What is the #1 college for undergraduate Economics in the world

College Search & Selection
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<p>And why? If you know why. If you can't narrow it down to one, what is the top 3?</p>

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<p>[url=&lt;a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/economics-rankings]Best”&gt;http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/economics-rankings]Best</a> Economics Programs | Top Economics Schools | US News Best Graduate Schools<a href=“Harvard/Chicago/MIT/Princeton;%20tied%20in%20USA,%20based%20solely%20on%20peer%20assessments”>/url</a></p>

<p>[url=&lt;a href=“http://www.le.ac.uk/economics/research/rankings/econ-rankings.html]Department”&gt;http://www.le.ac.uk/economics/research/rankings/econ-rankings.html]Department</a> and Journal Rankings: Research: Department of Economics, University of Leicester, UK<a href=“Harvard%20-%20Chicago%20-%20MIT;%201-2-3%20worldwide%20for%20research%20productivity%20based%20on%20journal%20output,%201995-99”>/url</a></p>

<p>[url=&lt;a href=“http://www.university-list.net/rank/univ-110048.html]Economics”&gt;Mechanical, Aeronautical & Manufacturing Engineering | QS World University Rankings by Subject 2018 | Top Universities | Best Universities P2/4 - Education Rankings]Economics</a> / Business-Academic Rankings of World Universities (ARWU)2010-Top Universities<a href=“Harvard%20-%20Chicago%20-%20MIT;%201-2-3%20%20worldwide%20for%20alumni%20&%20staff%20achievement%20based%20on%20awards%20and%20journal%20output”>/url</a></p>

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<p>I think the London School of Economics is pretty highly regarded. They get something like 19,000 applications for 1300 spots, according to their website.</p>

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<p>Undergraduate is such a nebulous term!</p>

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<p>I’m under the impression that the London School of Economics is best.</p>

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<p>Paul “Mr. Pauly Killface” Krugman over at Princeton. 'Nuff said.</p>

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<p>surfcity, Im pretty sure 1300 is the number of applicants they admit. They have to think about their yield. And besides, admit rate generally isn’t an indication of quality.</p>

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<p>I would argue MIT. Most people think it’s an engineering school, but their economics department is stellar. In addition to the faculty, just think of the alumni:</p>

<p>Paul Krugman
Greg Mankiw
Stephen Ross
Myron Scholes
Joe Stiglitz
Ben Bernanke
Robert Merton
Robert Solow
George Akerlof
Olivier Williamson
Peter Diamond
etc… etc… etc…</p>

<p>This doesn’t even include non nobel prize winners or john bates winners (think Christina Romner, Avinash Dixit, etc. etc.)! Or all the professors like John Nash, etc.</p>

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<p>^ The University of Chicago’s 17 John Bates Clark medalists:
[John</a> Bates Clark Medalists | The University of Chicago](<a href=“http://www.uchicago.edu/about/accolades/clark.shtml]John”>http://www.uchicago.edu/about/accolades/clark.shtml)</p>

<p>The University of Chicago’s 25 Nobel laureates in economics:
[Nobel</a> Laureates | The University of Chicago](<a href=“Page Not Found | University of Chicago”>Page Not Found | University of Chicago)</p>

<p>Chicago’s most recent Clark medalist, Steven Levitt, also has won the University’s highest award for excellence in undergraduate teaching (the Quantrell Award).</p>

<p>ARWU ranks Chicago #1 in the world for award-winning staff in economics. By this measure, Harvard and MIT tie for 3rd.
([Economics</a> / Business-Academic Rankings of World Universities (ARWU)2010-Top Universities](<a href=“http://www.university-list.net/rank/univ-110048.html]Economics”>Mechanical, Aeronautical & Manufacturing Engineering | QS World University Rankings by Subject 2018 | Top Universities | Best Universities P2/4 - Education Rankings))</p>

<p>Much harder than counting medals is the task of comparing instructional quality. One can make a strong case for Chicago, based on the combination of distinguished faculty (back to counting medals), small classes (<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/708190-avg-class-size-4.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/708190-avg-class-size-4.html&lt;/a&gt;), and the school’s coherent, time-tested undergraduate curriculum model. But the latter is impossible to “rank”; some students may well thrive better in a different environment.</p>

<p>A different way to look at this question would be to focus solely on student outcomes. One could consider, for example, eventual economics PhDs per 1000 graduates. By this measure, 5 small American liberal arts colleges out-perform the likes of Harvard, MIT, and Chicago. But then, by this measure, it is hard to account for factors such as the number of well-taught economics majors going into law and business, or the quality of PhD programs completed.
[The</a> Undergraduate Origins of PhD Economists](<a href=“http://ideas.repec.org/a/jee/journl/v38y2007i4p461-482.html]The”>http://ideas.repec.org/a/jee/journl/v38y2007i4p461-482.html)</p>

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<p>I was under the impression that Chicago and LSE were the best :D.</p>

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<p>tk21769 - I cannot get the “Undergraduate Origins of PhD Economists to download” Would you be willing to share the names of the 5 schools???</p>

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<p>My vote goes to the University of Cambridge – it has the most complete package. It has a very established economics program, great global reputation, one-on-one tutorial system, unrivaled academic facilities, amazing students many coming from the wealthy clans and royal families, and great faculty line-ups. You’ll get all those plus a chance to live in a castle. :)</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.cam.ac.uk/[/url]”>http://www.cam.ac.uk/&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://www.econ.cam.ac.uk/index.html[/url]”>http://www.econ.cam.ac.uk/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>runner-ups: Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Stanford, Oxford (BE) and Yale</p>

<p>then you have: Berkeley, Chicago, Northwestern, Michigan, Columbia, UPenn and NYU. </p>

<p>next group: LSE, Duke, Brown, Dartmouth and Cornell</p>

<p>Then you have: Warwick, UCL, Rice, UVa, Emory, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame and the like.</p>

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<p>I’d probably bump Duke, Dartmouth and Brown to Berkeley’s level.</p>

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<p>I disagree with RML. I would say Harvard is the best. Cambridge may be the pinnacle one hundred years ago, Harvard has replaced it long ago.</p>

<p>tier 1: Harvard
tier 2: Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Cambridge, Oxford, UChicago
tier 3: Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke, Brown, Cornell, Penn, Northwestern, LSE, Berkeley, UMich
tier 4: …</p>

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<p>^ We’re talking about undergrad here, right? Well, to be honest, I certainly can’t make any “noticeable” distinction between Harvard and Princeton/MIT/Yale economics. The only edge I can think of where Harvard edges Cambridge for undergrad economics is the higher employment prospect rate to WL. But other than that, I think Cambridge edges Harvard for undergrad economics. </p>

<p>I also don’t think Chicago’s undergrad economics is on par with Princeton’s or MIT’s. For postgrad economics, maybe. But not for undergrad, not really.</p>

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<p>[Greg</a> Mankiw’s Blog: Where do economists come from?](<a href=“http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2009/04/where-do-econ-phds-begin.html]Greg”>Greg Mankiw's Blog: Where do economists come from?)</p>

<p><a href=“https://econtop.uvt.nl/rankinglist.php[/url]”>https://econtop.uvt.nl/rankinglist.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>[Rankings</a> at IDEAS: Economics Departments](<a href=“http://ideas.repec.org/top/top.econdept.html]Rankings”>Economics rankings: Economics Departments | IDEAS/RePEc)</p>

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<p>The problem is that you people are going off medals. What about the non-medal winners? Like for MIT, think Olivier Blanchard, Hal Varian, Avinash Dixit, Alan Blinder, etc. (if you don’t know these names, google them or something and you will get many many results).</p>

<p>Not John Bates winners or Nobel Winners, but have made a name for themselves in the field.</p>

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<p>I’m glad someone finally posted a link that included Swarthmore in the mix.</p>

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<p>It is hard to say who is #1 in Economics. </p>

<p>In the US alone, Chicago, Harvard, MIT, Princeton and Stanford are all amazing. Any of those 5 can legitimately claim to be the best in the US.</p>

<p>Cal, Northwestern and Yale are practically as good, while Columbia, Michigan, Penn, UCLA and Wisconsin are also pretty special. </p>

<p>Since we are talking about undergraduate Econ, smaller programs such as Brown, Cornell, Duke and Swarthmore also deserve consideration.</p>

<p>I am not suffificently familiar with the rest of the world, but in the UK, I understand that Cambridge is in a league of its own while Oxford, LSE and Warwick are all very good.</p>

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<p>Well, what about them? How do you compare them objectively? Is there reason to think there is a big quality drop-off from medalists to non-medalists at other schools but not at MIT?</p>

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</p>

<p>Based on what evidence?
Again, ARWU ranks Chicago #1 in the world for award-winning staff in economics (and #2 for combined criteria in economics). Of the 35 professors listed on Chicago’s economics faculty page, all but 4 hold appointments in both the College and the graduate school. For the College as a whole (presumably for economics too) Chicago combines an excellent faculty with class sizes smaller than most LACs.</p>

<p>Then again, 5 LACs produce more PhD economists per capita than any university does (Swarthmore, Agnes Scott, Grinnell, Carleton, Williams … then Harvard … then Macalester). So as Alexandre says, it’s hard to say who’s #1.</p>