Introduction Practices 1

Foreign Students in U.S. DoctoralPrograms

The growing presence of foreign students in U.S. doctoral programs in economics is an indication of a trend toward internationalization of economics (Coats, 1997). Although the number of doctorates has remained relatively stable over the last quarter century (at approximately 800 degrees annually), the proportion of these doctorates conferred on foreign students has increased from 20.5 percent (183 in total) in 1972 to 43 percent (368) in 1988 (Bowen and Rudenstine, 1992, p. 378). Our own survey of 51 Ph.D. programs in economics, to be described below, indicated that 52 percent of the doctoral students in economics were foreigners in 1995–96. The share of foreign students receiving doctorates is much higher in economics than in the social or physical sciences, but lower than that in engineering fields (National Science Foundation, 1987, xii). - Move 1 by discussing background essential to understanding a problem

Some studies have examined the general flow of foreign students to the United States, or their fate upon returning to their countries (Barber, 1985; Goodwin and Nacht, 1986; NSF, 1987). But to our knowledge, only a few inquiries have considered foreign doctoral students in U.S. economics programs. Among them are Rao (1995) and Montecinos and Aslanbeigui (1997), which discuss the issues of timeto-completion and foreign students’ choice of country of residence. Valde´s (1995) has analyzed the trajectory of the ‘‘Chicago Boys’’ in Chile. - Move 2
by indicatin a gap in previous research

In this article, we use data from our survey as well as evidence from other sources to present a profile of foreign students in U.S. doctoral programs; to explore the factors behind the growing internationalization of U.S. graduate economics education; to shed light on foreign students’ interests, career plans and assessment of the training they are receiving; and to draw attention to implications and questions for further research in this area. - Move 3