Thanks DeRemer --- I think this problem you identify re the summer schools and funding is a huge one, but that US arrogance, well, that's intractable....
I had some similar experiences when I did summer schools in Europe (age 28 after 3rd year of PhD). I was also the only American, though there were a couple Europeans in US PhD programs. At the time, I'd only been to Europe twice as a tourist and thought it was absurd to specialize in international economics while barely having ever left the US.
Probably main reasons for fewer American participation are (1) funding — I was able to fund mine with as part of a faculty member's NSF IGERT grant, and all these European programs had tuition fees. I also did a US summer school where I only needed to fund travel costs. (2) need — summer schools are good to gain exposure to methodological or research frontiers that may not be available in your graduate instruction, but some may feel satisfied with the instruction they've had already (3) phony hierarchy — lots of US Econ PhD students may think they're better than Europe, before they learn better.
Now 14 years later, I've lived & worked in Belgium, Hungary, and Kazakhstan, and the popularity of Friends to practice English is universal. Everyone in Europe knows the lyrics to the 1995 song Lemon Tree by the German band Fools Garden, because it is widely used in English instruction.
Thanks DeRemer --- I think this problem you identify re the summer schools and funding is a huge one, but that US arrogance, well, that's intractable....
I had some similar experiences when I did summer schools in Europe (age 28 after 3rd year of PhD). I was also the only American, though there were a couple Europeans in US PhD programs. At the time, I'd only been to Europe twice as a tourist and thought it was absurd to specialize in international economics while barely having ever left the US.
Probably main reasons for fewer American participation are (1) funding — I was able to fund mine with as part of a faculty member's NSF IGERT grant, and all these European programs had tuition fees. I also did a US summer school where I only needed to fund travel costs. (2) need — summer schools are good to gain exposure to methodological or research frontiers that may not be available in your graduate instruction, but some may feel satisfied with the instruction they've had already (3) phony hierarchy — lots of US Econ PhD students may think they're better than Europe, before they learn better.
Now 14 years later, I've lived & worked in Belgium, Hungary, and Kazakhstan, and the popularity of Friends to practice English is universal. Everyone in Europe knows the lyrics to the 1995 song Lemon Tree by the German band Fools Garden, because it is widely used in English instruction.