Becoming an Economist: A Database of French Economics PhDs

This database compiles information on Ph.D. dissertations in economics defended in France since 1900. See our companion website for news and full documentation.

The French database is implemented as a relational database that integrates multiple interconnected data frames. It is organized around four main components:

• Thesis Metadata: This table contains the core information for each dissertation. Each entry corresponds to a single thesis and includes details such as the title, defense date, abstract, and other relevant metadata.
• Edges Data: This table captures the connections between the other three tables, linking individuals, institutions, and theses. It associates each thesis with the individuals and institutions involved in its production, thereby enabling a synthetized view of these relationships. The edges data are provided in two formats: (1) a ready-to-use format with cleaned and standardized information; and (2) a more   extensive format that allows for comparison between the original  collected data and the results of the cleaning process.
• Institutions Data: This table includes information on universities, laboratories, doctoral schools, and other institutions associated with the dissertations. Each entry corresponds to a single institution.
• Individual Data: This table contains information on the individuals involved in the dissertations, including authors, supervisors, and jury members. Each entry corresponds to a single individual.

The data used in this project comes from three mains sources: 

• Theses.fr: https://theses.fr/
• Sudoc:  https://www.sudoc.fr/
• IdRef:  https://www.idref.fr/

If you use our data or scripts, please cite the following reference: “Delcey Thomas, and Aurélien Goutsmedt. (2024). Becoming an Economist: A Database of French Economics PhDs. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14541427”