The academic origins of economics faculty

In this article, the authors document the educational pedigrees of faculty at the top 96 economics programs in the United States. They use roster data of 96 top U.S. economics departments to provide a comprehensive update and expansion on data regarding the academic origins—both undergraduate and doctoral—of tenure-track faculty. Nearly 60 percent of their sample attended a top-15 university for their PhD; over a third attended a top-6 university for their PhD; the mean (median) ranking of faculty doctoral alma maters is 15 (10). The authors also find that over a third of faculty with U.S. undergraduate degrees received them at a top-15 university.