It's Better Being an Economist (But Don't Tell Anyone) | Zendy

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It's Better Being an Economist (But Don't Tell Anyone)

Author(s) -

Richard B. Freeman

Publication year - 1999

Publication title -

the journal of economic perspectives

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 9.614

H-Index - 196

eISSN - 1944-7965

pISSN - 0895-3309

DOI - 10.1257/jep.13.3.139

Subject(s) - product (mathematics) , economics , marginal utility , job market , classical economics , neoclassical economics , positive economics , engineering , mathematics , work (physics) , mechanical engineering , geometry

This paper contrasts the job market in economics with the job market in physics and mathematics, which attract students who are, by conventional measures, smarter than economists and where the base of knowledge is better established than ours. Despite this, economists earn more and have better career prospects than physicists or mathematicians. The paper offers several reasons for our better economic prospects, ranging from lack of glamour attracting bright young people to the dismal science to our inability to solve important problems, which puts us higher up on the marginal product curve for basic research than these fields.

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