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<p>So a star economist moved from (according to USNews) the #9 ranked economics department to the #14 ranked department. I don’t see why that would be shocking. Academics don’t really care about laymen’s prestige. They care about departmental prestige, which Wisconsin has. </p>
<p>Now, if a star Penn economist decided to head for, say, Southwest Missouri State, then that would be a different story.</p>