<p>I’m not sure how you derive your point of view based on a few hires. Remember, all the universities’ departments are hiring, promoting junior faculty and repositioning themselves relative to everyone else. I did a simple Google search on top economics departments. Despite your opinion, objective rankings are as follows:</p>
<p>from [EDIRC:</a> United States, Top Departments](<a href=“http://edirc.repec.org/usa-top.html]EDIRC:”>EDIRC: United States, Top Departments)</p>
<p>This page provides links to the top US Economics departments in terms of research output, according to Richard Dusansky and Clayton J. Vernon, “Rankings of U.S. Economics Departments”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol 12 (1), Winter 1998, pages 157-170. RePEc now also publishes its own ranking, which is updated monthly.
Best departments first.</p>
<p>Princeton University, Princeton NJ
Department of Economics
Harvard University, Cambridge MA
Department of Economics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA
Economics Department
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA
Department of Economics
Northwestern University, Evanston IL
Department of Economics
New York University, New York City NY
Department of Economics
Boston University, Boston MA
Department of Economics
Yale University, New Haven CT
Economics Department
Stanford University, Palo Alto CA
Department of Economics
University of California, San Diego CA
Department of Economics
University of Texas, Austin TX
Department of Economics
University of Rochester, Rochester NY
Economics Department
University of California, Berkeley CA
Department of Economics
University of Maryland, College Park MD
Department of Economics
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD
Department of Economics
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA
Department of Economics
University of Chicago, Chicago IL
Department of Economics
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis MN
Department of Economics
University of Wisconsin, Madison WI
Economics Department
University of Virginia, Charlottesville VA
Department of Economics
University of California, Los Angeles CA
Department of Economics
Columbia University, New York City NY
Department of Economics, School of General Studies
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI
Economics Department
Ohio State University, Columbus OH
Department of Economics
Duke University, Durham NC
Department of Economics, Arts & Sciences and Trinity College</p>
<p>Top 20% Economics Departments</p>
<p>Please note that rankings can depend on the number of registered authors in the respective institutions. Register at the RePEc Author Service.
Rank Score Institution
1 1.07 Department of Economics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA)
2 2.87 Department of Economics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey (USA)
3 3.56 Department of Economics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois (USA)
4 3.67 Department of Economics, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, California (USA)
5 4.53 Department of Economics, Oxford University, Oxford, United Kingdom
6 4.56 Economics Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA)
7 5.9 Department of Economics, New York University, New York City, New York (USA)
8 7.32 London School of Economics (LSE), University of London, London, United Kingdom
9 9.94 Department of Economics, School of Arts and Sciences, Columbia University, New York City, New York (USA)
10 10.63 Department of Economics, University of California-San Diego (UCSD), La Jolla, California (USA)
11 11.28 Department of Economics, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California (USA)
12 12.5 Department of Economics, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts (USA)
13 13.75 Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA)
14 15.05 Finance & Economics Department, Graduate School of Business, Columbia University, New York City, New York (USA)
15 15.85 Department of Economics, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois (USA)
16 15.94 Economics Department, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island (USA)
17 16.31 Department of Economics, University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, California (USA)
18 17.59 Department of Economics, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom
19 19.79 Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), Toulouse, France
20 20.17 Department of Economics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland (USA)</p>