Economics Department Rankings By Publications

The discipline of economics, as both an academic pursuit and a field of policy analysis, is shaped by the contributions of research departments at leading universities worldwide. These departments serve as critical centers for generating new knowledge, refining theoretical frameworks, and applying empirical methods to real-world problems. In the context of the economics profession, the number of published pages in top academic journals often serves as a tangible indicator of scholarly output and departmental productivity. As an important benchmark, a ranking based on the total pages published by economics departments in leading journals from 1984 to 1993 sheds light on which institutions were at the forefront of economic research during this period.

Harvard University, with its total of 6,867.1 pages published in top economics journals between 1984 and 1993, tops this list. Harvard’s dominance in this ranking reflects its long-standing position as a leader in the economics field. Over the decades, Harvard has fostered a culture of intellectual rigor and interdisciplinary collaboration that has allowed its faculty to produce influential research across a range of economic subfields. From macroeconomics to microeconomics, labor economics to development economics, Harvard has been home to numerous Nobel laureates and other highly influential scholars who have fundamentally shaped economic theory and policy. The university’s resources, both in terms of financial support and intellectual capital, have enabled it to attract top talent from around the world, ensuring that its economics department remains at the cutting edge of academic research.

The significant number of pages published by Harvard economists is also a testament to the university’s strong institutional commitment to research. Harvard’s economics department is known for its emphasis on both theoretical and empirical analysis. Faculty members often publish in top-tier journals such as the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, and Quarterly Journal of Economics, among others. Harvard’s ability to combine theoretical innovation with empirical rigor has contributed to its consistent output of high-impact research. Furthermore, Harvard's location in Cambridge, Massachusetts, allows for close collaboration with policy-making institutions, such as the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, which further enriches its research ecosystem.

Second on the list is the University of Chicago, with 6,767.2 pages published during the same period. Chicago’s economics department is renowned for its strong empirical orientation and its commitment to free-market principles. The university has produced an array of influential scholars, many of whom are associated with what is known as the "Chicago School" of economics. This school of thought advocates for minimal government intervention in markets, emphasizing the importance of market forces in promoting economic efficiency and individual freedom. The Chicago School’s focus on rigorous empirical testing and its challenge to Keynesian economics have had a profound and lasting impact on economic thought.

Chicago’s high ranking in this list reflects not only the productivity of its faculty but also the department’s commitment to advancing cutting-edge research. The economics department at the University of Chicago has been home to many Nobel Prize-winning economists, including Milton Friedman, Gary Becker, and Robert Lucas, whose works have influenced economic policy around the world. The department’s focus on applied microeconomics, econometrics, and macroeconomic theory, combined with its interdisciplinary approach to research, has allowed it to maintain a prominent position in global economic discourse.

The University of Pennsylvania (Penn), with a total of 5,734.6 pages, ranks third on the list. While Penn’s economics department may not enjoy the same global name recognition as Harvard or Chicago, its research output and intellectual influence are nonetheless significant. Penn has long been known for its strong focus on microeconomics, econometrics, and finance. In particular, the Wharton School, which is part of the University of Pennsylvania, is one of the leading centers for research on business economics and finance. This focus on applied economics has resulted in significant contributions to the understanding of markets, financial systems, and organizational behavior.

Penn’s consistent output of research, reflected in its high ranking in the total pages published category, also highlights the department’s commitment to academic excellence. Penn’s faculty is renowned for its quantitative approach to economics, emphasizing the use of econometric methods to test economic theories against real-world data. This empirical orientation, combined with the department’s strong academic resources and collaborative environment, has allowed Penn to produce a substantial body of influential research.

Following closely behind is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which ranks fourth with 5,387.8 pages published. MIT’s economics department is renowned for its contributions to both theory and applied economics, and it has long been a leader in fields such as macroeconomics, labor economics, and game theory. MIT is also known for its strong focus on mathematical and computational methods in economics, which has enabled its faculty to develop innovative models to explain complex economic phenomena. Economists at MIT, such as Paul Samuelson, Robert Solow, and more recently, Esther Duflo, have had a profound influence on economic thinking and policy.

The department’s research output is supported by MIT’s interdisciplinary approach, where economists frequently collaborate with scholars in other fields, such as political science, engineering, and the natural sciences. This broad intellectual approach has helped MIT remain a leader in economic research, producing high-impact publications in top-tier journals. MIT’s ability to combine technical sophistication with a focus on real-world issues has contributed to its strong performance in the ranking based on published pages.

Northwestern University, with 5,175.8 pages, ranks fifth. Northwestern’s economics department has earned a strong reputation for its research in microeconomics, industrial organization, and applied econometrics. The department is home to several influential economists whose work has had a lasting impact on the understanding of market structure, competition, and consumer behavior. Northwestern’s emphasis on rigorous empirical analysis and its strong connections to the broader academic and business communities have made it one of the leading economics departments in the United States.

In sixth place is Stanford University, with 4,971.6 pages published. Stanford’s economics department has long been a center for research on topics such as economic theory, political economy, and development economics. Like many of the other departments on this list, Stanford has produced a significant number of influential economists, including several Nobel laureates. Stanford’s emphasis on interdisciplinary research and its connections to Silicon Valley have allowed its economists to focus on topics that are directly relevant to the modern global economy, such as technology, innovation, and the economics of information. This focus on cutting-edge issues, combined with Stanford’s strong academic reputation, has contributed to its high ranking in terms of research output.

Princeton University, with 4,434.4 pages, ranks seventh. Princeton’s economics department is known for its focus on theoretical economics, and its faculty members have made significant contributions to fields such as macroeconomic theory, econometrics, and economic growth. Princeton’s relatively small size compared to some of the larger institutions on this list has allowed it to maintain a close-knit academic community, where faculty and students work together on research that addresses both fundamental and applied economic questions.

The University of Michigan, with 3,867.7 pages, and the University of California, Berkeley, with 3,863.1 pages, follow in eighth and ninth place, respectively. Both of these departments have strong research outputs, with Michigan being known for its work in labor economics, industrial organization, and environmental economics, and Berkeley excelling in areas such as macroeconomics, international trade, and development economics. The Department of Economics at UCLA, with 3,805.8 pages, rounds out the top ten. UCLA’s department has made substantial contributions to areas such as public finance, applied microeconomics, and urban economics.

The ranking of economics departments based on the number of pages published in academic journals between 1984 and 1993 offers a valuable snapshot of scholarly activity during this period. While it does not account for the broader impact of individual papers or the quality of research, it provides an indication of which institutions were producing the most research in terms of volume. The universities at the top of the list—Harvard, Chicago, Penn, MIT, Northwestern, and others—have been at the forefront of economic scholarship, shaping the direction of the field through their sustained productivity and intellectual contributions. These institutions have not only fostered an environment that supports cutting-edge research but have also played a key role in shaping policy debates and influencing the broader economic landscape. Their ability to generate high-quality research consistently has ensured that they remain leaders in the field of economics to this day.

The following ranking of Economics Departments can be found in Economic Inquiry April 1996. It ranks on the basis of total pages in journals per economics department member.

University, Total Pages 1984-93
1 Harvard 6867.1
2 Chicago 6767.2
3 Penn 5734.6
4 MIT 5387.8
5 Northwestern 5175.8
6 Stanford 4971.6
7 Princeton 4434.4
8 Michigan 3867.7
9 Berkeley 3863.1
10 UCLA 3805.8
11 Yale 3574.2
12 Columbia 3539.1
13 NYU 2732.0
14 Rochester 2717.7
15 Wisconsin 2642.9
16 Carnegie-Mellon 2612.5
17 Cornell 2602.2
18 Duke 2557.6
19 Illinois 2366.4
20 Minnesota 2100.8
21 Ohio State 2092.4
22 Indiana 1913.5
23 Maryland 1882.0
24 Texas 1876.2
25 USC 1833.9
26 U. of Washington 1666.8
27 Boston University 1617.8
28 UC-Davis 1597.2
29 UC-San Diego 1512.8
30 Michigan State 1491.2
31 Florida 1462.9
32 Virginia 1417.1
33 Texas A&M 1406.6
34 Iowa 1331.3
35 Penn State 1327.1
36 North Carolina State 1301.8
37 Rutgers 1237.8
38 LSU 1121.6
39 UNC 1113.4
40 Brown 1112.1
41 VPI 1094.6
42 Arizona State 1082.4
43 Georgia 1051.7
44 Vanderbilt 1004.1
45 Houston 977.0
46 Pittsburgh 975.9
47 Washington University 965.3
48 Johns Hopkins 907.3
49 Arizona 905.8
50 Calif. Inst. of Tech. 878.4
51 George Mason 856.8
52 Dartmouth 852.8
53 UC-Santa Barbara 852.3
54 Purdue 844.1
55 Boston College 780.6
56 Clemson 778.9
57 UC-Irvine 774.7
58 SMU 768.0
59 Colorado 760.6
60 Oregon 748.3
61 Kentuckv 735.5
62 Georgetown 707.5
63 Florida State 676.8
64 Tennessee 644.3
65 Iowa State 642.0
66 Illinois-Chicago 634.5
67 SUNY-Stony Brook 605.4
68 George Washington 600.8
69 SUNY-Buffalo 589.8
70 CUNY 583.9
71 SUNY-Albany 575.0
72 Kansas 558.1
73 Tufts 554.0
74 Connecticut 551.7
75 Rice 536.4
76 Wayne State 534.9
77 Massachusetts 525.1
78 South Carolina 519.9
79 Delaware 495.0
80 Syracuse 494.1
81 Auburn 492.8
82 Emory 484.4
83 Georgia State 478.9
84 Alabama 455.7
85 University of Miami 451.1
86 Wyoming 443.7
87 Temple 422.5
88 Wisconsin-Milwuakee 420.8
89 Southern Illinois 412.9
90 Brigham Young University 411.2
91 UC-Santa Cruz 408.2
92 Utah 381.4
93 Illinois State 380.0
94 Brandeis 367.3
95 Miami-Ohio 366.5
96 Tulane 363.1
97 Washington State 344.1
98 University of Santa Clara 330.1
99 Montana State 325.7
100 Hawaii 322.6