I’ve heard from various sources that when you give a talk in an econ dept that they eat you alive: typically the audience showers you with questions and you are lucky to get past the second slide in your presentation. So far, though, I’ve given seminar talks in three economics departments–George Mason University a few years ago, Sciences Po last year, and Hunter College yesterday–and all three times the audiences have been completely normal. They did not interrupt unduly and they asked a bunch of good questions at the end. n=3, sure. But still.
give a talk at Chicago and then tell us what you think!
There's not only a small sample size here, there is no experimental design worthy of the name!
Next time tell them that you are an economist.
Indeed! I'm a sociology grad student working for two economists and the trend I've noticed is that not only are economics departments more reasonable than they are rumored to be; they're also less dependent on rational choice theory than one might expect. My n=3 as well, and there are historical factors as well as the possibility of selection bias happening. But, you think there might also be a tie between the rise of fair audience practices and transitioning away from RCT? The compassion variable?
Ha, somebody beat me with the comment: come to Chicago and you'll see — not very respectful here. For that matter, try the stats dept here too.
In my experience, economists are less respectful in general but it's not as bad as people say. The conferences at the NBER can be unruly but not always.
Andrew: I also think that you need more data. :-)
For my take on it, see my blog posting "Seminars by the Number", at
http://davegiles.blogspot.com/2011/02/seminars-by…
Dave Giles
I've spoken several times at the University of Chicago statistics department and they've always been very nice!
Demolished? Please go to Harvard/MIT ECON seminars and then tell us :)
Coming from Engineering (Wisconsin) I am glad your seminars are so stimulating. Come over to engineering and you'll see how lame our's are. Three questions at the end, mostly quite tame. The speaker yaps for 50 minutes and the questions last for 5. Nobody ever grills the speaker.
I'd vote for an unruly NBER / Chicago riot any day!
It's funny. Econometricians always warn their students about giving seminars in a stats department… intense experience, they say.
Andrew, you can't judge the stereotype by the reaction *your* talks receive, and the problem isn't the sample size.
Andrew, you should try a few west coast places as well; I'd recommend UCLA, Berkeley and Stanford for starters
It's this simple:
You aren't an economist, so they cut you some slack. Economists may be weird, but most also try to be respectful of those slightly less experienced with the lingo/lit./etc.
I'd expect you receive treatment similar to that of a grad student who's presenting their job market paper–to their home department–for the first time.
@Emily
Economists believe individuals have preferences and that said individuals can ordinally rank bundles.
A rational, 'utility-maximizer' doesn't have to be an a$$hole. (others' preferences may factor in to our own)
Not exactly tough tests – GMU is a rising lib arts star and all, but it's still a solidly second-tier institution, and Hunter is well below that. I've never done anything at Sciences Po but I imagine they'd be nicer to someone from out of town. Bring your road show to one of the top 15 schools if you want the real grilling.
Also keep in mind that the people who are trying to sound smart in an econ seminar are later-year grad students and untenured faculty who are more interested in questions than answers — anybody who is interested in solving rather than specifying problems drops out of an econ PhD by the third year.