Best Places/Departments (Econ/Poly Sci/Public Policy) to Study Political Economy?

[Dloverstreet]

I am interested in pursuing a PhD in Political Economy, Institutional Analysis, and Political Economy of Development. Originally, I was convinced that Economics schools were the best route to study these fields coming from a Bachelor's degree in Econ, but the more research I've done, the more schools outside of Econ departments I've found that specialize in Political Economy.

Several Economics schools like George Mason, Florida State, Clemson, and West Virginia were suggested to me for my research interests, and they certainly do have scholars interested in those fields at each of those schools. But I've come to find that several Public Policy (UChicago) schools and many Political Science (MIT, Duke, Columbia, etc.) schools offer Political Economy as concentrations. If this is what I want to study, which route would offer me the best opportunities after graduation, going into an Econ, Public Policy, or Political Science PhD?

Any suggestions would be helpful, thank you!

[WhiteWalker]

It really depends on the sort of topics you wanna work on during your doctoral studies. Political Science schools have the subject of politics as their foundation and the methodologies applied will be very different from what you would expect in econ programs. For policy schools, training would be more school-specific (at Harvard Kennedy for instance, you could receive training comparable to that of a std top 20 econ shop), but one thing for sure is that they will put a strong emphasis on policy research. Plus, from what I heard, it would be a hard sell for you on the econ market as the name Public Policy puts you at a disadvantage. 

In a nutshell, if OP is good with the thought of joining a policy school or a mid- to lower-tier econ shop upon graduation, a public policy PhD is perfectly fine. Otherwise better do a std econ program and, if necessary indeed, contact the ppl whom you wanna work with outside the econ department.

Hope it helps with your question.

Edited March 10, 2020 by WhiteWalker