The Economist as Dean: An Investigation of the Academic Training of Business School Deans

摘要

This paper finds that the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business-accredited business school deans in the United States are trained as economists at a disproportionately high rate. This paper searches for the reasons behind this seemingly contrarian finding. The research finds no evidence that economist deans differ significantly in background or personal characteristics from the non-economist deans. Demand- and supply-side theories to explain this finding are presented along with interviews with a sample of the business school deans.