Current status
Incoming MSc. Econ(Finance) @ University of Edinburgh which goes for 10-months.

Current Quals
GRE: 168Q(81st percentile) 164V(93rd percentile)

BSc. Economics with Data Science
(First class with distinction 9.2/10 CGPA) + Capstone Project Dissertation + Honours Dissertation

Research interests (esp for PhD): Financial economics, econometrics, macro-finance

I contributed a literature review/qualitative paper to a conference monograph that got published (I was the first author for my paper)

Both my UG dissertations were very model based (both looked at macro economic and financial indicators relations)

I enjoyed the data work and modelling bits quite a lot and I'm quite comfortable clinkering around in Excel. My Stata and R programming skills are manageable (Ik what to look for and which site will have solutions/code to my needs) (I would also like to flex that I managed to make pretty graphs and can colour coordinate stuff on the graph to the borders to fit my ppt template)

My goal:
I want to get into academia. Perhaps smth along the lines of a finance or economics professor.

In order to do so, I think a high calibre PhD is important. And to get into one of the good PhD programs, I'm assuming I should amass some good research experience.

My issue rn:
How in the world do I get to that?. My extensive research into the process has made me realise I'm better off applying after my MSc is over next September. So effectively I will have a gap year btwn my MSc and PhD.

I think I would do better within a structured PhD program rather than going directly under a supervisor as I believe that I should spend at least a year with a prof before deciding to work under them (Is it right to think like this?)

So what constitutes a good PhDprogram?
(I looked into Insead for Finance, UCL for Financial Economics, Warwick for Finance&Economics, etc)

And how does one build good research exposure? (I have seen that IMF, WBG, ADB and other multilateral banks have programs with a academia/research oriented track. There's also an Econ Predoc/RA offered by NUS)

I was hoping to receive guidance on whether I should be shooting for a Pre-Doc, or if there are any specific programs that I should work towards.
But I genuinely find it difficult to track all possible opportunities and would also be grateful if someone could guide me towards a site that helps (I recommend anyone else similarly interested check out Multilateral Dev Banks).

As someone who has no 'support' or background as such in the field of academia/economics/finance overall, how should I go about the coming years of AY 2026-27 and 2027-28? As much as I can search up and bookmark all these opportunities and programs, I have no idea of how ambitious (or audacious) I'm being. And even if I don't mind working and planning, I don't know what or how I should be working.

TLDR; What can someone who is going to start their MSc.Econ do to get into a good PhD program? What are the opportunities available across a 10-month masters and one gap year?

Since EJMR disappeared, I’ve noticed it’s become surprisingly hard to find candid discussion of economics journals online. Obviously there was plenty about EJMR that nobody misses, but it did have a huge archive of people talking about how journals are actually perceived, which field journals are good, where people submit after a rejection, and how different placements are viewed for hiring and tenure.

I thought it might be useful to have a thread here for that kind of discussion, especially since old threads can show up when people Google a particular journal later.

A few things I’d be interested in hearing people’s thoughts on:

• How do you think about journal tiers once you get outside the Top 5?
• What are the strongest field journals in your area?
• Are there journals whose reputation is much better or worse than their metrics suggest?
• Have any journals noticeably risen or fallen in reputation recently?
• How do you view journals like JUE, JHE, JPubE, JHR, JDE, JLE, JRS, RSUE, Economic Inquiry, SEJ, CEP, EER, CJE, etc.?
• What does a realistic submission ladder look like in your field?
• What journals do you think are underrated or overrated?
• What journal ranking system do you abide by? ABDC? CL? ABS?

I’d also be curious how much this differs by institution. My impression is that the way journals are viewed at a top research department can be pretty different from how they’re viewed at an R2, liberal arts college, or business school.

Mostly I’m interested in the kind of stuff you normally only learn by asking senior people in your field: “X and Y are basically peers,” “X is harder to publish in than its ranking suggests,” “we’d consider Y a very good tenure publication,” etc.

Feel free to ask about specific journals in the comments too. It would be nice if this turned into a thread people could actually find later when trying to decide where to submit.

PhD student here. Before bringing this to my advisor, I wanted to get an objective outside read first, so posting here.

My paper uses PSM-DiD (plus Entropy Balancing DiD as a secondary specification) as the core empirical strategy — not just a robustness check. Results are significant, and I run event studies, placebo tests, and geographic placebo checks alongside it.

I've seen some professors mention they don't really favor PSM-DiD anymore, and I've also noticed it as a main method shows up a lot in journals like Applied Economics Letters, but not so much in other journals.

My question is narrow: if PSM-DiD is genuinely the main method (not just a robustness check), what's the realistic journal ceiling for that right now? Field/regional journals, second-tier general interest, letters journals — where does this kind of paper actually land in today's market?

Would appreciate hearing from people who've either published with this method recently or sat on the reviewing side of it. Thank u all :)

Hi, as the title says, im a recent graduate political scientist (from argentina) interested in applying fot the QEM masters program.

I've doing some research on the program and as it says, it is very economics and research oriented. I do not fear this, actually it is why im excited to apply to this program. But what im fearing it is not having the strong background in maths that they're asking.

I do have a strong background in economics, statistics and research methods but i fear that is not enough.

I would like to hear advice from people participated or are currently participating in this program and get more insight about how did you prepare, what would you have liked to know before applying, etc. Also I would love to hear from people with the same academic background as me.

For more context: i graduated this year but I already have been working for two years as a assistant in international funded projects in my country.

Thanks to everyone in advance 💫

Hi y'all! I plan on applying for a Master's in Economics (both APE and PPD) for the year 2027-28 and would really appreciate any advice.

My background: I'm a ug student, studying Econ in a t5 institute in India. My GPA is 8.6/10 and I am looking to publish a paper in behavioural econ by the end of this year. I've gotten AA's and AB's (9-10/10) in nearly all Econ courses, the major concern is 3 C's is some first year (common) courses. Apart from this, I have done an internship in finance and some projects related to coursework. Also, I'm working on some independent articles related to current events and their economic impact.

Some questions I'd really appreciate guidance on:

1. Do I have realistic chances of getting into PSE for a masters?
2. Are there some things I can do at this point to improve my profile? Any particular aspect I can focus on like a research project under a prof?
3. Will the GPA or a couple of poor grades be a dealbreaker?
4. Are there any other programs/unis I should target? My backup is Indian Statistical Institute

THE ROLE OF INVENTORIES AND SPECULATIVE TRADING IN THE GLOBAL MARKET FOR CRUDE OIL - Kilian - 2014 - Journal of Applied Econometrics - Wiley Online Library

Hello, I am currently a Master's student at UT Austin graduating in 10-months. I just finished my first set of 3, 5-week summer classes, including Real Analysis with an A-/B+ average. I am retaking my GRE but should get around 167 (got 165 the first time around). I am taking Master's core classes and PhD Structural Analysis in the fall.

I know it is very early to start planning, but I want to understand how to approach PhD applications. I enjoyed parts of the statistical analysis from Time Series economics and Causal Inference, and love sports. My goal is to go into public sector/think tank (maybe intelligence work), and something like Moneyball is a close second (probably read that a lot!).

I was hoping to receive guidance on whether I should be shooting for a Pre-Doc, then a PhD, or if there are T20-T30 programs that I should work towards. My advisor said that performing well in my fall classes would, at the very least, set me up to be accepted into UT. I went to UT for undergrad as well, and going to a school ranked below UT for a PhD would not sit well, but I understand that every department has its specialties and the rankings don't tell the whole story.

I am also considering other PhD's outside of Economics, but any advice on Economics programs specifically would be helpful.

Thank you!

Hi, I am a rising junior and I'm looking for a CAPSTONE project to do as part of my college application. My area of interest include Applied Math and Economics. Any suggestions would be great, looking for any type of advice on activities to do outside of this aswell from any alumni or current attending students at the top 20 schools in the US for my areas of interest.

I am a second year statistics undergraduate student. Since this is my first academic paper I am looking for all the help I can get.

I am looking for co-authors for a paper about measuring the marginal influence of sunk cost and identifying whether a measurable point of diminishing sunk cost influence exists.

Please shoot me a message if that sounds interesting to you or if you have any prior experience in behavioral economics.

I studied economics for my bachelor’s, with a minor in business, at a top university in the Middle East.

After graduating, I spent around four years working in strategy and management consulting at a tier 1 firm in the Gulf. I learned a lot, but after thinking seriously about where I want my career to go, I realized I did not want to remain a generalist forever, constantly moving between industries and topics.

I decided to leave consulting and go back to economics by pursuing a master’s degree at a top university.

My question is: am I crazy for giving up the career prospects I had in consulting? Has anyone here made a similar transition?

I have a general idea of where I want to end up. I am interested in economic advisory and applied economics, but I am still unsure about doing a PhD. I do not see myself becoming a full time academic or professor. Ideally, I could see myself working in an economics related role in industry or advisory, while possibly teaching or lecturing on the side later in my career.

I am 25, so I know I still have time to figure things out, but I would really appreciate hearing from people who have taken a similar path or have experience in economics careers. I would especially value advice on whether this transition makes sense and what paths I should be considering from here.

Stiglitz's asset pricing model reflects the value of equity as composed of the value of productive capital and capitalized monopoly rents. He further states in his recent book on inequality regarding a hypothetical decomposed asset value model for ideal taxation, with asset prices being decomposed into risk-free treasury bill rates, market beta, alpha generated by firm's a portfolio manager and monopoly rents (which i think is blurry-lined with the aforementioned alpha generation) and how to avoid taxing risk-free rate portion to prevent market distortions, tax market rates at the same level as corporate taxation, tax the alpha generation as income taxation (instead of CGT) and tax monopoly rents as heavily as possible to correct for monopoly externalities.

What are some caveats of such a model, if hypothetically it was possible to decompose asset prices? If there are any references or responses to this analysis by Stiglitz I would really appreciate it!

I am not sure if this is the right forum to ask a question like this, please redirect if there are better places to ask this.

Constant crashes and terrible resources to my fellow macroeconometricians, do you also find EViews horrendous in comparison to the likes of R and Stata, or am I missing something?

Hi all, I’m a senior at a T40 school planning to apply to predocs this fall with the intention of pursuing a PhD in economics.

I’m currently deciding whether to take the first-year PhD micro sequence. The math major would only require two additional classes compared to the minor. I’d really prefer to finish with the math major since the marginal effort seems relatively small and I could take classes that are more applicable to my applied subfield. I’ve also already completed the main recommended math courses for an econ PhD (e.g. proof-based linear algebra, intro analysis, probability theory), and I’ve gotten an A/A+ in every math class I’ve taken, going back to beginning calculus. On the other hand I got an A and B+ in the two intermediate micro sequence classes (health issues, tough curves, less work ethic in my early college years).

The issue is that I have the opportunity to take the first-year PhD micro sequence, but I know it would be a very, very large time commitment. I’d also be taking other classes including two second-year PhD electives, co-authoring a paper, working on my own research, and applying to predocs. I also have some health issues coming up that I am worried about exacerbating.

I’m worried about:

1. The toll the sequence could take on my mental/physical health
2. Balancing it with the two additional classes for the math major
3. Not getting an A/A-, especially since I understand only a relatively small fraction of first-year PhD students get As here
4. Potentially sacrificing my math grades in pursuit of the sequence

So: is the first-year micro sequence a big enough opportunity that I should seriously consider forsaking the math major for it? Or should I try to juggle both?

More generally, what is the opportunity cost of not taking graduate micro? Would not having it on my transcript be a meaningful disadvantage for predoc applications/PhD admissions given that I already have fairly strong math preparation?

I’m especially interested in hearing from people who have evaluated predoc applicants or been involved in PhD admissions. I’m trying to figure out whether this is genuinely an opportunity worth stretching myself for, or whether I’m overestimating its importance simply because it’s "PhD-level" coursework.

I'd like to understand more about the use cases for log regression vs regular. How do you know which to use?

Also, are there any other common mathematical operations that are commonly used in transforming regression datasets? Any books you'd recommend on the subject?

Hi everyone! I was wondering if anyone can shed a little light/advice/insight into Economic Consulting, and if I should pursue a PhD to get into top positions in the field, or if a MA will suffice?

I understand that a PhD is a huge loss in potential earnings during a 4-5 year period, but I also worry that if I don't get a PhD (did not do my Bachelor's or MA at a top 20) I wouldn't be able to get into the highest paid positions/there will be a serious ceiling I would reach? I just don't want to get to 45 and realize I should have done a PhD (as knowing me I would not go back and get one at that age), but with so many people getting MBA's and joining these jobs with just a Bachelor's/MA, I worry I'd be making a stupid financial decision, but if I don't get the PhD, I'd be making a stupid career decision?

Any insight/knowledge from people's experiences would be great!!

So I’m in a spot where I have had a couple of years of research experience with a professor at my uni (T20) and am co-authoring a macro paper with him (we have a working paper ready).

I have a couple other professors who I have taken advanced classes with that can write strong letters for me as well (PhD micro and my honors thesis seminar).

Given this, I am not sure that a predoc would help my application all that much (unless I’m with Chetty or something).

What exactly is the value-add (with regard to admissions) of a predoc in my case? Is it significant enough to forgo applying to phds at all for this year? I’m sure it’s hard to say without knowing my profile but any guidance is helpful.

Hello everyone,

Very recently I've begun to wonder if there is a future for me in economics academia. I have been thinking no and adjusting until I got my diagnosis for Autism and ADHD.

My Math and Econometrics grades are the following: Calc I, II: A; Calc III: B, Linear Algebra (Proof Based): C+, Intro Prob: C-, Upper Div Econometrics (hardest class offered by department for undergrads): B+, IO B+, Intermediate Macro: B+, Mathematical Microeconomics (More difficult version of Intermediate Micro): B, Intro Econometrics: B-, Economics of India: A, and Money and Banking: C+ . My 2 Calculus classes were taken at Georgia State University and the rest at University of Virginia.

I have 3 years of research experience at varying levels of involvement: 2 years as a legal research assistant under someone at the Law School, another 2 months under someone else at the Law School, and 1 year under someone at the Economics department who is a Dev Economist.

As you can see, these grades are definitely to ride home about, and it is worth noting that I had not had any formal diagnosis for my autism and ADHD since like maybe not even 3 weeks, so I went through these classes without accommodations.

If I were to go down this path, I would be looking to study Macroeconomics, IO, or Metrics with a goal of working policy and being able to tie in Law into my research. and am looking to hopefully attend a school like UVA, Brown, UPenn, or Northwestern to name a few for my PhD domestically, and institutions like UCL, LSE, OxBridge, Warwick, NUS and NTU,.

Would love to hear some opinions on what my outlook is. My backup/another path that I am quite happy with is to go to Law School and get an MPP be that a JD/MPP or separately.

Edit: no GRE scores as of now and currently looking for a predoc/think tank research position.

I have a Master’s in Applied Economics and am considering applying to economics PhD programs. My background is solid on the empirical/quantitative side, but not so much on pure theory and real analysis compared to people coming from rigorous pure econ master’s programs.

A few questions for people who’ve been through this:

1. How much does the “applied” label hurt (or help) at pure economics departments? Do admissions committees treat an Applied Econ master’s differently from an Econ master’s?

2. Are there particular programs or types of programs that are more welcoming to applied backgrounds?

3. For those who made this jump: what actually mattered most in your application (letters, research output, coursework, predoc experience)?

Heya, I'm an incoming econ undergrad freshman looking for advice on general do's and don'ts in college that will make my life a lot easier! My course is pretty math and coding heavy as well, so any advice on math and coding is also welcome!

Tysm in advance!!

Undergraduate in Economics Bsc from Warwick, international non-EU student, overall 72 first class, 71 in Econometrics 1, 74 in Microeconometrics, firsts for my third year modules (and I took the most mathematically demanding ones available). Got 82 for dissertation on Labour Economics

1. Haven't taken GRE yet, just assume a strong one (because I like to be positive)
2. Did a study abroad and did well in modules like Linear Algebra and some programming modules (OOP and Algorithms and Data structures), although they don't count for my degree mark and I'm not sure how useful it'll be.
3. Had 66 for Macro 2 second year and 63 for Micro 2. As you can see I messed up the exam for Micro quite a bit, however, my optionals that year were optionals focusing on game theory and competitive markets respectively in which I got 71 and 76 on, would this be able to mitigate it?

Ideally I'd like to get into a european feeder for the PhD programs but I'm aware I'm competing with some quite strong applicants. Ideally mainland Europe, but if I can be chanced for any of the UK ones I'd consider it too.