The Most Influential Economics Departments

Stanford looks poised to become the top economics department -

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-10/this-new-study-questions-a-key-assumption-central-bankers-make-about-themselves

Most influential economics departments:

Noah Smith suggests University of California – Berkeley

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-07-30/econ-101-chicago-m-i-t-nope-berkeley-s-on-top

Paul Krugman considers MIT economics department to be the most influential in the world:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/24/opinion/paul-krugman-the-mit-gang.html

More recently, some of the younger and more innovative departments in Europe have been doing quite well:
http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21632506-tale-two-french-economists-and-their-rival-schools-toulouse-v-paris