The supply of economists, as measured by the junior memberships to the American Economic Association, has increased by 14%, while the number of available jobs for economics Ph.D.s, fell by 10% last year. The main reason: university funding is drying up, causing the number of available slots for economics Ph.D.s to fall. At the same time, the number of positions demanded by the public sector--as well as Wall Street banks--has diminished.

Few people in Britain, however, seem to want to join the ranks of economists, as the discipline is seen as a dead-end field, unless studied and practiced in the US. At the same time, the demand for economic analysis in the private sector in Britain has caused the number of economists hired there to increase significantly.

(Updated October, 2003)