Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Mamas, Do Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Health Economists
by Tom Bozzo
Holders of doctorates in other social sciences, don't despair. A possible way to close salary ranks with Those Darn Economists is to get out of "The Academy." Among non-academics, the economics PhD doesn't command a statistically significant premium over other doctorates. [*] However, to get on the real gravy train probably requires sufficient quantitative skillz to get on the expert-witness circuit. [**]
[*] Assuming, it stands to reason, that your doctorate gets you in the door in the first place.
[**] Or, maybe, get a business school job; Cawley and Morrisey find that B-school assistant professors are lavishly compensated. In a fascinating W$J article from a couple weeks ago on the Law and Economics Consulting Group, the firm's econ professor founder claimed that a few dozen of LECG's experts pull down mid-six-figure salaries. Making corporate executive-level pay at a publicly-traded consulting firm may, however, require certain ethical compromises — e.g., testifying on the tobacco company's side in tobacco-related litigation.
According to John Cawley and Michael Morrisey ("The earnings of U.S. health economists," Journal of Health Economics, Vol. 26 [2007], No. 2., 358-372), the mean annual earnings of health economists surveyed in 2005 was $119,499. Among the not-overly-surprising details, non-academics outearn academics (with median earnings of $118,500 and $100,000, respectively) and holders of actual economics PhDs make more than holders of "other academic doctorates."
Holders of doctorates in other social sciences, don't despair. A possible way to close salary ranks with Those Darn Economists is to get out of "The Academy." Among non-academics, the economics PhD doesn't command a statistically significant premium over other doctorates. [*] However, to get on the real gravy train probably requires sufficient quantitative skillz to get on the expert-witness circuit. [**]
[*] Assuming, it stands to reason, that your doctorate gets you in the door in the first place.
[**] Or, maybe, get a business school job; Cawley and Morrisey find that B-school assistant professors are lavishly compensated. In a fascinating W$J article from a couple weeks ago on the Law and Economics Consulting Group, the firm's econ professor founder claimed that a few dozen of LECG's experts pull down mid-six-figure salaries. Making corporate executive-level pay at a publicly-traded consulting firm may, however, require certain ethical compromises — e.g., testifying on the tobacco company's side in tobacco-related litigation.
Labels: Economics, Health Care, Inequality
