http://www.cocomment.com/comments/thefreefood Copyright 2007 coComment.com 2009-11-24T18:31:41.777+01:00 http://www.cocomment.com/images/logo4rss.gif http://www.cocomment.com/sidebar?object=people&context=explore&mode=detail&id=thefreefood&conv=539685&comment_id=10123939 Lee GVV: The big money-making opportunities for economists are not so much for "think tank money-spinners" as for litigation consultants in areas of finance, intellectual property economics, industrial organization, transfer pricing, government regulation, and pretty much anything else that can become the subject of a lawsuit. Sure, a lawyer or a well-trained non-famous economist can probably explain the relevant economic theory, but when it comes time to put an "expert witness" on the stand, highly successful economists have extensive CVs. In a topic like finance where a layperson is likely to have little knowledge, the value of the work presented at trial is largely contingent on the perceived reliability of the person presenting it. Essentially, the marginal value of an economist's consulting work accumulates over time, but the marginal value of an economist's academic work doesn't accumulate in the same way. Academic work is a complement to litigation work, but litigation work is a poor substitute for academic work, since the law values well-tested and well-accepted theories, while academia values new and groundbreaking research. Thus, it's relatively easy to woo top economists away from their academic pursuits with high-paying consulting work. 2007-03-10T19:29:15.494+01:00 2007-03-10T19:29:15.494+01:00