Department of Economics

Economics department ranks #1 in Georgia

5/9/2008

An article in the most recent issue of the Southern Economic Journal* ranks economics departments in 17 subfields based on scholarly productivity (publications) of each department's 2004 faculty members over the previous 20 years (1985-2004). The faculty in the Department of Economics at the Andrew Young School are very prolific, with consistently more than 100 articles published each year in scholarly journals and volumes.

Overall, the AYSPS Department of Economics is ranked 50th in the United States out of 129 Ph.D. granting departments. The Department ranks considerably higher in several subfields that our Economics faculty had selected as primary areas of concentration.

These are:
• Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - 8th
• Public Economics - 11th
• Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics - 20th
• Labor and Demographic Economics - 23rd

The department was also ranked very high in:
• General Economics and Teaching - 14th
• Methodology and History of Economic Thought - 16th

The Department of Economics is 9th among 33 Southeastern departments in the rankings. It is ranked 1st in Georgia (with Emory University ranked 71st, University of Georgia ranked 74th, and Georgia Institute of Technology unranked because it has no Ph.D. program in Economics). This article demonstrates that the Department's chosen strategy to focus on specific areas of concentration yields significant objective results. Students clearly benefit from professors' deep focus in chosen areas, as well as a broader understanding of economics issues.

Economics Department Chair Susan Laury says, "This is great news! I'm proud to be associated with this accomplishment."

*Citation: Grijalva and Nowell, A Guide to Graduate Study in Economics: Ranking Economics Departments by Fields of Expertise, Southern Economic Journal 2008, 74 (4), 971-996.