From: T
Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2018 11:59 PM
To: Walter Block
Subject: Mises U Picture
Walter, Here is the picture we took together at Mises U 2018. I also wanted to follow up about something we talked about last July. I was looking for PhD programs that would be Austro-Libertarian friendly. The main programs I’m looking for is Philosophy (especially Political Philosophy), Economics, and Political Theory. Do you have any leads on universities I should consider? Sincerely and for Liberty, T
Dear T: You are asking about what is commonly called PPE phd programs (politics, philosophy and economics). I recommend against all such graduate programs, that is, if you want to get an academic job. There are very few universities at which you could get a PPE job. In more than 99.9% of the cases, university jobs are in but ONE of these areas, not all three. With a phd in PPE, you’d be competing for a job in any one of these areas with recent grads who specialized in only one of them. You’d be at a serious disadvantage. So which one of these three do I recommend? I recommend economics. For two reasons. One, in academia, departments in econ are much more receptive to Austro-libertarians, than either philo or poli sci. Two, there are far more non academic jobs available for the E, rather than either of the P’s. Below, see my leads on universities, which are heavily biased against econ phd programs which mainly consist of math, stats. They point in the direction of phd econ programs more oriented toward (philosophical) Austrian economics.
If you are interested in attending a PPE conference, here is some info on that:
March 28-30, 2019. PPE conference. Renaissance New Orleans Pere Marquette in the French Quarter. https://ppesociety.web.unc.edu/call-for-submissions-for-the-2019-ppe-society-meeting/. Geoff Sayre-McCord [mailto:[email protected]]
http://ppesociety.web.unc.edu/2019-ppe-meeting-submission-form/; http://ppesociety.web.unc.edu/call-for-submissions-for-the-2019-ppe-society-meeting/
Here is my form letter on this sort of thing. If this doesn’t suffice, please get back to me.
I am honored that you would ask me to advise you on so important a decision. It takes, oh, 4-6 years to get a phd in economics. What the market for newly minted economics phds with an Austro-libertarian persuasion will be in 2019-2021 is hard to predict. All I can say is that as of the present, there are about a half dozen universities including my own that would regard this as a distinct plus in all hiring decisions. Also, it has been my experience that most hiring committees have never so much as heard of Austrian economics, so that as long as you don’t mention this, you lose out to none of your competitors for a job on that basis. Universities, in general, also oppose libertarianism, but economics departments least of all, which is why I recommend economics rather than other ways to promote liberty and good economics as a professor such as philosophy, political science, history, sociology, law, etc. There are several groups that will financially support graduate students who are Austro libertarians, to a greater or lesser degree. I would include under this rubric, in alphabetical order, Cato, Institute for Humane Studies, Koch Foundation, Mises Institute, Reason Foundation.
You may be interested in a debate I had with Gary North on issues of this sort:
July 24-30, 2011 Auburn, AL, Mises University; Debate with Gary North on higher education; http://mises.org/events/110;
http://media.mises.org/mp3/MU2011/10_MisesU_20110726_Block.mp3;
http://media.mises.org/mp3/MU2011/27_MisesU_20110727_Block.mp3;
http://media.mises.org/mp3/MU2011/16_MisesU_20110726_Block-North_Debate.mp3;
https://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/93031.html; http://www.garynorth.com/public/9121.cfm
Block, Walter E. 2008. “Attention Students: Should You Get Your Ph.D. and Become a Professor?” June 28; http://archive.lewrockwell.com/block/block104.html (debate with Gary North) https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/young-person-saved-from-academia/
I am copying some people bcc on this. If you want to go abroad, I recommend either Juan Carlos in Spain (Huerta de Soto) or Angers (Hulsmann) in France (they do have a combined program), or Sima in Prague or Machaj in Poland. As for the US, I recommend George Mason (Boettke and lots more), Baylor (Klein), Texas Tech (Powell, Young and Murphy). The Europeans place less emphasis on math and stats. If you want a phd in the US and you’re not good at this subject, you might well have to take a year off to study math and stats. Good news! The Economics Department at AUBURN (http://www.cla.auburn.edu/economics/) now offers the Ph.D. degree. While there are to the best of my knowledge no Austrian economists on their faculty (Roger Garrison is now emeritus), I still recommend them because the world famous Mises Institute (http://mises.org/) is also located in Auburn, Alabama. The geographical synergism cannot help but be beneficial for any graduate student who enrolls at Auburn University.
I am happy to try to help you out with this decision. Please see my open letter, below. Then, if you have further questions, I’ll be glad to answer them, and/or speak to you on the phone about your future career. I am also bcc copying these contacts on this, in order to keep everyone in the picture.
Open Letter (also see this http://mises.org/classroom/gradschool.pdf): to all those who want to promote liberty by getting a Ph.D. in Austrian economics and becoming a college professor in that subject, but are afraid to attend a traditional graduate school, for fear of failing out due to their excessive math requirements; or, who want to pursue graduate studies for any other reason in a school where Austrian economics is neither denigrated (rare), or ignored (widespread).
At the University of Angers we have created a new master programme in Law and Finance:
http://guidohulsmann.com/pdf/Master_Law_Finance_University_Angers.pdf
Strong points:
• Master in Law and Finance
• Non-quantitative, interdisciplinary approach
• All classes taught in English
• One-year programme
• Strong presence of Austrian economics (capital theory, Austrian amcroeconomics)
• Possibility to go on with doctoral studies
• French state university, therefore low tuition (about 400€/500$ in total).
• Cost-of-living in Angers in the range of 600-1000$/month
• Angers is a tourist destination: horse riding, rowing, sailing, wine villages, 90 min to Paris, 90 min to the beach
Please consider recommending it to the attention of your graduates.
Interested students should send me their cv, transcripts, and a letter of motivation before the end of May 2019.
Warm regards,
Guido
Message from Roger Koppl at Syracuse University:
The Entrepreneurship Department at Syracuse University is one of the top research departments in the country. Here in the Whitman School of Management at SU, we offer a new track in political economy in our existing PhD program in entrepreneurship. We are limiting our recruitment to an elite group of just 3 or 4 students for the PhD track. Our political economy students will be fellows of the Institute for an Entrepreneurial Society.
Institute fellows do not pay any tuition, and they receive a stipend for the entire calendar year, i.e. 12 months. The package offered by the Institute is highly competitive and comparable to those offered by other top business schools. The annual gross stipend is about $26,000 per year. In addition, the package includes benefits that faculty enjoy, including health insurance and childcare benefits. They get a minimum allowance of $4,000 for travel over the course of their four years of study. In fact, however, the department and the Institute have additional resources to supplement that travel allowance. So far we have not had to decline any travel requests from entrepreneurship PhD students.
The Institute’s donor supports our Austrian free-market orientation. The students’ main professor will be Maria Minniti, who holds the Bantle Chair in Entrepreneurship and Public Policy. Students will also have the opportunity to work closely with Roger Koppl of the finance department. The political economy graduates from Whitman’s entrepreneurship program will be on a track to become business and economics professors in leading American research universities. We are committed to rigorous academic training and professional success for our graduates. From the beginning of their studies with us, our students will be networked into the entrepreneurship profession. We encourage and facilitate close collaborations between Institute fellows and scholars in other institutions we are associated with. Interested students should write directly to Professor Minniti at [email protected] or to Roger Koppl at [email protected].
Message from Peter Klein: http://mises.org/media/5246/Professional-Strategies-and-New-Directions-for-Austrians
Messages from Pete Boettke:
http://141.164.133.3/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.fee.org/Audio/AES/FINALAustrian-PeterBoettke-FutureDirectionsofAustrianEconomics.mp3&as3cf-fix-wp-check-file-type-ext=.asp
Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Mercatus Center … http://ppe.mercatus.org/
Graduate Student Programs at Mercatus Center … http://mercatus.org/graduate-student-programs
PhD program at GMU — http://economics.gmu.edu/programs/la-phd-econ
Peter Boettke: The Transformative Rise of Austrian Economics
I have some very, very good news for you. I have just learned from Guido Hulsmann and Jesus Huerta De Soto that it is possible to get a phd in econ from them, entirely IN ENGLISH, provided only that the phd is granted from both their schools.
There is no common Angers-Madrid PhD programme; however, you can obtain a PhD with a dissertation and defence all in English, if you work with both Profs Hulsmann and De Soto (or others outside of France) as co-directors. Administratively, this involves signing up at both universities separately.
Note from Prof. Hulsmann:
Dear Walter:
I have updated my webpage dealing with doctoral studies in economics here in Angers. Notice in particular the section deal with co-directorships.
http://guidohulsmann.com/Doctoralstudies.html
Warm regards,
Guido
Guido Hülsmann
Professeur des Universités
Faculté de Droit, d’Économie et de Gestion
Université d’Angers
www.guidohulsmann.com
Note from Prof. De Soto:
1. We are open to any agreement to proceed with a joint Ph D program with Prof. Hülsmann and the University of Angers.
2. Another possibility is to proceed with our own Rey Juan Carlos Ph D Program exclusively.
3. According to the new European legislation, the old Ph courses are now called “Master” of research course, and are compulsory before you can read the thesis (the content is established in our Brochure).
That would be, in France, from St. Angers University, and from Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Spain, with Jesus Huerta de Soto. Also, it is VERY cheap (something like 400 Euros per year), you don’t have to be in residence in Europe (you must attend some seminars there a few weeks a year); all you have to do is write a dissertation under the guidance of Guido and Jesus. There is absolutely no MATH requirement.
But, to qualify, you MUST have a masters degree. I recommend Detroit Mercy, since the faculty there are Austro libertarian, but, I think, that is very expensive, $15,000; however, it is possible to get credit for courses there by correspondence through e mail. But, for the purposes of linking up with Guido and Jesus, a masters in econ anywhere will suffice. (There is also the possibility of getting a masters at St. Angers or Universidad Rey Juan Carlos)
Masters:
A new on line Austrian masters program: http://www.smcespañol.com/maestria.html or http://www.xn--smcespaol-r6a.com/maestria.html
Here is another new masters program that I recommend on the basis that Guido Hulsmann and Philipp Bagus support it: https://mises.org/blog/new-berlin-based-masters-degree-program-austrian-economicsp; http://www.bits-hochschule.de/en/program/entrepreneurial-economics-master/
If you take this path, you might even be able to get your phd in econ sooner this way than in a US grad school. Usually, a traditional phd in the US takes six years. I estimate that a dissertation with Guido and Jesus would take two years to write. By the way, I regard Guido and Jesus as two of the top Austro libertarian theoreticians in the entire world now active.
Here are other masters programs I recommend:
Master’s Program in Europe, it is called Entrepreneurial Economics and is a hybrid program with a focus on Austrian economics and entrepreneurship / management training.
http://www.bits-hochschule.de/en/program/entrepreneurial-economics-master/
Hendrik Hagedorn <[email protected]>
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
To: Walter Block
Subject: Masters Program at Troy
Dear Walter,
We have been approved for a Masters in Economics at Troy starting in the Fall of 2015. It will be a terminal free market economics program with enough math thrown in for those who want to get a PhD. There will be courses on Austrian Economics, Public Choice, Economic History, History of Thought, Monetary Economics etc in addition to the core classes, all taught by free market faculty.
We were hoping- 1) to get the program listed in your list of free market economics programs for students. 2) for you to consider recommending the program to students. The program is designed to be completed in two years or one calendar year, so we’re hoping to attract motivated kids who aren’t quite sure about a PhD yet, those who only want Masters degrees and policy careers, international students plus even non-traditional students who have become interested in these ideas.
Here is a link to the faculty page on our website: http://business.troy.edu/JohnsonCenter/faculty-staff.aspx. I will send along a brochure for the program once it is available. Your help/support would be greatly appreciated!
Best,
Malavika
From: G.P. Manish [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2016 11:39 AM
To: Walter Block
Subject: Master’s Program at Troy
Dear Walter,
I hope this email finds you well. I wanted to touch base with you again regarding the Master’s program here at Troy. We now have our first batch of students and the program is shaping up really well: there is a component that focuses on mainstream micro and macroeconomics and there are electives with a heavy focus on Austrian Economics. For example, I will be teaching a course in Advanced Austrian Economics in the Spring as well as a course on the History of Economic Thought and Mal will teach a Monetary Economics course, all of which will be based around the works of Mises, Hayek, Rothbard, etc. We also have the ability to offer scholarships (awarded on a competitive basis) that help with tuition and living expenses.
Please spread the word and let me know if you have any students that are thinking of pursuing a Master’s degree. We would love to have students from Loyola! Interested students can also reach out directly to any of the professors in our department.
Also at Troy is Prof. Dan Smith, a student of Peter Boettke’s, who also teaches a course on Austrian Econ and one on Development Economics that focuses heavily on the applicability of Austrian ideas to developing countries. And we also have a strong Public Choice/Constitutional Political Economy component to the program. These courses are taught by George Crowley and John Dove, strongly free-market WVU grads.
Best,
GP
One more thought. How good is an Austro-libertarian phd from Europe (and not Cambridge, Oxford, Paris, or any others of the most prestigious universities there) in getting you a faculty job in the US? There is just one data point on this to my knowledge: Richard Ebeling got his phd in Europe (Middlesex University in England), and has landed jobs at Hillsdale College (which he left voluntarily to become President of FEE). After he departed that organization, he landed a job (a one year visiting professorship) at Trinity University in Conn, and is now teaching at Northwood University in Michigan. Not too shabby…
Note from Dan Stastny:
We are part of the University of Economics, Prague, the largest economic
education institution in Czech Republic. At our school (called actually
“Faculty of Economics”), we cannot offer programs (majors) that are outright
Austrian curriculum-wise, but are as a whole definitely very Austrian
friendly. People interested in pursuing their PhD with us should consider
and chose between “Economic Theory” and “Economic Policy” major. There is
a tuition of EUR 5000 per year for a PhD in English, the program lasts
typically 3 years. People interested in learning more about our program
should get in touch with me. (Dan Stastny, Associate Dean for Student
Affairs, )
By the way, if you want a real good undergraduate education in Austro libertarianism, you could do worse than my own school, Loyola University New Orleans. All 100% of our four econ faculty are either leaders in this field, or very sympathetic to it. Unhappily, though, we do not offer any graduate degrees in economics.
The ONLY places in the US where you can get a phd in econ, where there is a full program in Austrian economics, are G Mason U and Texas Tech. There is a solid core of Austrian profs at Mason. My main contacts there are Pete Boettke, and Dick Wagner; if you contact them, they will give you the full low down. Also, Dan D’Amico, a recent Mason phd, (who 5 years ago graduated from Loyola, at which time I sent him off to Pete) was for a time my junior colleague at Loyola. Pete can give you a prof’s eye view of the Mason Austrian program, and Dan can give you an (ex) students’ perspective. Update: Dan D’Amico is now a professor at Brown University. My contacts at Texas Tech are Ben Powell, Andy Young (another former student of mine from when I taught at Holy Cross) and Bob Murphy.
However, there are other universities in the U.S. where there is at least one Austro-libertarian professor who could mentor you. For example, Peter Klein, Baylor University, [email protected]
Here is a note from Pete Boettke, giving advice to undergraduates for graduate study: http://www.coordinationproblem.org/2011/04/advice-to-undergraduates.html. I am in very enthusiastic agreement with all of this, with the exception of his very last paragraph.
Here are the professors at George Mason who are either heavily, or, at least, peripherally, involved in Austrian economics:
Pete Boettke
Dick Wagner
Larry White
Pete Leeson
Chris Coyne
Jack High
Mark Addelson
And as research professors:
Virgil Storr
Frederic Sautet
Paul Dragos Aligica
At Mason, students can specialize in Austrian economics, New Institutionalism, Public Choice, Constitutional Political Economy, history of economic thought, etc., and traditional fields such as money, public, industrial organization, and comparative/development.
And Dan Klein, Don Boudreaux and Russ Roberts are offering the opportunity to students to specialize in Smithian political economy as well.
No such list would be complete without the mention of Bryan Caplan. I do not consider him an Austrian economist, nor, even, a fellow traveler. Rather, a critic. But, at least he is interested in Austrian economics.
Here is an important message from Peter Boettke:
Walter,
As a matter of fact, what goes on at GMU is the _required_ math is limited,
but the math options are wide. One of our former students has been teaching
the core PhD theory course at UC-Santa Cruz and another one teachers
decision theory at Carneige Mellon. But pursued the mathematical education
that is possible to get IF they don’t want to do the Austrian, public
choice, law and economic, etc. track. Most of the students that pursue that
go through the lab.
The lab students DO have an advantage in the academic market place in terms
of placement at PhD programs. But the vast majority of students need never
worry about that market because there is really only a 1-10% chance any PhD
student will end up in another PhD program teaching. Though that is the way
we compete for all jobs.
I think the vast majority of students simply have no clue what graduate
school is like — since it is a clear departure from undergraduate school.
Finally, please do tell many of these students that basically we are
looking for students with a 3.6 GPA or higher, and 760 or higher on the GRE
math, and 600 or higher on GRE verbal.
One last thing, expect to get more requests like this because as students
become net-savey they will find out that places like Econ Job Market Rumors
say a lot of bad things about GMU and whatnot. Please point them to my
former student page which has a list of the students who wrote under me,
gives their placement and publications, etc.
http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/pboettke/students.html
Pete
Note from Peter Klein:
Baylor University offers a Ph.D. in entrepreneurship. Peter Klein is a libertarian Austrian. Both Department of Entrepreneurship (which houses the Ph.D. program) and the Department of Economics include many non-Austrian libertarians. The university also features a Free Enterprise Center with research funding for graduate students, lectures, programs, etc. supporting free markets and limited government.
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Klein, Peter
Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2017 10:41 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: FW: Baylor Ph.D. in Entrepreneurship
Dear colleagues:
I am serving as director of Baylor’s PhD in Entrepreneurship and we are soliciting applications for the Fall 2018 entering class. A PhD in Entrepreneurship is an excellent career option for an aspiring Austrian economist. The academic field of entrepreneurship is friendly toward Austrian insights and Kirzner, Schumpeter, Hayek, and even Mises are highly cited in the mainstream entrepreneurship literature. There are many academic posts in the entrepreneurship field (and they typically pay better than equivalent economics positions).
Entrepreneurship is an interdisciplinary subject with economics as one of the foundational subjects, and students can write dissertations using Austrian theories, concepts, and research methods. There are required courses in quantitative methods but the field is much more eclectic, methodologically, than contemporary economics and one can do verbal theory as well as qualitative empirical work. Besides myself, there are several faculty members in the business school who are supporters or fellow-travelers of Austrian ideas and approaches.
If you have or know undergraduate or masters students interested in a PhD who might be a fit for the program, please let me know and have them contact me for more information.
Thanks,
Peter
From: Entrepreneurship Division Listserv [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Klein, Peter
Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2017 4:30 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [ENTREP] Baylor Ph.D. in Entrepreneurship
Baylor University, Hankamer School of Business
Department of Entrepreneurship
The Department of Entrepreneurship at Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business invites applications for the Ph.D. Program in Entrepreneurship. The application deadline for next fall’s entering class is January 15, 2018.
Baylor is consistently ranked among the top ten US entrepreneurship programs by the Princeton Review, US News & World Report, and Businessweek. The Ph.D. in Entrepreneurship is housed within the Department of Entrepreneurship, an independent academic unit offering an undergraduate entrepreneurship major and minor, an MBA concentration, and a variety of special programs. More information on the department is available here: https://www.baylor.edu/business/entrepreneurship/.
The doctoral program builds on Baylor’s experience as a leader in the entrepreneurship field to develop the next generation of entrepreneurship scholars. The program emphasizes rigorous and relevant theoretical and empirical research in entrepreneurship and related fields, as well as extensive training in teaching, writing, editing, working with students, and other aspects of academic life. We aim to place our graduates in faculty positions at highly ranked universities and similar institutions. While the primary focus is entrepreneurship, students also receive training in strategic management and organization theory. The Department of Entrepreneurship is also home to the Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise, which studies the effects of public policy and institutions on entrepreneurship.
Baylor embraces an apprenticeship model in which students work directly with faculty mentors to learn the craft of research and writing. Students are expected to publish in leading journals, in collaboration with faculty mentors, during their PhD training. Entrepreneurship faculty include Kendall Artz, Daniel Bennett, Ray Bagby, Peter Klein, Boris Nikolaev, Les Palich, Steve Bradley, and Matthew Wood. Their research appears in top journals such as the Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, and Organization Science.
The program is a full-time, four-year residency program. Support includes tuition remission, a competitive annual stipend (among the highest in the field), resources for attending key conferences in entrepreneurship, and competitive summer research grants from the Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise. Students will also have opportunities to connect with initiatives such as the Baylor Angel Network, the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative (BRIC) incubator, the LAUNCH accelerator, and other programs. The Department of Entrepreneurship is housed in the state-of-the-art Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation, opened in 2015.
Further information about the Ph.D. in Entrepreneurship, including the online application, is available at http://www.baylor.edu/business/entrepreneurship/phd/.
Contact Ph.D. Director Peter G. Klein at [email protected] for questions or more information.
In recent years I have sent about a dozen of my Loyola students off to grad school in econ, about half to Mason, and half to other places in the US. With one exception (and that was his fault – he didn’t study — not that of Mason), all those who went to Mason got their phds within 4-6 years and are now either professors at US universities, or are still in the pipeline, while in every other case, they all failed out of grad school due to math requirements, inability to tolerate the hyper mathematicalization of economics that is now fashionable in most grad schools. Both groups of half dozen were of equal ability as my undergraduate students, in my assessment. So, as you can imagine, I am WILDLY in favor of Mason as a place to get your phd in econ in the U.S. Here is an important assessment of Austrian education written by Pete Boettke: http://www.superscholar.org/rankings/economics/top-austrian-free-market-programs/
Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University – Ph.D. Fellowship Opportunity
Students, who are interested in pursuing advanced study in economics from an Austrian or free market perspective, should give serious consideration to the Ph.D. Fellowship offered by the Free Market Institute (FMI) at Texas Tech University (TTU).
The university offers a Ph.D. course in Austrian economics, and in other topics/areas relevant to the study of the private enterprise system (Polycentric Governance, Economic Development, Economics of Regulation, etc.) The FMI at TTU has several Ph.D. economists on staff (or with research affiliations), who provide research and professional guidance to Ph.D. fellows.
Starting in the 2016-2017 academic year, TTU faculty members directly affiliated with FMI will include:
Benjamin Powell – Director (www.benjaminwpowell.com)
Jamie Bologna – Research Fellow (http://www.jamielbologna.com/)
Adam Martin – Political Economy Research Fellow (http://www.adamgmartin.com/)
Robert Murphy – Research Assistant Professor (http://consultingbyrpm.com/)
Alexander Salter – Comparative Economics Research Fellow (http://www.awsalter.com/)
Andrew Young – Director of Graduate Students (https://sites.google.com/site/ayoungeconomist/)
Other TTU faculty members from a range of disciplines have informal affiliations or otherwise participate in FMI programming on a regular basis. Please visit the FMI Staff (http://www.depts.ttu.edu/freemarketinstitute/people.php) for a full listing of current faculty, staff, and students.
Fellowships have a three-year term and offer students full tuition support and part-time employment (up to 20 hours per week) as a research assistant with the FMI during each academic year. Compensation for the research assistant position is competitive with fellowship and stipend offers from other graduate programs.
Ph.D. Fellows pursue their degrees in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AAEC), where they have the opportunity to develop dissertation research on a range of applied topics in the Austrian and free market tradition.
For more information about the FMI Ph.D. Fellowship opportunity, please visit the Prospective Students Page (http://www.depts.ttu.edu/freemarketinstitute/info_students.php) at the FMI’s website (www.fmi.ttu.edu) or contact FMI Senior Administrator, Charles Long, by email at [email protected] or phone at 806.742.7138.
From: Michael Makovi [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, December 15, 2017 10:27 PM
To: Long, Charles V
Cc: Walter Block; Justin Callais; Young, A T
Subject: Re: recommendation
Let me give my impression of Texas Tech and the Free Market Institute as a 2nd year PhD student here.
First off, the math required is basically calculus and linear algebra. The professors cover all the math you need to know, so if there’s something you don’t know, don’t worry. But at the same time, you’ll be more comfortable if you already know all the math, so that it’s a refresher rather than learning it for the first time. The big thing to review is Lagrangian maximization or minimization subject to a constraint, which is covered in a typical multivariable calculus course. It’s also helpful to be familiar with matrix operations. If you have time this spring or summer to take extra courses in multivariable calculus and linear algebra, I highly recommend it.
Second, let you tell you a little bit about the program and who is who:
So the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AAEC) is where you’d be doing your PhD. Both your coursework and your PhD dissertation must satisfy the AAEC. By contrast, the Free Market Institute (FMI) is a non-degree-granting but university-affiliated department on campus. You’ll also find yourself attending a lot of FMI seminars and asking FMI faculty to help you with your research, and obviously, you’ll be doing work for the FMI to earn your stipend, but ultimately, it’s the AAEC that will approve your dissertation and grant you the PhD. So it’s important to keep the distinction between the AAEC and FMI clear.
(The reason why it’s the AAEC is because the economics department at Texas Tech has a poor reputation.)
Anyway, the AAEC is an applied economics department, so they focus on empirics more than pure theory. For an Austrian, I think that’s actually a good thing. It means that the professors won’t look down on your being a libertarian as long as you can empirically substantiate your opinion. If you can do a case study showing why some particular regulation has negative consequences or how the market has successfully provided some public good, the applied professors will be happy. Your dissertation has to have some econometrics in it, but they won’t care if it’s Austrian or free-market or libertarian or whatever, as long as the real-world data support your argument.
In general, I’ve found virtually all of the AAEC faculty to be very friendly towards the FMI and free-market ideas. For example, Prof. Wang, who teaches production economics and optimization programming, has been doing research on Elinor Ostrom and how communities solve common pool problems without government. In addition, Prof. Wang’s class – which is the one that covers externalities – gives equal attention to Pigou and Coase, meaning that he covers the ways in which markets internalize externalities too. In another class, Prof. Hudson often likes to mention conversations he’s had with Ben Powell about free-markets. While he doesn’t always agree with Ben, he always mentions Ben’s opinions with respect. And then there’s Prof. Ryan Williams, who often comes to FMI events. So the AAEC is a very friendly place to be.
Third, let you give you a bit of a summary of what the program is like, stage-by-stage:
In your first year, you’ll take a lot of math-heavy courses and have to pass the comprehensive exams. It’s not fun. It’s REALLY not fun. You have two chances to pass: once in May and again in August. Not everyone passes the comprehensive exams the first time, in May, so don’t take them lightly. But so far, everyone has passed at least by the second time, in August. So they’re hard, but not impossibly hard. There are two exams: one in micro and one in econometrics.
In your second and third years, you’ll continue taking courses. Unlike most PhD programs, there are no field exams. That is, you do NOT have to pass exams in any of your specialties. You take whatever elective courses you want — approved by your dissertation committee — but you’re never tested on any of them outside of the classes. Every semester, an FMI professor teaches an elective course, so for the most part, you’ll take your core classes with the AAEC and your electives with the FMI.
And then, of course, there’s the dissertation.
Every year, you’re paired with one of the FMI’s faculty to be his or her research assistant.
So the biggest difference between this program and most others, I think, is that there are no field exams. Instead of picking a specialty and being tested on it, you’ll just take electives with FMI professors. You still have to pass your dissertation defense, obviously.
Obviously, I’ve never been a PhD student anywhere else, so I can’t compare it to anything. But as a former student of Walter’s, I’m very happy here.
That’s everything I can think of, but if you have any more questions, ask me.
Good luck,
Michael Makovi
Contacts:
Detroit Mercy: Harry Veryser, [email protected]; Joe Weglarz, [email protected]
St. Angers: [email protected];
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos: Jesus Huerta de Soto, [email protected];
George Mason: Peter Boettke, Virgil Storr, Richard Wagner, [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Brown University: Dan D’Amico,
Peter Klein, Baylor University [email protected]
Cal State San Jose, Jeff Hummel [email protected]
Ben Powell, Texas Tech, [email protected];
Andrew Young, Texas Tech; [email protected]
Here is a list of my former undergraduate students who have earned phds in econ from G. Mason: from Holy Cross: Ed Stringham (now Hackley Endowed Chair for Capitalism
and Free Enterprise Studies at Trinity College, Connecticut, from Loyola: Dan D’Amico (now prof at Brown), Emily Schaeffer Skarbeck (she is a tenured professor, Lecturer at King’s College London, their ranking system is different than ours), Nick Snow who is now a Senior Lecturer at Ohio State University, where along with another faculty member — Todd Nesbit — runs the free market undergraduate group and Jenny Dirmeyer (now assistant prof at Hampden Sydney U). Loyola students of mine who are now in the midst of the Mason program are Chris Fleming, Jonathan Lingenfelter and Marc Melancon.
King’s is a world-ranked top 60 university (roughly the equivalent to Brown). The faculty in the PhD program for Political Economy is as a whole very Austrian friendly. The leader of this group is Mark Pennington, but beside Emily Skarbeck he also has David Skarbek, Adam Martin, Adam Tebble, John Meadowcraft, and Paul Lewis.
Here are the experiences of some of our Loyola graduates with graduate schools other than George Mason. Christie LaPorte went off to the University of Missouri for a phd in economics. My friends Peter and Sandy Klein were going to be her mentors. She took a look at her econ texts, and saw only math. She didn’t want to do math for 5-6 years, so she quit in the first week she was there. She is now finishing up with law school. Chuck Long went off to Suffolk Univesity for a phd in economics. He, too, had a mentor I trusted: Ben Powell. Yet, Chuck failed math there, and had to leave after one year. Chuck was an A student, one of our very best, with a minor in math at Loyola. Chuck is now working in Washington DC for one of the Koch foundation groups, thus a movement job. Eric Mattei went off to the Univesity of Georgia for a phd in economics. He, too, had a mentor I trusted: George Selgin. Yes, George and I have tangled on issues (fractional reserve banking, mainly), but I trusted George, totally, to put these differences aside, and do what he could for Eric. George and Eric hit it off personally; they were both into bike racing, and did that together. George was so distraught when Eric failed math courses there, and thus lost his scholarship, that George offered to give Eric some of his own endowment money. Eric is now selling insurance. When Eric was my student at Loyola, he and Dan D’Amico took several classes from me. They sat together in classes, both at the back of the room, and both of them bugged the crap out of me (I loved it!). In my estimation of their abilities during those days, I regarded Dan and Eric as equals. Their classroom participation was equal. Their grades were equal. As you know, I mark (well, midterm) exams anonymously. I remember one semester Dan got, I think, a 93 and Eric got a 92. Or, was it the other way around? I’m not sure. What I’m trying to say is that while they had equal abilities in my opinion, Dan has earned his doctorate in economics, and Eric did not.
This is not praxeology. This is mere empirical evidence. But, based on it, I recommend George Mason and Texas Tech, not any other school in the U.S. Perhaps my experience with Nick Snow is relevant here. Nick was not one of our very top students. He went off to San Jose State for a masters in economics (he was mentored by my old Austro libertarian friend Jeff Hummel, plus Austro libertarians Ben Powell, who has since moved to Suffolk and now Texas Tech, and another former student of mine, not at Loyola but at Holy Cross, Ed Stringham, who has since moved to Trinity College, Connecticut. However, Emily Schaeffer Skarbeck, another former Loyola student of ours who got her phd at Mason is now an Assistant Professor at Kings.). So, here’s what I recommend: go to San Jose for a masters, and then apply to Mason for a phd, following in Nick’s footsteps. Or, try Detroit Mercy for a masters, and then on to Mason or Texas Tech. Or, if you want to try something totally different, go to France and study with/ be mentored by Guido Hulsman, combined with Spain and, ditto, Jesus Huerta de Soto. In addition, there are ph.d programs at other institutions, in other countries, where you can study with other Austro-libertarian faculty. I would include in this regard the following people (some of whom I am copying on this letter):
Josef Sima, [email protected]; Daniel Stastny, (http://www.cevroinstitut.cz/en/Section/study/courses+for+international+students/)
Enrico Colombatto [email protected];
Giancarlo Ibarguen Universidad Francisco Marroquín; [email protected]; [email protected]; http://fce.ufm.edu
Swiss Management Center, Kurt Leube http://www.swissmc.ch/Programs/Distance_Learning_Programs/Online_Doctorate_Programs/PhD_in_Economics/Program_Design/
Matt Machaj, Poland [email protected]
Here is another letter that might be of interest:
From: CALZADA ALVAREZ GABRIEL [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2013 7:31 AM
To: Oliver Bardin
Cc: Walter Block
Subject: Re: Economics Graduate Schools
Thank you, Walter!
Hola, Oliver! In the Spanish speaking world there are two places were you can complete a doctorate in economics from an austrian perspective: Francisco Marroquín University in Guatemala and King Juan Carlos University in Madrid, Spain. I am associated with both programs so I can tell you from my experience in the past 8 years that the study and research atmosphere in both places is great. Spanish language is not required but is certainly recommended in both places.
The URJC has several austrian professors and lecturers in the economic department and they have developed a pure austrian master and doctorate program officially accredited by the UE. Each year the program receives about 30-35 student and at least half of them are foreign students.
The UFM, Universidad Francisco Marroquín, aka University of Free Marketeers, is an intellectual oasis for libertarians. Every student -regardless of the sort of degree he is pursuing, from medicine to economics- has to enroll in 4 courses on free-market economics with a main focus in austrian economics. The university has been very selective over the years when it comes to accept a phd student. Doctorate courses at UFM are tailor made for the specific student that is accepted.
I hope you find this information useful. And if you have any more questions do not hesitate to contact me.
Good luck in your search of a place to complete your studies.
Saludos!
gabriel
As to a masters, if you stay in the US, I recommend Troy U, Detroit Mercy and Mason. However, I lean toward the former, since if you want to pursue Austrianism in the US, and go to Mason for that (Detroit doesn’t have a phd program) that way you’ll have different profs.
Here is yet another excellent masters program, given in English:
From: Josef Šíma [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sunday, January 31, 2016 1:33 PM
To: Walter Block
Subject: RE: new PPE MA program in Prague
Please add my PPE program on the list of your graduate schools for Austrians. If you ever have a smart student who would like to study in Europe, do not forget that we have the Mises scholarship –
http://cevroinstitut.cz/en/article/scholarships/
Best regards,
josef
prof. Josef Šíma, Ph.D.
rektor/president
Director/Philosophy, Politics, Economics
The first PPE MA program in the Czech Republic
CEVROINSTITUTE [school of legal and social studies]
Jungmannova 17 / 110 00 Praha 1 / Czech Republic
tel.: +420 221 506 777 / mobil: +420 777 069 323
email: [email protected] / www.cevroinstitut.cz
Jesus Huerta de Soto, [email protected];
Guido Hulsmann, [email protected];
Josef Sima, [email protected];
Enrico Colombatto [email protected];
Matt Machaj, Poland [email protected]
Stefan Stein, Germany [email protected];
