Dissertations in economics have changed dramatically over the past forty years, from primarily treatise-length books to sets of essays on related topics. We document trends in essay-style dissertations across several metrics, using data on dissertation format, PhD program characteristics, demographics, job market outcomes, and early career research productivity for two large samples of US PhDs graduating in 1996-1997 or 2001-2002. Students at higher ranked PhD programs, citizens outside the United States, and microeconomics students have been at the forefront of this trend. Economics PhD graduates who take jobs as academics are more likely to have written essay-style dissertations, while those who take government jobs are more likely to have written a treatise. Finally, most of the evidence suggests that essay-style dissertations enhance economists' early career research productivity.

Survey responses from Ph.D. graduates and thesis advisors are used to estimate the time required for the class of 2001-02 to earn a degree. Median time to earn the Ph.D. is 5.5 years, up from 5.25 years for the class of 1996-97. The time required to write a dissertation is a little longer than the time required to complete comprehensive examinations and coursework. Graduates who had their first child while in a Ph.D. program are estimated to finish almost one year later than others. Those with predominantly fellowship support finished about six months faster than those funded predominantly by a teaching assistantship, as did those whose dissertation was a set of essays rather than a single topic treatise. Americans who did their undergraduate work at either a Top-50 U.S. liberal arts or other U.S. college or university that does not offer a Ph.D. in economics finished faster than their counterparts who earned a bachelor’s degree from a U.S. university that offers a Ph.D. in economics. International students from predominantly English speaking countries finished faster than other students studying in the U.S. on temporary visas.

A period of malaise in the mid-1990s led to a contraction in enrollment at many economics Ph.D. programs. The resulting reduction in the supply of new Ph.D. economists, combined with a smaller contraction in demand for new Ph.D. economists, generated, as the Wall Street Journal reported, a "hot pursuit " for some economics Ph.D.s, with "even low-level candidates [being] treated like big shots " (Jon E. Hilsenrath, 2001, p. B1). As might be expected, the scarcity of new economics Ph.D.s that materialized at the end of the decade appears to have induced more enrollments in economics Ph.D. programs, with annual matriculations rising by about 25 percent between Fall 1998 and Fall 2002 (Charles E. Scott and John J. Siegfried, 1999-2003). Predictions for the current job market are mixed. On the one hand, demand may expand as some academic departments whose hiring had been constrained by financial exigency return to active recruiting (Jennifer Jacobson, 2003). On the other hand, the aftermath of the recession continues to limit some public university budgets at the same time that the supply of new economics Ph.D.s may start to expand, resulting in a job market for American Ph.D.s that The Economist describes as “bleak ” (“Unemployment Forecast, ” 2003, p. 60). Five years ago we reported the results of a comprehensive survey of the labor market for economics Ph.D.s graduating in 1996-97 (Siegfried and Wendy A. Stock, 1999). In contrast to other social science and science disciplines, most economists who graduated with a doctorate in 1996-97 found full-time career-tracking jobs that paid well (those in permanent full-time jobs in the U.S. earned an average starting salary of $61,000). Many of those employed in business and industry, however, were not satisfied with their jobs despite receiving a significant salary premium relative to academics. 1 Here we report results from a new survey of the class of economics Ph.D.s graduating in 2001-02. This information should be of interest to current and prospective Ph.D. students, of use to advisors of undergraduates considering graduate study in economics, and of assistance to faculty concerned with the employment prospects of applicants they admit to their doctoral programs. For methodological details consult our earlier report (Siegfried and Stock, 1999).

This paper describes the progress, eight years after matriculating, of 586 individuals who entered one of 27 economics Ph.D. programs in fall 2002. By October 2010, 59 percent of the fall 2002 entering cohort had earned a Ph.D. in economics at the university where they initially matriculated, 37 percent had dropped out, and 4 percent were still writing their dissertations.We examine student outcomes by Ph.D. program tier and investigate factors associated with completion and time to degree. We document and describe the rise in median time to degree from 5.0 to 5.6 years during the period 1996–2010.

Although the median time-to-degree for economics PhDs was near 5.5 years in 2002, and appears to be rising (Stock and Siegfried 2006), some students can and do earn the degree in under five years. Of 586 individuals who began PhD study in economics in 2002, 27 percent had a diploma they could display on their office wall by fall 2007. Many economics PhD programs advertise that it normally takes five years to earn the degree. Some programs encourage completion by limiting financial aid to five years. Students who take more than five years incur high opportunity costs of remaining in school, as their Completing an eConomiCs pHD in Five Years: let tHe Data (literallY) speak For tHemselves †

Information about 586 individuals who matriculated into 27 economics Ph.D. programs in Fall 2002 is used to estimate first and second year attrition rates. After two years, 26.5 percent of the initial cohort had left, equally divided between the first and second years. Attrition varies widely across individual programs. It is lower among the most highly rated 15 programs, for students with higher verbal and quantitative GRE scores, and for those on a research assistantship. Poor academic performance is the most cited reason for withdrawal. About 15 percent transfer to other economics programs because they are dissatisfied with some aspect of the particular program where they first enrolled. (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Matriculation in U.S. Economics Ph.D. Programs: How Many Accepted Americans Do Not Enroll? by T. Aldrich Finegan, Wendy A. Stock and John J. Siegfried. Published in volume 96, issue 2, pages 453-457 of American Economic Review, May 2006

Research in Economic Education: Five New Initiatives by Michael K. Salemi, John J. Siegfried, Kim Sosin, William B. Walstad and Michael Watts. Published in volume 91, issue 2, pages 440-445 of American Economic Review, May 2001