Doing a PhD is an incredibly daunting task. Normally at least 3 years, there are some challenges that you are almost certainly going to have to face. Below we look at some of the biggest (and most common) problems that PhD students encounter. If you are considering a PhD, or just beginning one, advanced awareness of these stresses may help you overcome them if you ever have to make their acquaintance (don't worry, we have our fingers crossed). Plus, knowing that they are frequently experienced and nothing out of the ordinary will hopefully provide you with some comfort.

Once you've handed in your thesis, you still have one big challenge to overcome before you're finished with your PhD: the thesis defense. This is an opportunity for you to present your research publicly and to answer questions about it from your thesis committee. The process can be tough going, especially if you've never had to do anything like this before. That being said, there are a few ways to make sure you survive – and even perform very well in – your thesis defense.

While pursuing a graduate degree is undeniably interesting and challenging, tuition fees and other costs associated with studying have been getting higher and higher over the last decade. This has lead to plenty of students questioning whether the expense in terms of time and money that they will have to put into obtaining a graduate degree is worth it.

When you apply to present at a conference, you'll often be asked to provide a letter of motivation along with your abstract and CV. This is used to decide which applicants will be invited to give a talk or poster presentation at the conference. But what information should this letter of motivation contain, and what's the best way to increase your chances of being accepted to present? Browse our conference listings

If you've applied to do a PhD but have been unsuccessful, don't despair! Although having an application rejected can be disheartening, it isn't unusual, and it can often take people a couple of tries until they get accepted onto a course. Here are a few tips on what to do if your PhD application is rejected.

If you're doing an economics degree and thinking about ways to maximise your career prospects once you graduate, then there are lots of courses outside the realm of economics which can help with this. From business to programming to statistics courses, there are plenty of areas which can help you improve your chances of getting a job and widen your skillset more generally, if you've got the money and time to enrol on one.

Studying macroeconomics opens doors to many different jobs down the line. Companies are always looking for people who understand a bit about the world and how it functions, particularly when it comes to economics, remaining, as it does, one of the most revered disciplines of the age (for better or worse). If you have specialised in a particular area of economics, then you can use this information to narrow down your options to the kind of roles which will best fit your skills and interests.

Inequality is rampant, we hardly need telling. Rarely does the print media pass up an opportunity to remind us. We stand inundated by an endless stream of statistics – on scales barely fathomable – each one more depressing than the last. For instance, it’s widely known that: ‘8% of humanity takes home 50% of global income’; that ‘the top 1% own 45% of the world’s wealth’; and how could we forget that in 2018 ‘the 26 richest people on earth had the same net worth as the poorest half’.

Whether you’re still a student, a recent graduate, or already years into your career, mastering the art of cover letter writing is useful at every level. In one form or another, cover letters are a required component of applications to jobs, study programs, conferences, scholarships and many other important opportunities along your career path.

As political footballs go, there are few as worn as ‘supply-side economics’. Squabbling over its merits – or lack thereof – has, for many a year, been at the heart of political discourse; belief in, or rejection of, its principles demarcating fundamental political division, Republican from Democrat, Tory from Labour, etc. It has operated under a number of guises; its tenets followed to varying degrees; and ever since its formal conception in the 1970s, it has been one of politics’ most fractious fault lines.

One of the biggest and most exciting challenges of a young academic's career is coming up with that first research project. Knowing how much is riding on the decision, it can also be pretty stressful. With so much to consider, we thought it would be easier to break the decision-making process into 6 key points. Consideration of each will give you the best chance possible to make sure the topic of your Master's thesis in economics is the right one - both for you personally and for your future career.

The reputation gained by economists has been a remarkable feat of PR; a branding job like no other. Quite how it developed remains a mystery, some inexplicable sleight-of-hand. Its consequence, however, is far easier to discern: in the minds of many, economics came to be thought of as a science. Removed from its rough prediction roots, it became a discipline of watertight theory, with a methodology capable of unearthing indisputable truths.

When you're just beginning your studies in economics, you'll come across two very important subjects – microeconomics and macroeconomics. It's highly likely that you'll study both of these topics as you learn more about economics, as they are foundational to the subject. However, you might be in the position where you have to choose a class in economics to study now, before specialising later on – and in that case, should you take a class in microeconomics or macroeconomics first? Which will give you the best starting point for your studies in economics?

Are you interested in doing a PhD but worried about the cost? It's a real concern for many, and can dramatically affect your decision-making process. If you live in the United Kingdom you could end up in around fifty thousand pounds worth of debt at the end of your three years, and in the United States even more than this, the numbers unfathomable for any eighteen-year-old.

Economics has a gender problem, it always has, and unfortunately, it appears to be getting worse. Until recently, the impression was that this historically male-dominated discipline was turning a corner—albeit rather slowly—and the number of women studying economics was creeping upwards. That progress, however, looks to have stalled, and by some accounts, including that of the Australian Department of Education, actually gone into reverse.

Sandwiched snugly between generations X and Z, Millennials, it's fair to say, have had it tough. Entering the workforce around the time of the Great Recession and now enduring the disorienting forces of the so-called fourth industrial revolution (also known as Industry 4.0), their world has been one of constant flux. History is accelerating faster than ever and technological progress in some areas is exponential, rapidly changing the face of work.

When you apply for a PhD, you will need to write not just a research proposal but also a letter of motivation. This letter describes why you wish to undertake a PhD and why you would be well-suited to researching your proposed topic. But what needs to go in this letter, and what tone is appropriate for it? To give you some ideas, today we're sharing a sample letter of motivation, as well as offering some advice on how to write our own, so you can maximise your chances of getting accepted.

In its short and controversial history, neoconservatism has changed America. For almost 60 years, the ideology has variously been embraced and rejected; celebrated for its patriotism and commitment to democracy; and disdained for it hawkish arrogance and imperialistic tendencies. It has simultaneously proven uniquely divisive, while unifying people across party lines. Quite simply, recent American political history cannot be made sense of without an understanding of neoconservatism; such has been its influence.

In 2018, United States President Donald Trump said his administration was putting more coal miners back into work, having previously rattled on about how important coal jobs were to the future of the US. Perhaps it should be no surprise that his words were empty. The Trump administration has added a negligible  2,000 coal mining jobs since it took control, and whatever bump in coal production 2018 saw was quick to fade away.

As has been recently been documented on INOMICS, students across the world are facing a mental health crisis of unprecedented proportions. We had columnist James Matthew Alston investigate the phenomenon, looking particularly at university responses. His conclusions made for tough reading. Many institutions are overwhelmed, their mental health services ill-equipped to cope with the growing demand.

The history of economic growth, the kind to which we are now accustomed, is inseparably intertwined with the discovery, and then plunder, of fossil fuels. Some historians have even argued their unearthing was its main catalyst, relegating more popular theories of free trade and technological innovation. The argument is seductively simple, and although something of an exaggeration, usefully highlights the strong connection between the two – for in tandem, they radically altered the course of human civilisation.

In 2018, the World Meteorological Organization published its statement on the State of the Climate. The report showed that the 20 warmest years on record have occurred in the last 22 years. In the same year, the State of California’s Energy Commission published a report linking changing atmospheric conditions due to global warming as a direct cause of the devastating forest fires that swept through California, burning nearly 1.9 million acres’ of land and costing more than US$3.5 billion of damages.

In the early hours of the 21st of August, a putsch in the Soviet Union against Mikhail Gorbachev failed, leaving three men dead and the country in a state of shock. The coup had been staged by members of the Soviet government who had taken issue with Gorbachev’s liberalising, democratising reforms over the previous few years. Those who had planned the attack then fled, and were all taken into custody within three days.

Well, according to much research the answer may well be: absolutely nothing. In fact, it could be worse than nothing. When judged against its founding aim of ‘instigating economic development and alleviating poverty’, its record is so bad it appears that aid might actually hinder the achievement of its own stated goals. And the curious thing is its failure seems to be something of an open secret. Even to an untrained eye the big numbers pertaining to development aid don’t look right. Take Africa, for example.

Esteemed economist, Princeton Professor, and friend of INOMICS, Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, generously took time out of his busy schedule to take part in the second INOMICS Handbook Questionnaire. Opposite him, in his customary role of quizmaster, was Professor Marcel Fratzscher, president of the DIW Berlin, and one of Germany’s leading voices in macroeconomics. Keeping with tradition, and as a nod to the heavyweight reputations of those involved, we dubbed the encounter ‘Fratzscher v Rossi-Hansberg’.