Did Joshua Brock Mendel graduate in 2013? If so where is he finally employed? Private or Academic?
"I'm a second year PhD student in Harvard Economics, did my undergrad at Berkeley. For readers unfamiliar with the inside-baseball, Berkeley is ranked somewhere in the 3-6 range, while Harvard and MIT duke it out over the 1 and 2 slots.
"I was always impressed by the grad students in the Berkeley econ department, but as a group they're just not in the same league as my classmates here. The drop-off in input quality when you leave 02138/9 is pretty steep, and it must be even steeper when you look past the top 6-10. I mean this in the least arrogant way possible.
"The consensus is that most of the value-added comes from interacting with your classmates, so the peer effects are dominant. In terms of teaching, I actually found the Berkeley faculty put in more effort, but the courses here are at a higher level. (Since Raj moved, there's a DiD estimator available...)
"I can't speak to the quality of the advising elsewhere, but the dominance of the top schools self-perpetuates pretty easily. Because 2/3 of the faculty at the top 6 went to Harvard or MIT, any potential advisor I end up with has personal relationships with members of the faculty anywhere I'll be applying for a job. It's a comforting thought."
Is he on the market? Will his job search be hampered by having a restraining order against him?