My name is Walt. I'll be starting a PhD Economics program in the fall. I've just completed a MA Economics at another university (actually received the eDGe from my wife as a combination birthday/graduation gift last month). In between undergrad and graduate school, I worked for a number of years as a purchasing agent for an electrical contractor--decent money, but I was bored out of my mind and started couldn't stop worrying about being laid off, so I resigned in 2008 to earn my MA (while taking as much Math as a possibly could) in order to get myself in a position to get a funded offer from a Top 30(ish) Economics program. My research interests lie at the intersection of economics and political science (my undergraduate major), so my fields of specialization will be some flavor of applied micro and public. I have absolutely no interest in finance or macro (I want to study a social science, not theology). My funding for years 2-4 comes from a US Department of Education grant (thank you to all the hardworking taxpayers out there), which will focus my research on Economics of Education (which was actually the topic of my MA thesis). My goal is to complete the PhD and be a university professor.

In August, I'll celebrate my 5th anniversary with my wife and we will have known each other for 12 years in September (we met first day of college). No kids, but we do have 4 cats. She is a high school French teacher. The toughest part about starting the PhD program in the midwest is that she will be staying in California because her job out here is tenured, while the current state fiscal crisis makes finding a teacher job all but impossible. Hopefully she'll be able to join me next year. No kids yet, but we do have 4 cats.