Is a Doctorate in Economics Too Dry for Its Own Good?

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The Depression inspired thousands of young people to become economists. The War on Poverty and the Great Society in the 1960s were similarly inspiring, and the upheavals today should be, too. What more noble work, after all, than coming to understand, and perhaps alleviate, the wage stagnation, the global pressures, the layoffs, the job insecurities and the long working days that weigh on so many people.

But, in fact, fewer and fewer Americans are entering graduate programs and seeking careers in economics.

The Depression made a hero of John Maynard Keynes, the British economist whose prescriptions for reviving the economy -- and softening capitalism -- seemed so …