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Princeton University Department of Economics
Academic department at Princeton University

The Princeton University Department of Economics is an academic department of Princeton University, an Ivy League institution located in Princeton, New Jersey. The department is renowned as one of the premier programs worldwide for the study of economics. The university offers undergraduate A.B. degrees, as well as graduate degrees at the Ph.D. level. It is often considered one of the "big five" schools in the field, along with the faculties at the University of Chicago, Harvard University, Stanford University, and MIT. According to the 2023-2024 U.S. News & World Report, its graduate department is ranked as the joint No. 4 in the field of economics, in a four-way tie between it, the University of Chicago, Yale University, and the University of California, Berkeley.

The department is centered at the Julis Romo Rabinowitz Building & Louis A. Simpson International Building, formerly 20 Washington Road, which also houses the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies, the Bendheim Center for Finance, the Center for Health and Wellbeing, and the Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy and Finance. It is also home to the Industrial Relations Library.

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History

Since the university's founding in 1746, many courses in the social sciences, including history and politics, were taught in the department of Jurisprudence and Political Economy. Coursework specifically in political economy became available in 1819. When Woodrow Wilson became a professor in 1890, additional courses were added to the curriculum, including the History of Political Economy. By 1913, the department became independent from history and politics, forming the Department of Economics and Social Institutions.4

Academics

The undergraduate program is one of the most prestigious programs for the study of economics in the country and in the world. Economics is the most popular concentration (Princeton's version of an academic major) at the undergraduate level.5 Because the university does not have a business school, the economics concentration attracts many students who are interested in careers in investment banking, management consulting, finance, technology, and more.6 The curriculum itself is theoretical in nature, requiring students complete quantitative courses up to multivariate calculus.7 In partnership with the Bendheim Center for Finance, the department also offers an Undergraduate Finance Certificate.8

The graduate program in economics trains Ph.D. students for careers in academia, government, and industry. It receives approximately 800 applications for a class of 20 to 25 students who come from over 30 different countries around the world.9 The program has numerous fields of specialization and has been particularly strong in the areas of Macroeconomics, Industrial Relations, and International Finance.1011 Graduate students who pursue academic careers have historically had placement records at some of the world's leading universities including Harvard, Yale, MIT, and Cornell.12

The department also oversees a number of centers and initiatives, including:13

  • Bendheim Center for Finance
  • The Benjamin H. Griswold III, Class of 1933, Center for Economic Policy Studies
  • The Gregory C. Chow Econometric Research Program
  • Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy and Finance
  • Center for Health and Wellbeing
  • William S. Dietrich II Economic Theory Center
  • Industrial Relations Section
  • International Economics Section
  • Office of Population Research
  • Political Economy Program
  • Princeton Experimental Laboratory for the Social Sciences (PExL)
  • Research Program in Development Studies
  • The Gregory C. and Paula K. Chow Macroeconomic Research Program
  • Louis A. Simpson Center for the Study of Macroeconomics

Rankings

National Rankings

The 2023-2024 U.S. News & World Report places its graduate department as No. 4 nationwide in the field of Economics, tied there with the University of Chicago, Yale University, and the University of California, Berkeley.14 The National Research Council's rankings place the university at No. 2 in the S-Rank (Scholars Rank) and No. 2 in the Research Rank.15

International Rankings

In the 2018 Q.S. World University Rankings, the department places as No. 3 in the world in the fields of Economics and Econometrics.16 The 2018 Times Higher Education World University Rankings ranks the department as No. 7 globally.17 It has been ranked by RePEc among the top ten economics Departments in the world.18

Notable faculty

Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences

Among the department's past and current faculty members are several recipients of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences:19

Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel laureates
YearLaureatePrize sharePrize motivationOther notabilityDepartment's affiliation
2022Ben Bernanke1/3"for research on banks and financial crises"2014th Chairman of the Federal Reserve (2006–2014); 23rd Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers (2005–2006)Professor of Economics and Public Affairs (1985–2002); Department's chair (1996–2002)
Philip H. Dybvig1/3Director of the Institute of Financial Studies at China's Southwest University of Finance and Economics (2010–2021)Assistant Professor of Economics (1980–1981)
2015Angus Deaton1/1"for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare"21Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of Economics and International Affairs
2011Thomas J. Sargent1/2"for their empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy"22Erwin Plein Nemmers Prize in Economics winner (1996)Visiting Professor of Economics
Christopher A. Sims1/2Harold B. Helms ’20 Professor of Economics and Banking
2008Paul Krugman1/1"for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity"23John Bates Clark Medal recipient (1991); Columnist for The New York TimesProfessor of Economics and International Affairs Emeritus
2007Eric Maskin1/3"for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory"24Visiting Lecturer with the rank of Professor of Economics
1994John Forbes Nash Jr.1/3"for their pioneering analysis of equilibria in the theory of non-cooperative games"25Senior Research Mathematician
1979W. Arthur Lewis1/2"for their pioneering research into economic development research with particular consideration of the problems of developing countries"26First and (so far) only black person to win a Nobel Prize in any scientific fieldJames Madison Professor of Political Economy

Other notably past and present faculty members include:

See also

40°20′54″N 74°39′17″W / 40.34835°N 74.65467°W / 40.34835; -74.65467

References

  1. Roessler, Christian. "Applying for Admission to Economics PhD Programs in the United States". University of Rochester. https://www.scribd.com/document/68515089/Guide-to-PhD-s-in-Economics ↩

  2. "Economics". U.S. News & World Report. https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/economics-rankings ↩

  3. "Facilities". Princeton University. https://facilities.princeton.edu/projects/julis-romo-rabinowitz-building-louis-simpson-international-building ↩

  4. Leitch, Alexander. "The Department of Economics". A Princeton Companion. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2018-08-23. https://web.archive.org/web/20160305080505/http://etcweb.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Companion/economics_department.html ↩

  5. "The 3 most popular majors at every Ivy League school". Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/most-popular-ivy-league-major-2017-4 ↩

  6. "Undergraduate Program". Princeton University Department of Economics. https://economics.princeton.edu/undergraduate-program/ ↩

  7. "Requirements". Princeton University Department of Economics. https://economics.princeton.edu/undergraduate-program/requirements/#mathematicsprerequisites ↩

  8. "Finance Certificate". Princeton University Department of Economics. https://economics.princeton.edu/undergraduate-program/finance-certificate/ ↩

  9. "The Ph.D. Program". Princeton University Department of Economics. https://economics.princeton.edu/graduate-program/ ↩

  10. Leitch, Alexander. "Industrial Relations". A Princeton Companion. http://etcweb.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Companion/industrial_relations_section.html ↩

  11. Leitch, Alexander. "International Finance". A Princeton Companion. http://etcweb.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Companion/international_finance_section.html ↩

  12. "Placement". Princeton University Department of Economics. https://economics.princeton.edu/graduate-program/placement-record/ ↩

  13. "Centers and Programs". Princeton University Department of Economics. https://economics.princeton.edu/centers-programs/ ↩

  14. "Economics". U.S. News & World Report. https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/economics-rankings ↩

  15. "Doctoral Programs by the Numbers". The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/NRC-Rankings-Overview-/124724 ↩

  16. "QS world university rankings 2018: economics and econometrics". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2018/feb/28/qs-world-university-rankings-2018-economics-and-econometrics ↩

  17. "World University Rankings 2018". Times Higher Education. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2018/world-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/subjects/3087/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats ↩

  18. "Top 10% Economic Institutions, as of July 2019". RePEc. https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.inst.all.html ↩

  19. "Nobel Prize, Economics". Princeton University. https://www.princeton.edu/meet-princeton/honors-awards#nobel-prize-economics ↩

  20. "The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2022". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2022-10-11. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2022/summary/ ↩

  21. "The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2015". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2022-10-11. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2015/summary/ ↩

  22. "The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2011". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2022-10-11. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2011/summary/ ↩

  23. "The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2008". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2022-10-11. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2008/summary/ ↩

  24. "The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2007". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2022-10-11. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2007/summary/ ↩

  25. "The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1994". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2022-10-11. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1994/summary/ ↩

  26. "The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1979". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2022-10-11. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1979/summary/ ↩