This is a useful thread. It worth adding that micro data access for empirical finance research (loosely defined) is probably unparalleled at the BoG. The best business school may have a few of these data-sets, at best. The BoG also has the infrastructure to run things relatively quickly and I doubt many can compete with the BoG's computing power. Although financial data access is an obvious advantage for finance-ish fresh PhDs, what I think is very valuable is that the BoG is probably one of the few places where a fresh DSGE/macro PhD (whatever that mean) can take a stab empirical finance research questions.
Fed vs. University
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False... clearly you never went to the Board. Much easier to get fired than in academia even if they tell you otherwise.... Also they will not give you the typical academic signals of whether you get tenure or not... so they can fire you at any point in time...Yes for regional feds, no for the Board.
Can you be fired at FED?
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Thanks a lot for correcting me about the place I've been working all this time.
Yes for regional feds, no for the Board.
Can you be fired at FED?
False... clearly you never went to the Board. Much easier to get fired than in academia even if they tell you otherwise.... Also they will not give you the typical academic signals of whether you get tenure or not... so they can fire you at any point in time...
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One other thing worth mentioning about the Fed BoG (I assume it's true of the regional Feds as well) is that the retirement plan is staggeringly good. You get a generous DB plan AND pretty good matching contributions to a TSP account (basically a 401k). Wealthier universities also offer nice retirement plans, but I've never seen one that approaches what the Fed gives.
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The best retirement plan is being able to work until you are 75 with a 2-1 load.
One other thing worth mentioning about the Fed BoG (I assume it's true of the regional Feds as well) is that the retirement plan is staggeringly good. You get a generous DB plan AND pretty good matching contributions to a TSP account (basically a 401k). Wealthier universities also offer nice retirement plans, but I've never seen one that approaches what the Fed gives.
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The main difference with the above for FRBs is that most positions at FTC/DOJ are not research oriented. Of course, you have some time (not as much as you might have assumed). Your casework has deadlines and your research does not, so you let it slide. The main reason is there are few rewards for research. Some who have published well get more time and data access (I am thinking of Hoskin). Compare the number of FTC/DOJ economists who have gone to academia to the same for FRB. It is trivial.
Many who start at FTC/DOJ move on after a few years. Either to harder to find economist jobs in the federal govt., but more likely to an antitrust litigation consulting firm. These can easily double your salary (but also your hours). Once again, the career path is to other government or private, but not much to academia.
It is great being around a few dozen IO economists when you have a question. At your univ. there may be one or two others. But it can get boring not having any exposure to other applied micro ideas.
Another difference is that these agencies are much more at the mercy of politics. Your most senior bosses may have been hired to further the administration's policies (e.g., the fate of CNN as part of the current AT&T merger). And policies can change dramatically with administrations.
Pay is decent but not as good as FRB. DC is an expensive place to live though.
anybody wanna give a comparison between universities and FTC/DOJ for the IO folks?
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c009, thank you for your input. Looking at the market these last couple years, it looks like while the supply of IO people is small, its either 1)a small number of departments hire IO, 2) govt does not seem as wide an option compared to feds (though this is balanced by macro being a third of the profession), or 3) consulting.
id like to be able to give the first two a shot at least before "cashing out", if you know what i mean