i love my program

I'm trying to finish grading exams for Dr. J, but I have some questions for him and he doesn't get to campus until 3 p.m., so instead of spending my time doing something productive (like working on my econometrics paper so that I can come up to Portland for the holiday party), I thought I'd give the neglected blog a little attention. I'm feeling cheerful, as I suspect many of you are, about the excellent showing the Democrats made yesterday, and I've been texting results to DWE (who is in London) all morning. My expectations for the Democrat-led house aren't particularly high (most Democrats drive me crazy for a variety of reasons, the foremost one being their apparent inability to understand the trade deficit and international trade in general), but I'm fairly certain this will be an improvement on the current situation. And I can't help but be at least a little proud that my congressperson is the new Speaker of the House. And thank goodness the governor of California is still a movie star. Life needs to stay at least a little surreal and disturbing.

I figured out something cool recently: if my advisor and his buddy from UCSD use the data that E, M, and I collected in India to write their own paper (which I believe they intend to eventually), then I (and E and M) will be listed as a coauthor on that paper. So if that paper gets published, I'll be published in an econ journal! Pretty cool, eh? Even if it's not published I can still put it on my CV. I've realized that the field research component of this program is even cooler than I initially thought, because data, even sort of crappy data, is like gold in economics, and I basically own some (of course, my advisor helped pay for it, hence why he gets to use it too). Also, there's a good chance I'll be TAing undergrad econometrics for Dr. J next semester, which will apparently also look good on my CV. It would be a lot of work (because, you know, I'd have to learn econometrics well enough to teach it to others), but it would also be a great review. And if I attended the class every week, I'd probably get a lot out of having basic econometrics retaught to me by Dr. J, a professor whose style of teaching alligns perfectly with my style of learning.

Anyway, at a bigger and/or more prestigious program, I never would have these sorts of opportunities; all I would have is a "brand name" degree and a lot more debt. Of course, if I get a PhD I'd like to go to a prestigious school, but this is a good reminder to keep things in perspective. Sure, Jeff Sachs, Jagdish Bagwhati, Joe Stiglitz, Robert Mundell, and Edmund Phelps are all at Columbia, but would I actually get to take a class from any of those people? (Trust me, they're all famous international economists.)

But who knows if I'm even going to get a PhD. I'm certainly not applying for next fall. But that means I have to figure out what I am doing, which is something I've been putting off for a while.