The Making of an Economist (Studies in the history, methods, and boundaries of economics)

Rating:
Summary: A Excellent Insight of life in the tribe of Econ
Review: I did not purchase this book, I borrowed it in my university library. I recommend that all students intrested in becoming a Economics Graduate to read this book first. From my discussions with graduate students in my school, the experiences cited in this book is very accurate (to a large degree). The book was published in 1990 so it is a bit dated, however, the issues discussed seems to still be relevent today. This is a MUST for all undergraduates of Economics who wish to understand the workload and mentality of the graduate/phd level.

Rating:
Summary: A Quick and Engaging Read
Review: This book was a delight to read. An expansion of an article that appeared in The Journal of Economic Perspectives in 1987, this book is both an explanation of, and reflection on, the state of graduate study in economics. As such, the book is not intended just for those aspiring to be professional economists. It is also written for those who are already economists as well as for the layperson.

The book is arranged in nine chapters. The first chapter is the only chapter clearly written for the layperson as it lays out the very nature of the economics profession, detailing such basics as how many economists there are and the nature and purpose of undergraduate and graduate training in economics.

The second chapter, which is almost exclusively Klamer and Colander's JEP article, begins the reflection (some might say indictment) of graduated study in economics. This chapter presents the results of their survey of graduate students at six top ten economics programs - MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, Yale, and Columbia.

The results are very interesting and also quite disturbing for those who think that economics is a discipline with a core knowledge that most economists believe. For example, 98 percent of Chicago economists agree (either strongly or with some reservations) with the statement that "a minimum wage increases unemployment among young and unskilled workers." In contrast, only 56 percent of responding Harvard students agreed strongly or with some reservations.

Chapter 3 provides some further results from the survey that did not appear in the JEP article. Chapters 4 through 7 are "Conversations with Graduates Students," basically key portions of group discussions that Klamer and Colander had with graduate students from MIT, Harvard, Columbia, and Chicago. In my opinion, these are the chapters that are most relevant to the aspiring economist, primarily because it shows you some of the pitfalls of graduate study in economics.

Chapters 8 and 9 present Klamer (chapter 8) and Colander's (chapter 9) thoughts on what the information presented in Chapters 1 through 7 mean for the future of economics as a profession. After all, if the study of economics at several top ten graduate schools is flawed, isn't the entire study of economics flawed since nearly all schools below the top ten try to emulate the top ten in order to move up the rankings?

Both Colander and Klamer make very good points about some of the problems with graduate education in economics. I would love to see this survey updated today to see if things have gotten any better. I suspect that things have gotten worse. As George Mason University economist Tyler Cowen recently pointed out on his weblog, Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz's A Monetary History of the United States probably wouldn't pass as a dissertation at the University of Chicago today.