Top Schools to Study Austrian Economics

Pete Boettke writes:

For good and bad, the vast majority of graduate programs in economics offer roughly the same policy emphasis. To be sure, they emphasize different fields of study (e.g., industrial organization, monetary economics, and public economics) and different methods (e.g., formal theory, applied econometrics, computational methods, and experimental to name a few). In most graduate programs, there will usually be a few faculty members who have very strong sentiments about the market as the main allocation mechanism and pessimism about the government in that role. They certainly would not dominate, but they will not be absent either. And this is true whether we are talking about the elite programs such as Harvard, Chicago, Princeton, MIT, and Stanford or run-of-the-mill programs such as Iowa or Michigan or Maryland. It is no longer like the 1960s, where free market economists were only found at Chicago and its satellites such as UVA, UCLA, Washington, and Rochester.

DOCTORAL PROGRAMS (leading to PhD)
Claremont Graduate School (CA) — http://www.cgu.edu/pages/653.asp
Students can specialize in both Neuroeconomics/Behavioral Economics and Public choice/public finance. Interested students should contact Paul Zak.

Clemson University (SC) — http://economics.clemson.edu
Students can specialize in public choice economics and property rights economics as faculty include Robert Tollison, Bruce Yandle and Dan Benjamin. Interested students should contact Skip Sauer.

Florida State University (FL) — http://mailer.fsu.edu/~tzuehlke/doctoral
The DeVoe Moore Center at FSU (with Professors Benson, Gwartney and Holcombe) provides students interested in studying the role of government in the market economy with fellowships and research support. Interested students should contact Bruce Benson.

George Mason University (VA) – http://economics.gmu.edu
George Mason is the home of ICES (experimental economics), CSPC (public choice economics), LEC (Law and economics), and Mercatus (Austrian economics). Students can specialize in these areas during their graduate students, as well as more traditional fields such as Industrial Organization, Public Finance and Monetary economics. Interested students should contact either Dan Houser or Richard Wagner.

New York University (NY) — http://econ.as.nyu.edu/page/home
NYU is the highest ranked program in economics that is strong in Austrian/free market economics. This is the intellectual home of Ludwig von Mises (1945-1969) and Israel Kirzner (1956-) and interested students should contact either Mario Rizzo or David Harper.

Suffolk University (Mass) — http://www.suffolk.edu/college/4408.html
The Beacon Hill Institute provides a strong public policy focus, and the specialization in public choice/public finance is a very strong track. Interested students should contact Ben Powell.

West Virginia University (WV) — http://www.be.wvu.edu/phd_economics/
Very strong in the fields of public finance and public choice. Interested students should contact Russ Sobel.

GRADUATE PROGRAMS (MA/MS)
San Jose State University (CA) — http://www.sjsu.edu/economics/graduate_students/ma_econ/index.htm
Program has been developed over the past decade and has been an excellent feeder program to PhD programs. Interested students should contact Edward Lopez

Loyola University in New Orleans (LA) — http://www.business.loyno.edu/bba/economics
Walter Block and his colleagues have built a strong program and are investigating establishing a graduate program that will be an outstanding feeder program for PhD programs. Interested students should contact either Walter Block or Dan D’Amico

UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS
Beloit College (Wis) – http://www.beloit.edu
Emily Chamlee-Wright has built a very strong educational program for free market students. Also on the faculty is Josh Hall.

Grove City College (PA) — http://www.gcc.edu
Very strong emphasis on Austrian/free market economics. Faculty include Jeff Herbener and Shawn Ritenour.

Hillsdale College (MI) — http://www.hillsdale.edu
Very strong emphasis on Austrian/free market economics. Faculty include Charles Steele, Ivan Pongracic, and Nicolai Wenzel.

Hampden-Sydney College (VA) — http://www.hsc.edu
Very strong emphasis on Austrian/Virginia Political Economy/free market economics. Faculty include Tony Carilli, Greg Dempster, and Jennifer Dirmeyer.

Rhoades College (TN) — http://www.rhodes.edu
Strong academic program with very good faculty in economics. Contact Art Carden for information.

Troy University (AL) — http://www.troy.edu
A newly established economic program under the direction of Scott Beaulier. Scott is building the program quickly and Troy promises to be one of the best options for students interested in free market economics to pursue.