The collapse of the econ PhD job market • Hacker News Board

Re: The collapse of the econ PhD job market

#151

Post by hluska » Fri, Oct 03, 2025, 7:49 PM UTC

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #101

bonsai_spool wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> pissed off half of customers in their quest for moral purity I'm not sure what 'half' means here. It's neither true that men make up half of applicants (which are really what we should be focusing on), nor that so-called 'conservatives' make up half of this population.

[flagged]

It’s funny that instead of making points or adding data, you just repeat the same slogan and act like a victim. Many of us have tried to listen for a long time but we have never found any intellectual meat on the slogans. It’s boring.

Re: The collapse of the econ PhD job market

#152

Post by awesome_dude » Fri, Oct 03, 2025, 7:49 PM UTC

layman51 wrote: post #149

awesome_dude wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> bloated administration departments Can you demonstrate how those administration departments were bloated (in any way) edit: re-added "administration" which I had, for some reason, neglected to add, thinking that it was obvious that that was what I was talking about.

I don't have any serious evidence, but the idea of "bloated administration" has been a meme for many years and I remember this humorous article describing it as a new chemical element floating around since around a decade ago: https://meyerweb.com/other/humor/administratium.html

Yeah - I often hear politically motivated speakers talk about "bloat" in various parts of organisations, but I've never (literally) seen anything beyond "numbers"

That's not really helpful, because, as I said to the other poster and have subsequently been down voted for it - that's not genuine analysis, we don't know anything about who is being described as "administration" nor do we know why they're there in the first place.

Re: The collapse of the econ PhD job market

#153

Post by jocaal » Fri, Oct 03, 2025, 7:52 PM UTC

keeganpoppen wrote: post #147

declan_roberts wrote: post #122

I'm struggling to understand why we have any current h-1b economist position when that job market is in "free-fall"? The FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF CHICAGO can't find an American economist? https://h1bdata.info/index.php?em=&job=economist&city=&year=...

i don’t expect the fed to fix everyone’s problems… let them hire the best of the best, and let us internalize the benefits… i’m sure i don’t fully understand the significance of this, but from where i sit, in my fancy office chair in front of a very fancy home office setup (not to brag ;P), i see absolutely no compelling reason as to why hiring the best is a bad thing. is the accusation that the FED is trying to lowb…

> let them hire the best of the best

The sooner people realize that there is no such thing, the better. People are extremely incompetent in judging competence. With that said, the solution isn't to then just hire the person willing to do the work for the least amount of money. You americans should realize you live in a society together and have obligations to give each other chances. Plenty of bright people around. This new top down command and control culture that has taken root in the American corporate world will be the downfall of the nation. Everyone is just trying to screw over the next guy for a quick buck.

Re: The collapse of the econ PhD job market

#154

Post by harvey9 » Fri, Oct 03, 2025, 7:53 PM UTC

michaelt wrote: post #92

gbacon wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like a broad overgeneralization unless you believe zero fat in grad schools is available for trimming.

Most phd programmes are very, very low fat when it comes to salaries. An academic CS department has to attract PhD level talent in hot areas like ML while only paying $30k a year.

Is there a long term financial payoff, or does it mostly attract people who are choosing academia over commercial for some other reason?

Re: The collapse of the econ PhD job market

#155

Post by the_sleaze_ » Fri, Oct 03, 2025, 7:53 PM UTC

smallmancontrov wrote: post #105

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Higher education pissed off half of customers in their quest for moral purity, at the same time as birth rate decline post-2008 began hitting, while raising prices +93% on average since 2008. That's not a great way to survive.

Academia didn't choose trickle-down policy. Quite the opposite -- that was you guys, after you purged all the leftist economists in the McCarthy era. In fact, the think-tank driven economics departments of recent years are so notoriously to the right of most academic faculty that this is a point of frequent conflict.

This wasn't a response to any of his arguments.

I am interested in what people have to say about them though.

1. DEI and identity politics prioritization 2. cost

Re: The collapse of the econ PhD job market

#156

Post by the_sleaze_ » Fri, Oct 03, 2025, 7:59 PM UTC

nothrowaways wrote: post #135

glitchc wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And who would do the remaining jobs? I assume scientists are too busy and important to farm, build infrastructure (roads, bridges) or provide healthcare.

It did not say scientist-only. HN is deteriorating smh.

It was greenspans favorite book after all

Re: The collapse of the econ PhD job market

#157

Post by whycome » Fri, Oct 03, 2025, 8:04 PM UTC

There's that one guy who used it to become prime Minister of Canada. Not even a politician.

Re: The collapse of the econ PhD job market

#158

Post by tomhowsalterego » Fri, Oct 03, 2025, 8:12 PM UTC

Econ PhDs sound fucking useless. They would have served the economy better being plumbers, welders and machinists.

Re: The collapse of the econ PhD job market

#159

Post by darth_avocado » Fri, Oct 03, 2025, 8:13 PM UTC

declan_roberts wrote: post #122

I'm struggling to understand why we have any current h-1b economist position when that job market is in "free-fall"? The FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF CHICAGO can't find an American economist? https://h1bdata.info/index.php?em=&job=economist&city=&year=...

If it’s an entry level position, there shouldn’t be a need for H1B. But some of these positions (including at the federal reserve) are probably experienced people with 10+ years of experience just renewing their visa while they wait for the green card backlog to clear for their country or an extremely tenured person from places like the Oxford University (the article mentions it). Pretending a fresh PhD with most likely no job experience can immediately take over that H1B position is intellectually dishonest.

This obviously doesn’t mean I don’t advocate for creating more entry level positions which most of the economy these days isn’t interested in creating.

Re: The collapse of the econ PhD job market

#160

Post by barumrho » Fri, Oct 03, 2025, 8:16 PM UTC

supportengineer wrote: post #136

kenjackson wrote: post #40

UCSD this year said they are not taking any new math PhD students due to the fiscal situation. The world of academia is in more flux than I've seen in recent memory.

Their acceptance rate is in the 25% range. Clearly the demand is there, so why is there a "fiscal situation"? In the mid 90's I went to a university that had cafeteria-style food, and dorms with no air conditioning. You don't need Waygu beef and massages in order to teach students. There shouldn't be any "fiscal situation" in higher education. What is a university anyway? It's some buildings and classrooms with profe…

Math PhDs are usually paid stipend and pay no tuition, so each additional student is a cost to the school.