“First of all, that was not the average paycheck. That was the median paycheck. There is big a difference, which you might want to look up.”
Yea I remember learning the difference in fourth grade.
“Second, that was mid-career salary, as in after 15 years of experience in the field.”
And?
“Third, as far as I could see the survey does not offer any information regarding the number of people who hold such degrees versus the number who are employed at any salary…let alone that one”.
That’s a fair point, although the fact is that if one gets a job surrounding an economics PHD then you have a 50 percent shot at getting one above 100 K a year (yes, I know it’s not that simple for any specific individual but if we don’t know any more about them then that’s the case).
“What exactly is a “normal” person?”
People who fit broadly into the catagory of the ‘average’ American which is some college and about a fourth with a degree, much fewer with a PHD in any field.
“And I guess it would need to be made clear what kind of influence we’re talking about.”
It depends upon what kind of influence one works towards.
“I could say soccer players have influence and point to Pele single-handedly stopping a civil war in Nigeria. I could say agronomists have influence and point to Norman Borlaug. I could say destitute people have influence and point to Gandhi.”
Yes, but if you want to take your chances of having influence then a degree in economics will undoubtedly boost your chances greatly, just as the degree and great footballing ability helped the two you mentioned to become influential, and Gandhi’s education helped him to develope the message, drive, and eloquence, to be influential.
‘Naming the extreme exceptions does not help support a claim about “average”.’
No argument there, but it can help to reinforce the message, especially since I am claiming that it partly depends upon what you want to do with it. Most economists spend their time on mundane research of various kinds, working on small things which are unlikely to majorly influence the field and will only affect any sort of public policy in a very roundabout way, but if one wanted to then one’s knowledge and standing give one a good deal of room for influence. What part of this do you doubt?
“And for those two questions, I honestly don’t see “bank & influence” being very accurate answers. Other than Krugman and his insane obsession with living in an Isaac Asimov novel, I honestly don’t see many people looking for money and power saying “I know…I’ll get a graduate degree in economics!”.”
I’m not necessarily arguing that if one wanted those things that an econ degree would be one’s first choice, I’m merely saying that if one wanted those things then it’s easy to go a lot more wrong than those. It was just a joke answer at first, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some validity behind it.
