哈佛經濟學者Dani Rodrik在他的部落格寫了一段話，關於讀博士的意義。他是哈佛甘乃迪學院中一個國際發展碩士課程的主任，這個program就是要培養人去政策機構或者NGO從事關於第三世界發展的工作。所以這個對話脈絡是，如果你想從事這樣的工作，並且你相信知識是重要的話，那麼念博士是不是需要的。

我也遇到很多對政策研究有興趣朋友有同樣的困惑，甚至自己也常常有所疑惑。
看看他的話，似乎有點道理。

"in my experience, though, too many students who are interested in making a difference in the real world go on to the Ph.D--and for the wrong reason. As I always tell students asking me for advice on this, the only good reason to want to do a Ph.D. is that you want to be an assistant professor at some academic institution. If you want to deepen your knowledge or enhance your credentials, go and work out there for four or five years (past a high-quality master's program), and you will be infinitely more ready to rise up in the world than if you had spent that time doing a Ph.D. And having done well in a master's program, or having enjoyed it, is no guarantee that you are suited to a Ph.D. program. "