Anderson left Harvard before getting his PhD because he came to view the field much as Boykin does—as an intellectual pursuit of diminishing returns. But that’s not the case on the internet. “Implicit in ‘the internet’ is the scope, the coverage of it,” Anderson says. “It makes opportunities are much greater, but it also enriches the challenge space, the problem space. There is intellectual upside.”
Was thinking of pursuing masters/PhD in economics but have heard/read a lot along the same lines of an intellectual pursuit with diminishing returns both in terms of salary and real world impact.
The most useful thing I've done on Twitter is follow a bunch of economists and professors who are constantly debating current econ thinking/papers. There are a few I really respect, but for the most part both the academic environment for PhD level economists seems kind of toxic to me as an outsider.
Been thinking a lot recently about how my generation (I'm 24) is going to have to be a lot more practical due to economic realities...