For conference organizers, the benefits of a smart use of social media channels stretches far beyond just the promotion of their event. The challenge of tight budgets for (especially) academic events is well-known, and the process of building proper online platforms and hiring additional administrative staff is often difficult to afford.

Every year, October is the peak time for future PhD candidates to start applying for their first-choice positions. For those students who want to stay in their current institutions, the process may be fairly straight forward. However, for candidates seeking opportunities internationally or even simply in a different university, the prospect and the process may be somewhat more daunting. For institutions aiming to find the best international talent for their PhD, including that from outside their own campuses, it is vital to present their opening to the right audience.

This Monday, October 14th, Eugene F. Fama
 and Lars Peter Hansen
 (University of Chicago, USA) and Robert J. Shiller (
Yale University, USA) won the Nobel Prize in Economics.

In the light of global demographic changes, universities increasingly have to look for lead sources from abroad. Traditionally, exhibiting at study fairs has been the most common way to attract students internationally. However, technology is moving fast and in recent years a number of effective marketing channels for universities have developed online. Some course marketers still argue that study fairs are the only way to establish personal contact with the students, but a comparison of the benefits of both channels gives the best illustration of their effectiveness.

In September the recruiting season gathers pace, a fact that candidates today know well. Last year, the number of people visiting the INOMICS job listing pages increased by 28% in the eight weeks from the start of July to late September. The rush increased even more in October, with a rise of 20% in just one month. Every institution has their own policies and guidelines for faculty hiring, but still there is a set of best practices which in many cases is applicable regardless.

With the summer vacation period drawing to a close, many graduates are now exploring their options for further education. Users on the INOMICS platform at this time of year are actively seeking graduate opportunities, whether Master's Programs, PhD positions or supplementary courses for the coming academic year.

Learning to work with and analyze data is an essential skill for young economists. To be competitive as an economist in the job market, demonstrable skills and experience using analysis and forecasting software are a must. Knowledge of more than one type of statistical software is advantageous when determining which programs are applicable in different environments or to different situations.

With the upcoming appointment of a new Chair(wo)man for the US Federal Reserve System (the Fed) the blogosphere is abuzz with rumours, recommendations, and revelations about who could be in line for the coveted position ahead of the decision, which will not be made until fall.

At this time of year, with the summer heat visibly rising from the Berlin pavement, for many there is nothing more appealing than a cold beer in one of the city’s numerous beer gardens. And perhaps among these Berlin beer lovers, more than a couple of economists might be found as well.

As many of your know, the Nobel Prize for Economics last year went to a pair of economists for their work in the field of “Market Design” – the study of creating an optimal marketplace to reduce market failures. Al Roth, one of the recipients, is best known for his work in orchestrating kidney transplant matches using such economic principles. While kidneys are his specialty, he has also researched other processes that could be better organized using similar principles.

Today, on July 1st, Canadian-born Mark Carney is to assume governorship of the Bank of England.  In a show of professional meritocracy, the BOE is the first central bank to hire a foreign economist as its director. Carney is the first non-Briton to be appointed to direct the BOE since Bank’s establishment in 1694.

Following my last post listing our favourite economics blogs, I have looked a little closer at the blogging community and who the potential contenders are for THE coveted position of top economics blog.

At any one time between 400 and 700 conferences are advertised on INOMICS, peaking in the summer months. With such tough competition for strong delegates, making your event stand out can be a challenge, whether on INOMICS or elsewhere in online or printed media. Budgets are often carefully controlled when it comes to promotion for academic conferences, but a larger initial cost can quickly be outweighed by the advantage of a greater number of delegates registering for your event.

Time and time again we hear economists seeking to answer the questions:  “How and why some countries manage to get rich while others stay poor?” and “What can be done to change this fundamentally wrong situation?”. To help tackle these issues we are dedicating a series of blog posts to the field of Development Economics. In this post we have sought out a number of links to explain what Development Economics is, as well as two Master’s courses in this field taking new students in autumn this year.

In recent months the INOMICS blog has featured a series of posts about rankings of departments and universities. Traditionally, ranking has practically been an academic discipline in itself, with big names like QS, the Times Newspaper and in Economics the citation listings compiled by REPEC, dominating the field. However a trend towards a kind of “crowd-sourcing” of ranking has started to appear.

We are sad to share the loss of a great economist yesterday. Robert Fogel, Nobel Laureate (1993, with Douglass North) passed away yesterday at the age of 86. He was a Professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Founding Director of the Center for Population Economics.

There exist two sides to every argument; in this one we have on one side a utopian world where everyone is equal and on the other a world where inhabitants don’t want to share what they’ve earned (presumably) by persistence and hard work with others and keep it for themselves. Herein lie the issues of inequality and the question of welfare and income redistribution. There are debates at every level of society, government and especially amongst economists as to where this problem comes from and how to tackle it.

 Job market seasons vary by country and industry, but summer and Christmas time generally stand out as quiet seasons. Often, it causes frustration for fresh graduates, who are exiting universities at both of those times. If some will be lucky enough to have an offer in their hands before the graduation party, more will still be uncertain about their start moving into professional life.

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.

At INOMICS we strive to offer the best resources for economists to support them in their careers. Besides providing information on jobs, courses and conferences in the economics field, in partnership with RePEc we’ve been working on making economics research more accessible to our users. As a means of support in promoting economics research, in April 2013

For the last couple of years we have been hearing repeated, if sporadic ‘rumours’ about the soon-to-be recovery. Different economists have different views on this, and below you can find a list of up-to-date comments about the prospects for the near future, and conferences which are open for registration if you have ideas on this topic to tell the world about. Blogs:

* The original article was published in the INOMICS Customer Newsletter. Click here to subscribe.

Last year I wrote a post on whether free education would replace the skyrocketing tuition fees being faced around the world. A year later and this topic has expanded so much that it has a name: MOOCs – Massive Open Online Courses – and there are, literally, millions of them and the trend is growing fast, as illustrated by this ‘MOOC Timeline’.

Yesterday, the 19th of Feb, the economics community lost another famed scholar – Armen Alchian, 98, professor emeritus at the University of California Los Angeles.

Image Credit: Liz Fosslien Have you ever considered dating an economist, and if yes, what did you decide? If you are puzzled by this question, there are plenty of resources, which can help you to find an answer. The amount of material on this topic found by searching Google and the number of jokes made clearly indicate that it is indeed a hot topic, even more so on a Valentine’s Day.