in Spain, such as the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics or the University of Barcelona.
Should I Pursue a PhD in Political Science?
Whether you’re unsure about getting a PhD altogether or if it’s just political science you’re feeling wary of, hopefully this post will help you clear some of the doctoral application fog. 1) If you are interested in pursuing a PhD but are stuck on the dissertation proposal, try perusing some of the recent literature for concrete ideas to build off of. The rather young European Political Science Association founded the Political Science Research and Methods journal last year, while other journals such as the American Political Science Review or the British Journal of Political Science are more well-established and offer a wealth of top-notch articles. Looking through the sites of various regional associations, such as the Latin American Political Science Association, the Asian Political and International Studies Association or the African Politics Conference Group, can also help you get a better idea of current scholarship across the diverse areas within political science. 2) This post from Smoke-Filled Room, a blog written by a group of current doctoral students in political science, offers a breakdown of what to consider when choosing a poli sci PhD program. While the advice offered here is drawn from a U.S. American student population, much of it is highly transferable. 3) This list of pros and cons from the blog Outside the Beltway is based largely on what one’s aims are post-PhD. Keeping long-term career goals in mind can help you target your application in terms of schools and subject matter. 4) In this piece for Foreign Policy, international politics professor Daniel Drezner offers 5 dos and don’ts for creating a solid application. In this follow-up article, he specifically addresses post-graduates, offering concrete advice for how to put together a strong application after a few years out of university. 5) This forum, called the Grade Café, offers current, potential and former graduate students a place to discuss any and all relevant topics. In this thread, the question of American versus European political science PhD programs is debated, offering insight into personal opinions regarding the location of one’s studies. 6) Beyond the Grad Café, there are a number of other blogs and forums worth checking out, particularly those written by students and/or professors with a specific focus on political science and related fields. These include the student-centric IR Blog; The Monkey Cage, which is written by five professors and includes relevant discussion and the publication of recent articles; Democracy and Democratization, which covers an array of topics from diverse students and faculty from the Social Science Research Center Berlin and The Duck of Minerva, which offers commentary and information from a wide variety of contributors from within academia. 7) While worries about money can put the brakes on any endeavor, don’t let it be what’s keeping you from moving forward with your education. Take a look at this post from INOMICS guest blogger Laura Pennington about the many ways to finance your PhD studies. 8) Finally, this data from the American Political Science Association indicates that job openings for political scientists at universities are once again on the rise after the tailspin during the recession. While the academic job market is still highly competitive, these numbers offer hope! If you’re still unsure about which programs to apply to, however, you can find a plethora of options on the INOMICS site. To help narrow down your list, keep an eye out for our upcoming post on top political science departments! Photo credit: Elliott Brown
As another season of graduate school applications comes to a close, we wanted to offer a few diverse perspectives on the matter for any of you still on the fence, or for those of you planning ahead for next year. Although deadlines for this coming fall have already passed for most schools in North America, potential PhD candidates looking at European, Asian, African or Latin American schools may still have some time to send in an application.
Germany vs. Switzerland: Salaries of Economists & Professors in Comparison
This week we decided to look at salaries for Economists in Germany and Switzerland, and see if there is a significant difference between the two nations. As can be clearly observed in the graph, average salaries in Switzerland are higher than those in Germany for every position, both in academia and in the private sector (Analyst/Economist). The trend becomes less extreme with experience gained and at higher seniority levels: the wage differential between Full Professors in the two countries is about 20%, while salaries for a Teaching Assistant in Switzerland are more than double that of identical positions in Germany. Naturally, one has to account for different cost of living, but the gap is quite significant. It can also be observed that the wage increase in Germany is steeper than that in Switzerland: salary in the beginning of an economist’s career path is relatively low, but it triples over time. It shall be noted here that the greatest proportion of economists earning more than €73,000 (the higher salary bracket in the Survey) are employed as Full Professors or Analysts/Economists, which is why the average number contains a plus sign. The data for these findings was collected in the Economics Job Market Survey 2013, conducted by INOMICS. Other findings and the methodology of the survey can be found in the full version of each report, which are available for free download on the INOMICS site.
There are many factors affecting one’s decision when choosing a job, and as the INOMICS Economics Job Market Report showed last year, a friendly working environment, flexible working hours and time to conduct one’s own research seem to be the top three priorities worldwide. Salaries are rated fifth, but as we all know, expected remuneration can easily affect one’s career choice.
Love by the Numbers: Using Game Theory to Calculate Romantic Success
1) This Atlantic article discusses an app called Kahnoodle, which uses game theory to help couples keep a spark in their relationships. 2) In this concise piece for the Huffington Post, the author uses well-crafted anecdotes to guide you through a game theory analysis of the quandaries of dating. 3) This Science 2.0 article cites a study in the Journal of Theoretical Biology that uses game theory to explain why females opt for a long “courtship” period in order to weed out “bad” males. 4) In this paper, philosopher Mark Colyvan argues that successful long-term relationships are in fact a result of narrow self-interest, all explained by game theory. 5) In this piece for Psychology Today, evolutionary epistemologist Dr. Jeremy Sherman addresses the difficulty of a heartbreak-free breakup, and how game theory can help you achieve it. 6) This post from the blog Ready to Be Caught delves into a specific strategy within game theory labeled “tit for tat”. Using examples and a step-by-step approach, the author gives advice on the most effect strategies in the game of attraction. 7) In this post on the Mind Your Decisions blog, the author claims, “if you follow this advice, you’ll maximize your chance of finding true love.” Now there’s a reason to use game theory! 8) Daily Beast editor Paula Szuchman gets down to the nitty gritty in this article based on her book It’s Not You, It’s the Dishes. By taking game theory into the realm of marriage, Szuchman discusses how to “achieve the best results possible” in a long-term relationship. 9) Moving away from romantic love, this article from the journal Psychological Science uses game theory to suggest that “in-group love” is more likely to occur than “out-group hate” in intergroup conflict. 10) Finally, here is a video in which Yale professor Barry Nalebuff discusses the application of game theory to relationships and other aspects of life. Now that you’re armed with all of this game theory-based relationship insight, we would like to wish you a happy Valentine’s Day! Comic: http://xkcd.com/601/ (licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License)
Following up on last year’s Valentine’s Day post Would you Date an Economist?, this year we’ll tackle the next step: how to predict the potential success of your relationship – using game theory. Once again, we’ve compiled a list of authors, researchers and scholars who have attempted to crack the code of love using numbers and logic.
Top Employers for Economists in Germany, Switzerland and Austria
In this post we will offer you some highlights of the results we found, but please feel free to download the entire report in order to get the full picture. For economists across Germany, Switzerland and Austria, a friendly working environment was considered to be of greatest importance when choosing a job, followed by flexible working hours and time to conduct research. Amongst student responses, universities, research institutes, think tanks and international organizations/NGOs were listed as the preferred type of future employer. A mere 6% of respondents said they would like to work for the government, and another combined 6% said they were looking to work for a private company or consultancy. The full breakdown of responses can be seen in the table below. In contrast to the global trend, we found that only 30% of economists in Germany, Austria and Switzerland changed their field of specialization upon entering the labor force. Amongst these economists, Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics (12% of respondents) and International Economics (10% of respondents) were the most common fields of specialization. We also found that foreign students and workers accounted for 54% of economists participating in our survey, which was a comparatively high percentage and indicated an interest amongst economists from other countries to work in this market. To take a closer look at this data and much more, please download the full report here.
In this report, which was just released on the INOMICS website, we offer a detailed look at the interests and experiences of economists in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. With the participation of over 300 economists from these three countries, we gathered a broad range of data in response to questions regarding fields of specialization, international mobility, job market preferences, top employers and many other issues. While nearly a third of survey respondents were PhD candidates, researchers made up another significant portion of participants (20%) and other respondents included professors, consultants, analysts, lecturers and others.
Who Really Wins at the Olympics? Economics of the Olympic Games
It’s widely discussed that the final cost of this winter’s Olympics is expected to exceed $50 billion (though the initial estimates were nearly ten times lower), but what exactly does this cost mean? To address the various issues at play in the economics the Olympics, we’ve gathered a list of relevant articles for you to peruse. Many people have tackled the subject of how some cities have seen certain benefits from hosting the games, while others have run up massive debt without ever glimpsing the promised ROI. This article from Harvard’s Kennedy School cites academic studies on the subject, offering diverse insight from a number of perspectives. This Economist article delves into the economics of bidding to host the Olympic games and why cities compete for this burdensome privilege. The author of the article on NBC online argues that no host city has ever made it into the black, but cites the exorbitant kickbacks and heightened security as the main monetary sinkholes in Sochi. This piece on Salon.com notes that while economics may have something to do with it, it’s the intangibles that entice a country into hosting an event like the Winter Games. The author of this Time online article details the difficulty of simply getting to Sochi, arguing that the hurdles fans must jump through will keep this year’s numbers low and profit marginal. This short article on bezinga.com notes that while an overall boost in infrastructure might not happen this year, telecommunications companies are profiting widely. This piece in the Financial Times highlights the parallels (and lack thereof) between Beijing and Moscow in the lead up to the Olympics in each country. In this research paper, the authors use trade models to examine boosts in national exports in cities that host mega-sports events such as the World Cup or the Olympics. They argue that its not really the event itself, but the signal that is sent that creates a lasting positive effect. Another interesting aspect of the Olympics is the correlation between athletic performance and the economic progress of a given country. This article on Business Insider notes the shifts in podium representation by countries such as Japan, South Korea and China as each of them gained economic standing.
As the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi enter their second week, the talk of who is bringing home the gold centers not just on the athletes, but also on the cities, countries and corporations who have invested in these games. In this post we’d like to focus on the economics of the Olympics, this year and in general.
As shown earlier in our post “How Much Econ Professors Earn? Salaries in Academia by Country”, the UK is on the list of countries that remunerate their economists quite well. As can be seen in the graph above, entry-level academic positions, such as PhD Candidate, Researcher or Post Doc, tend to pay less than 50,000 US$ per year, though this number is still significantly higher than in many other countries and regions. Salaries for Professors start, on average, with 61,000 US$ per year for Assistant positions, and go above 95,000 US$ per year for Full Professorship positions. However, there are of course many factors influencing the salary an economist might earn, including years of experience, the highest degree obtained and so on. Our findings show that salaries are strongly correlated with one’s highest degree, and having a PhD determines a stable increase in the average pay. More details on the findings and methodology of the survey can be found in the full version of the report, which is available for free download on the INOMICS site.
On Wednesday, January 29, INOMICS released the Economics Job Market Report 2013 (UK and Ireland). This report, based on the findings of the Economics Job Market Survey conducted in 2013, introduces the reader to various aspects of the job market in economics, business and finance, concentrating primarily on the academic field.
Academic Conferences: how to get x5 Applicants & Papers
The reason for such an exceptional traffic is the number of conferences online (on average 7-10 conferences per category get published on INOMICS every day), the international focus and the general quality of the content. In such an ocean of conference listings it makes a major difference how the conference is presented, as just being listed does not guarantee that a sufficient amount of visitors will ever see it – with every new conference appearing online, every Basic Announcement naturally gets shifted to the bottom. With this in mind, we decided to conduct a small experiment. A number of selected conferences were placed on INOMICS for about two weeks as Basic Announcements, and then just for two weeks they were upgraded to Standard Announcements. The results, when compared, were astonishing (see the graph). On average, Standard Conference Announcements received 100% - 400% more views than Basic Announcements within the same two-week time period, and 3-4 times more visitors expressed interest in applying by visiting the original link of the conference. According to our customers, even two weeks of increased visibility brought a record number of good quality papers. Featured Announcements have the power to even double the outcome compared to the Standard option. If you have any questions about the different levels of announcements specifically for conferences, contact our team (info@inomics.com). Or just see the details on our portfolio pages.
INOMICS is probably the best-known and most reputable tool for finding academic conferences, especially for events focusing on economics and finance-related disciplines. While the majority of new users still find out about INOMICS through word of mouth, a much faster growing part of users lands on INOMICS when searching for specific conferences on Google.
In 2013, our Blog Post Top Economics Summer Schools was the most visited article of the year, which confirms that interest in this kind of program is enormous, with the peak starting at the end of January each year. Many of the INOMICS summer school visitors are returning visitors, which means that annually students and professionals are searching and comparing their options, and eagerly waiting for new summer school opportunities. Unfortunately, if a summer school promotion is not timed properly, for example if there is too little time before the application deadline or not enough time for the applicant to apply for funding, many participants who would otherwise apply can be lost. That is why it is important to make sure that your summer schools are published on the INOMICS website well in advance. Institutions that post two or more months in advance typically receive several times more views and, hence, qualified applications than those posting last minute. So, now is the time to post your summer schools – and the earlier your summer school appears online, the more chance you have to find qualified and motivated participants! Contact our sales team, or just post your announcement here. Photo Credit: taichi_nishida
It is no secret that Summer Schools are among the most visited types of Announcement on INOMICS. As many PhD and Masters students aim to be awarded external funding or need to go through complex bureaucratic procedures inside their own institutions before they can attend, their decision about which Summer School(s) to attend often needs to be made several months ahead.
UK & Ireland: Salaries of Professors & Recruiting Strategies
Today INOMICS released the new regional Economics Job Market Report, with detailed data about the Econ Job Market in the UK & Ireland. Which positions in academia are the most competitive in the UK? What recruiting strategies are used? How open are candidates for relocation? What kind of jobs are recent Economics Graduates after? To answer these and other questions about the Econ Job Market in the UK & Ireland, download the report now, which is available for all INOMICS users for free here (login required). All Regional Reports 2013 are part of the Worldwide Economics Job Market Report 2013. You can download the Worldwide Report as well as reports for Latin America, US & Canada and Australia & New Zealand here. If you want to be notified when reports for Spain, France and Germany are available, please fell free to subscribe for notification at the bottom of the reports page.
Econ Job Market in the UK & Ireland: the new INOMICS Report is available for free download.
Based on Top 12,5% Europe – December 2013, the following list highlights European economic institutions registered in RePEc according to the number of affiliates in the RePEc network, number of publications and popularity of their authors. No. Institution Country Scores Authors Author share 1 London School of Economics (LSE) United Kingdom 1.06 251 177.63 2 Department of Economics, Oxford University United Kingdom 1.96 168 130.69 3 Barcelona Graduate School of Economics (Barcelona GSE) Spain 4.55 152 115.83 4 Toulouse School of Economics (TSE) France 4.72 147 122.9 5 Paris School of Economics France 4.79 211 131.72 6 Department of Economics, University College London (UCL) United Kingdom 6.32 73 56.65 7 Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) Germany 8.14 638 97.26 8 Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) United Kingdom 10.46 283 27.17 9 European Central Bank Germany 10.5 151 130.6 10 Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology – University of Zurich Switzerland 12.94 109 97.24 The ranking is based on information registered in the RePEc Authors service. The data is the result of the compilation of different reports: Authors and bibliography of RePEc, registered institutions in EDIR, citation analysis performed by CITEC and popularity of data collected by LogEc​. For more information about the methodology please click here. Image Credit: moacirpdsp
One year ago, we published information about the Top 10 economics departments in Europe to support the educational choices of new professionals. Now we want to direct the attention of our readers to an overview of European institutions from a research approach. The purpose of the following list is to guide people who are interested in developing their careers as economics researchers in Europe in collaboration with top economics authors.
1. “Game Theory 101 MOOC” by ‪William Spaniel with videos no more than ten minutes in length on all the important aspects of this discipline. These online lectures can serve as a very good introduction. 2. “What is Game Theory?” by David K. Levine, Department of Economics, UCLA provides definitions of basic concepts and supplies reviews of Game Theory texts. 3. A very useful set of flash cards with key definitions used in Game Theory. 4. “Game Theory II” (a little more advanced than the first course for beginners) started on Coursera on 13 January. Offered by professors from Stanford University and the University of British Columbia, it covers such topics as Mechanism Design and Auctions. 5. Modern game theory dates back to 1944, when John von Neumann published his “Theory of Games and Economic Behavior”, but Prof. Chwe from University of California, Los Angeles believes “Jane Austen Had It First” 6. The video in Greg Mankiw’s blog post “An Exercise in Game Theory” shows an unexpected real-life application of the Prisoners’ dilemma. 7. Another real-world application is depicted in the post “Game theory works for football tournaments“ by VOX. For those already on a more advanced level looking to share their knowledge with the world of microeconomists we can recommend checking out the following conferences: 1. Industrial Organization: Theory, Empirics and Experiments organized by the University of Salento (Italy) 2. Auctions, Competition, Regulation, and Public Policy organized by the Management School at Lancaster University (UK) 3. Norms, Actions, Games (NAG 2014) organised at the University of Nottingham (UK) 4. Risk Theory Society 2014 Meeting held at Ludwig-Maximilians University (Germany)
There are a number of disciplines one cannot avoid when purusing a degree in economics. In earlier articles we have looked at resources for econometrics, statistics and other quantitative subjects, so now it is high time to cover fields related to microeconomics. Below we have gathered a list of useful links and resources for those interested in game theory – the starting point for students focusing on auctions, organization theory, strategic management and so on.
American Economic Association Meeting 2014: Blogs, Papers & Sessions
Traditionally, every year we post interesting materials from and about ASSA meetings. With the extreme weather conditions making attendance difficult this year for many, we hope that this collection of materials will prove even more popular! So, what was happening at ASSA? Here is our list of blogs, papers and videos to check out: 1. A good overview of what was happening at ASSA 2014 was published on Economic Principals by David Warsh and in the post ASSA 2014 Highlights by Parag Waknis, Professor at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. 2. The Economist’s interpretation of the discussions in Philadelphia in This Time is Worse. 3. Jon Hinselrath gathered a more than curious collection of “papers with conclusions that were intriguing, offbeat, counterintuitive, head-scratching and sometimes downright kooky”. 4. Vox launched several new columns written by PhD Candidates about their Job Market Papers. 5. A humor session lead by Noah Smith is covered in his post Econotrolls of Academia The Science and Art of Economics. 6. On a humor note, check out a Bingo game for Job Market Candidates. 7. In Job Flexibility Seen as Key to Equal Pay Brenda Cronin presents suggestions how to narrow the gender gap by Harvard Professor Claudia Goldin. 8. Employment Outcomes for Economics PhDs since 1997 in a study conducted by Wendy Stock, Professor at Montana State University, and John Siegfried, Professor at Vanderbilt University. 9. A list of presented papers on behavioral economics, mostly with a preview available for download. 10. A summary of a session on research transparency held by the Berkeley Initiative for Transparency in the Social Sciences. 11. Five Takeaways from the American Economic Association Meeting on WSJ Blogs by Brenda Cronin can be a useful guide for those planning to attend future events. 12. Selected Webcasts of the ASSA 2014 are also available now online. If you know more articles and materials to share, please do so in the comments! Photo Credit: Peter Miller
The annual American Economic Association Meeting is a well-known event bringing together some of the brightest minds in economics and probably counting as one of the largest gatherings of young academics in one place. Here at INOMICS we are delighted to have been a part of this annual gathering for the second year in a row, as besides attendance of exceptional academic sessions, it is also a rare opportunity to meet and greet our users and readers personally.
What Economists Are REALLY Interested In: Readers’ Favorites 2013
Naturally, some topics proved to be especially popular among our readers: in this post we would like to share with you the most read posts on the INOMICS blog in 2013 and hence evidence of which topics really move economists! 1. Most economists seem to be wondering How Much Econ Professors Earn and want to know exact salaries by country, including Salaries for Economists in Latin America. 2. The popularity of Top Economics Summer Schools 2013 proves that economists are really keen on learning, especially when a course is short and takes place next to the seaside. 3. The surprising popularity of Would You Date an Economist maybe raises some concerns about truly important matters for economists. 4. Quite predictable given the spark in popularity of MOOCs, Free Online Courses in Econometrics, Mathematics, Statistics & Data Analysis and Top YouTube Channels to Learn Econometrics & Economics were the top shared posts in 2013. 5. Economists really want to know what the Top Economics Blogs out there are, but before diving into these kinds of lists, it can make sense to understand how and by whom the top economics blogs are determined. 6. It is not just Economics Blogs, however, where economists search for excellence. University Rankings for Economics and Econ Department Directories together with the lists of the Top Econ Departments in Latin America, Europe and Asia sparked a discussion about different methodologies of existing rankings systems. 7. Interest in deepening the knowledge of econometrics is obvious, given the number of readers of Introduction to Econometrics and Econometrics Conferences 2014 8. Young economists, who are just now deciding the course of their career, made an extraordinary amount of visits to the articles: Should You Get a PhD in Economics? Links and Resources and MBA vs PhD in Economics 9. Those who are mentoring students themselves already, are very keen to find out How to Teach Economics 10. Chinese PhDs vs US PhDs, a post that reveals a skyrocketing number of PhDs in China, is closing the list of the top ten trending topics on INOMICS blog 2013. What were your favorite posts from Econ blogs this year? Share them with us in the comments and, of course, Happy New Year!
At times it is hard to believe how fast time flies – yet another year is over! 2013 was an exciting year for the INOMICS blog: in 12 months, the number of readers quadrupled, the blog was launched in 3 additional languages (Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese), and we got ever more inspiration to share interesting and useful resources, research and stories with the academic community.
Courses, Workshops & Conferences 2014: Should You Advertise During the Christmas Break?
Our customers often ask us “When is a good time to advertise?” and “Does it make sense to advertise during festive seasons?” we gathered a list of arguments for you to help you decide why Christmas break can, in fact, be the right season for you to start promoting your Courses, Workshops and Conferences for the upcoming year. 1. The Geo-Factor matters. Most of the courses and conferences advertised on INOMICS target an international audience. In fact, many advertisers target specific regions. If in your home country Christmas is considered to be “dead season”, in many others it might not even be a public holiday. Good examples include Russia, where Christmas is celebrated only on 07 January, or China, where only 01 January is an official public holiday. 2. Grasping participants’ attention is easier. As a large number of organizations will still close their operations for the festive season, the amount of advertisements during the period will be naturally lower. For those who will nevertheless opt for putting their announcements online it will ultimately mean less competition for the attention of applicants. 3. Get more and better access to personal social media networks. One of the main sources of applicants for our customers is the INOMICS social media network, which reaches out to over 200,000 users through the personal social networks of our followers. With less activity form other institutions, and hence less competition for the display space, the chance to be shown on the maximum number of users’ networks increases significantly. 4. Give seekers more time before the deadline. The longer you postpone a full-force promotion for your courses and events, waiting for the optimal time, the less time is left before the deadline. Less time to prepare for applications can, unfortunately, scare off qualified participants, who give preference to planning ahead. 5. Seekers have more free time. For many busy and ambitious people, into which category most academics fall, the holiday season is not just an opportunity to spend a lot of time with the family, but also to get their hands on the items from their to-do-lists. This especially affects things like applications, where one might need a lot of headspace to work on essays and motivation statement. 6. Be the first on the list. Planning the year, especially related to budget spending, doesn’t start on 01 January, but much earlier. If you haven’t advertised your courses and conferences yet, and especially if the application deadline is in the first half of the year, the end of December might be the last chance still to appear on the top of the list for the year 2014. 7. Users tend to look at things more positively. It is a proven fact that when people are in a more relaxed and rested state, they tend to see things more positively and be more open and accepting. Of course, decisions about course applications do not happen overnight, but a less stressed condition can definitely help motivation! As the season will only be picking up in January, we have special solutions to make sure that your announcement will appear near the top of relevant lists on INOMICS not only during the festive season, but also into the new year as well. To learn more drop us an email at info@inomics.com, or have a look at our Portfolio for Course and Conference Advertisers.
The Christmas break is approaching and all university departments are getting busy finalizing their end-of-year work. For busy marketers and conference organizers a Christmas break might seem not to be the best time of the year to promote their courses and conferences to a wider audience. However, our experience at INOMICS confirms that it is not exactly true. Of course, much depends on your target audience: but while for many December 25th will be almost certainly dedicated to family commitments, for many the days before and after Christmas represent one of the few times of the year that they can actually spend searching more deeply for information in their field of interest, especially with regard to extra training and conferences.
International Economics Job Market Candidates – what do they look for?
Qualified job candidates in different regional markets have different preferences and priorities when choosing a new job, and understanding these differences can be valuable for a recruiter, especially for those targeting both international and domestic audiences. With the high season for interviews for academic positions around the corner, we thought it timely to share some insights about candidates’ preferences in the job market, which are based on the findings from the INOMICS regional reports released earlier this year. Even though certain trends were distinct worldwide, some obvious differences still prevailed. Thus, in all countries older applicants ranked the importance of long-term contracts and salary much higher than their younger colleagues. On the other hand, the importance of remuneration, reputation of the institution and time for conducting own research were not ranked equally across all the regions. Respondents to the INOMICS questionnaire were given a list of factors and asked to rate the importance of these when choosing a job. The factors were rated between 1 and for, where 4 meant extremely important, and 1 not important at all. Australia & New Zealand. Economists in Australia and New Zealand consider having time to conduct their own research (3.29 out of 4) to be of the greatest importance when choosing a job, followed by a friendly working environment (3.24 out of 4). Salary (3.07 out of 4) was rated the third among the priorities, which made Australia and New Zealand one of the few regions in the world where salary is among the top-3 priorities. At the same time candidates in this region tend to care the least about teaching opportunities (2.27 out of 4), extra benefits (2.04 out of 4) and job opportunities outside their home countries (1.85 out of 4). USA & Canada. Economists in North America (USA and Canada) had slightly different preferences than those in Australia and New Zealand. Thus, a friendly working environment (3.20 out of 4) was rated as by far the most important factor when choosing a job. Reputation of the institution was also rated among the most important factors in position 2 (3.13 out of 4), followed by flexible working hours and salary (3.01 and 3 out of 4 respectively). Extra benefits (2.44 out of 4), teaching opportunities (2.34 out of 4) and geographical location (1.52 out of 4), similarly to economists in Australia and New Zealand, were rated as least important. Latin America. South American economists tended to rank every factor as important, demonstrating small difference in the priority of the factors when choosing a job. Like in North America, a friendly working environment (3.25 out of 4) and reputation of the institution (3.22 out of 4) were rated the highest, with flexible working hours (3.11 out of 4) rated third. Similarly to other countries, geographical location of the job was rated as the least important factor (2.27 out of 4). All data used in this article is based on the findings from the Regional Economics Job Market Reports 2013. You can download the reports for free and subscribe for future regional reports here.
Even though many (especially young and less experienced) job candidates attend interviews with an anticipation of being assessed, in reality the assessment always happens in both directions. And the more that a talented applicant has to offer, the pickier he or she can be when making a final decision.
For those of you who already feel comfortable enough with at least basic econometrics and see the discipline as a vital tool for any research project and an indispensable part of any empirical study, participating in a conference might be the next step. To help you to take a decision which event to attend, we collected a number of econometrics conferences and workshops worldwide published on INOMICS, where researchers and econometricians gather to exchange experiences and discuss advances in the field (in chronological order): 1. Advances in Econometrics Conference at University of California, US (February 22-23, 2014) focuses on Bayesian Model Comparison. Deadline for paper submission: January 10, 2014 2. 3rd PhD Student Conference in International Macroeconomics and Financial Econometrics in Nanterre, France (March 19, 2014) covers such topics as exchange rates and exchange rate regimes, contagion mechanisms and systemic risk and financial and commodity markets. Deadline for paper submission: December 20, 2013 (!) 3. 13th International Workshop on Spatial Econometrics and Statistics in Toulon, France (April 15-16, 2014) gives emphasis to particular issues and applications in the fields of urban economics, land use and climate or environmental change. Deadline for paper submission: January 15, 2014 4. 11th International Conference Forecasting Financial Markets and Economic Decision-Making in Lodz, Poland (May 15-16, 2014) focuses on macro- and micro economic modelling, business cycles analyses and advances in financial econometrics. Deadline for paper submission: February 1, 2014 5. IWcee14 – International Workshop on Computational Economics and Econometrics in Rome, Italy (June 26-27, 2014) is organized by the Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth and focuses on socio economics of networks. Deadline for paper submission: May 1, 2014 6. IAAE 2014 Annual Conference of International Association for Applied Econometrics in London, UK (June 26-28, 2014) brings together leading researchers in the field to discuss theoretical and practical aspects. Deadline for paper submission: February 1, 2014 Image Credit: asadal
Econometrics is a thorough discipline that demands time and effort to be mastered. For many people who want to pursue a degree in economics it serves as an obstacle, but as we’ve shown before, there are many resources you can use to your advantage to become proficient in it: blogs and podcasts can introduce you to the topic and give practical advice, free online courses will incentivize you to learn systematically and increase your ability to perform a research using different econometrics and statistical software like “R” or “Stata”, and YouTube channels can greatly support your studies by giving access to lectures and tutorials of great professors at any time convenient for you.
Econometrics, Statistics and Quantitative Methods (JEL C)
Jobs for Economists in Australia: What Recruiters are Looking For?
Source: Economics Job Market Report 2013 (Australia) Australia is known for being an attractive destination for both students and professionals from all over the world. Relatively friendly immigration policies, demand for skilled professionals (the number of places in the immigration program almost doubled in the last 10 years), high salaries and a stable economy, especially in the light of the European crises, all contribute to an appeal of the Australian job market for highly skilled candidates. For academics, Australia is a particularly attractive destination too. As our latest research shows, Australia offers the highest salaries for Professors, not to mention extra benefits and lucrative living conditions. Moreover, the Australian job market is especially open for international applicants for economics professor positions: 0% of recruiters indicated that they would prefer a national candidate, and 30% said they would give preference to an international applicant, with 70% having no preference. However, the downside of attractive conditions is a fierce competition for the open positions. According to INOMICS Australia Econ job Market Report, the results of which were released yesterday on the INOMICS website, the number of applications for Professor positions at the mid-level is enormous, with 500 applications per position on average. Entry-Level jobs, however, as well as Full Professor positions have much less competition and receive 20 applications per position on average. It is important to note though that the survey was conducted during the “low season” for entry-level positions, which might explain such a comparatively low number of applications for PostDoc positions. So, what are the important characteristics recruiters are looking for in their candidates for academic economics positions in Australia? A relevant degree, as well as research experience, have the highest importance for recruiters when choosing a candidate for an academic position at a university, with recommendations rated third. While the worldwide trend shows that recruiters of economists value communication skills over quantitative skills, it is not the case in Australia. To read about the Economics Job Market in Australia, you can download the full version of the INOMICS Report (Australia) for free here.
Figure 1. Average number of applications per position