Globalization of U.S. Higher Education

Greg Mankiw has a post today "MBA vs. PhD" responding to a question about career options and earning potential with a Ph.D. in economics compared to an MBA degree.

There is a link to this report "The Market for New Ph.D. Economists in 2002," which contains the data in the chart above (click to enlarge) for the percent of foreign students in economics doctoral programs in the U.S. Isn't it interesting that 30 years ago, U.S. citizens made up 2/3 of the economics students in Ph.D. programs, and in 2000 international students made up almost 2/3 of the students!

Also interesting is the fact that the median time to get a Ph.D. in economics was 7 years in 2000, compared to 5.7 years in 1976.

Here are the stats on Harvard MBAs, including median starting salaries in 2006 ($105,000).