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Doctor of Philosophy in Economics

Department of Economics

Program Requirements

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Doctor of Philosophy in Economics

Program description.

The PhD in Economics degree program provides a cutting-edge education in economic theories and the development of a rigorous toolkit of mathematical and econometric techniques. Students also gain extensive exposure to various research areas in economics that allow them to think critically about how to approach the analysis of economic problems and contribute to the knowledge base of the discipline. The program is particularly strong in the areas of public economics, applied microeconomics, macroeconomics, data analysis, and the economics of conflict.

Career Opportunities

Graduates of the program seek positions such as: academic, data analyst, economist in financial institutions, management firms, and consulting firms both in private and domestic sector, academics and researcher and government positions (the Federal Reserve banks, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census Bureau, Social Security Administration and Federal Trade Commission.)

Application Requirements

Degree requirements:  Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university.

GPA:  Minimum GPA of 3.25 in upper-division and graduate course work in economics and related courses.

Test score required:  Yes

The minimum quantitative score is 158 with students averaging 163 on the quantitative score and 150 of the verbal score. The program does not accept GMAT scores as a substitute for GRE scores.

Letters of recommendation:  3

Applicants must submit three letters of recommendation from individuals who can judge the candidate’s probability of success in graduate school. Use the electronic request form in the graduate application to submit the letters. Contact the graduate academic program department if you have any questions.

Admissions essay required:  Yes

A one-page essay outlining the applicant’s background, reasons for choosing UT Dallas, prior educational experiences, and personal objectives.

Deadlines:  University  deadlines  apply.

Contact Information

Judy Du Graduate Program Administrator Email: [email protected] Phone: 972-883-4964 Office: GR 2.808

Degree Information Dr. Seth Giertz Director of Graduate Studies Email: [email protected] Phone: 972-883-6234 Office: GR 2.244

EPPS Advising The University of Texas at Dallas 800 W Campbell Rd, GR 31 Richardson, TX 75080-3021 [email protected]

epps.utdallas.edu/

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We have received your request for more information, and thank you for your interest! We are excited to get to know you and for you to explore UT Dallas. You’ll begin receiving emails and information about our beautiful campus, excellent academic programs and admission processes. If you have any questions, email  [email protected].

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Doctoral Program

The Ph.D. program is a full time program leading to a Doctoral Degree in Economics.  Students specialize in various fields within Economics by enrolling in field courses and attending field specific lunches and seminars.  Students gain economic breadth by taking additional distribution courses outside of their selected fields of interest.

General requirements

Students  are required to complete 1 quarter of teaching experience. Teaching experience includes teaching assistantships within the Economics department or another department .

University's residency requirement

135 units of full-tuition residency are required for PhD students. After that, a student should have completed all course work and must request Terminal Graduate Registration (TGR) status.

Department degree requirements and student checklist

1. core course requirement.

Required: Core Microeconomics (202-203-204) Core Macroeconomics (210-211-212) Econometrics (270-271-272).  The Business School graduate microeconomics class series may be substituted for the Econ Micro Core.  Students wishing to waive out of any of the first year core, based on previous coverage of at least 90% of the material,  must submit a waiver request to the DGS at least two weeks prior to the start of the quarter.  A separate waiver request must be submitted for each course you are requesting to waive.  The waiver request must include a transcript and a syllabus from the prior course(s) taken.  

2.  Field Requirements

Required:  Two of the Following Fields Chosen as Major Fields (click on link for specific field requirements).  Field sequences must be passed with an overall grade average of B or better.  Individual courses require a letter grade of B- or better to pass unless otherwise noted.

Research fields and field requirements :

• Behavioral & Experimental
• Development Economics
• Econometric Methods with Causal Inference
• Econometrics
• Economic History
• Environmental, Resource and Energy Economics
• Industrial Organization
• International Trade & Finance
• Labor Economics
• Market Design
• Microeconomic Theory
• Macroeconomics
• Political Economy
• Public Economics

3.  Distribution

Required:  Four other graduate-level courses must be completed. One of these must be from the area of economic history (unless that field has already been selected above). These courses must be distributed in such a way that at least two fields not selected above are represented.  Distribution courses must be passed with a grade of B or better.

4.  Field Seminars/Workshops

Required:  Three quarters of two different field seminars or six quarters of the same field seminar from the list below.   

Doctor of Philosophy in Economics

• Fall January 10

International students may need to surpass the Graduate School’s minimum English language proficiency exam scores for this program. If the graduate program has unique score requirements, they will be detailed below. Otherwise, please refer to the Graduate School’s minimum score guidelines.

Degree Description:

The PhD in Economics is designed to prepare students for careers as professional economists in academia, government, and the private sector. The program is structured so that a student with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and an appointment as a graduate assistant should be able to complete the required coursework within three academic years, excluding summer sessions. Students with a Master of Arts in Applied Economics degree may be able to complete the required coursework in less time, depending on the content and quality of the previous work. The length of time required to complete the dissertation varies greatly but students usually complete the entire program, including the dissertation, within four years.

Admission Requirements:

Statement of Purpose, Three letters of recommendation, CV, GRE, Unofficial Transcripts

Student Opportunities:

The collaboration between students and professors is really close, our offices are often next to each other, and it is common for professors to coauthor papers with PhD students, which turn into journal publications. In the last years, coauthored papers with our students were published in journals such as BE Journal of Macroeconomics, Economic Inquiry ,  Canadian Journal of Economics ,  Journal of Environmental Economics and Management , and  Economic Letters , among others. In addition, the environment between students and professors is very collegial, and we meet once a week (normally after seminars) for drinks in a more relaxed environment.

We fund around 80% of admitted students, who receive graduate assistantships from our School. The rest of students are often funded by governments in their home countries, or foundations, such as the Fulbright or the Soros Foundations.

Career Opportunities:

Professional Economists in academia, government, and the private sector

Career Placements:

Health Research Scientist, Texas A&M Assistant Professor, Eastern Washington University Economist and Research Fellow, Center for Disease Control in Atlanta

Contact Information:

• Jaimie Dahl, Asst. to the Director, & Graduate Coordinator [email protected]
• Jeffrey Luckstead, Associate Professor, & Graduate Studies Chair [email protected]

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Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Economics

About the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Economics

UNSW’s Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Economics is offered by one of the world's top institutions in Economics (ranked 42nd in QS Subject Rankings - 2023) and will equip you with the expertise needed to become a globally focused and socially engaged researcher. 

You’ll be joining a cohort of high-achieving research students in tackling modern-day challenges at the forefront of economics, working alongside leaders in the field. This is your opportunity to become integrated into the UNSW Business School’s community of scholars.

The program is comprised of two components. You’ll begin by undertaking rigorous coursework covering microeconomic and macroeconomic theory, econometrics and applied economic analysis. As part of your doctoral program, you’ll also be involved in research projects even from an early stage. This research training will equip you with the skills required to identify, analyse and solve problems in the field. 

You’ll then pursue independent research under the supervision of high-profile UNSW academics, culminating in a doctoral thesis. Your PhD thesis will allow you to showcase your research skills and enable you to make an original contribution to the field of Economics. There will also be exciting opportunities throughout to interact with industry leaders, and to develop your teaching portfolio.

Our training is geared toward preparing you for a career in academia, although other career paths (e.g., consulting, government, industry, non-profit) are also enabled.

The vast majority of our higher degree research students are supported through a tuition waiver and stipend of around A$35-45K per year.

Before formally applying or contacting potential supervisors, you must complete an Expression of Interest (EOI) by sending the required material to [email protected] . Please read the "Instructions for Applicants" section below.

PhD program structure

Stream 1: 1-year of masters’ coursework + 3-year phd program (fully funded for coursework and phd).

Key Information:

• 1-year of Masters’ Coursework + 3-year PhD Program (fully funded both for coursework and PhD)
• The program starts in Term 1 (early February)
• No part-time option is available

Year One: Master of Pre-Doctoral Business Studies (MPDBS)

Year one will equip you with the skills required to identify, analyse and solve problems in the field, while helping you formulate your research agenda and identify potential thesis supervisors for the PhD component of the program. 

You will undertake coursework covering microeconomic and macroeconomic theory, econometrics and applied economic analysis. You’ll also have the opportunity to develop practical research skills by assisting in research projects. Upon successful completion of the first year, you’ll be awarded a Master of Pre-Doctoral Business Studies. 

A brief overview of the first year is presented below. Please visit the UNSW Handbook for full course structure details.

• Term 1:  COMM8100  + ECON7001  +  ECON7004
• Term 2:  COMM8102  +  ECON7002  + Research Assistance Work
• Term 3:  COMM8103  +  ECON7101  +  ECON7102

Year Two: Specialised Coursework and Identification of Thesis Topic

Year two will help you in further developing skills specialized towards dealing with the challenges relevant to your research topic. You’ll continue in the Economics stream with a further year of advanced coursework. 

You’ll choose up to eight additional research courses from a range of electives in consultation with your supervisor and PGRC, with the opportunity to take subjects outside of your specialised discipline. In year two, you’ll also be identifying your thesis topic with the aid of your supervisor. 

You’ll engage in literature review and research design and present your research proposal to the School of Economics at the end of the year.

Years Three – Four: Original Research and Your Doctoral Thesis

In the final three years of the program, you will be focused on conducting full-time research and completing your doctoral thesis. 

This is your opportunity to address some of the biggest challenges at the frontier of Economics and make a significant contribution to the field. Your research will offer new ways of critical thinking and withstand critical analysis from expert researchers in the area.

Stream 2: Direct Entry into the 3-year PhD Program

• Direct Entry into the 3-year PhD Program
• Note: it requires outside scholarship (or ARC Funding Support from your selected supervisor) AND a degree in Economics with research component (e.g., First-class Honours or Master’s in Economics) 
• You are expected to start in Term 1 (early February)
• A part-time option may be available (subject to approval)

Year One: Coursework and Identification of Thesis Topic

Year one will equip you with skills required to identify, analyse and solve problems relevant to your research topic.

You’ll choose up to eight research courses from a range of electives in consultation with your supervisor and PGRC, with an opportunity to take subjects outside of your specialised discipline.

These will include the four core courses listed below (unless you are exempted from taking them). You’ll also be identifying your thesis topic with the aid of your supervisor.

You’ll engage in literature review and research design and present your research proposal to the School of Economics at the end of the year. 

• Term 1:  ECON7001  +  ECON7004
• Term 2:  COMM8102  +  ECON7002

Years Two – Three: Original Research and Your Doctoral Thesis

In the final three years of the program, you will be focused on conducting full-time research and completing your doctoral thesis.

This is your opportunity to address some of the biggest challenges at the frontier of Economics and make a significant contribution to the field.

Your research will offer new ways of critical thinking and withstand critical analysis from expert researchers in the area.

Instructions for Applicants

Before formally applying or contacting potential supervisors, you need to complete the Expression of Interest (EOI) process by sending the following material to [email protected] . The EOI process opens 27 May  and closes 26 August . Only selected applicants will be invited to apply via the UNSW central portal.  

Important: make sure that you satisfy the UNSW academic and language entry requirements before submitting your EOI. Please read the Entry Requirements  section below. 

Subject: MPDBS Application

• Your name, citizenship, and whether you are a citizen or permanent resident of Australia.
• Your degree(s), institution(s) and year(s) of completion of previous studies.
• A list of advanced economics, mathematics and statistics courses taken and the grades you obtained for these courses.
• Names of two references (recommendation letter writers) and their contact details (e.g., affiliation, title, email).
• Names of two academics you wish to work with at UNSW.
• Three to five academic papers you have recently read that relevant for your research interest.

Attachments (in PDF):

• Your academic CV.
• Your official academic transcripts from previous degree(s).
• Your official GRE results.
• A research proposal or statement of purpose.
• If applicable, proof of your English Language requirement.

Subject: Direct Entry PhD Application

• A description of your Honours or Master’s thesis.
• Your funding source: outside scholarship, external grant, or support from potential supervisor.
• A copy of your Honours or Master’s thesis.

Academic Entry Requirement

The minimum academic entry requirement for Stream 1 is the equivalent of a four-year UNSW Bachelor’s degree in a relevant discipline (Economics, Finance, and related subjects) with first or upper second class honours. The minimum academic entry requirement for Stream 2 is the equivalent of a four-year UNSW Bachelor’s degree with an Honours year (research), or the equivalent of a UNSW Masters’ degree with substantial research component with first or upper second class honours.

Note: an upper second class honours is equivalent to a weighted average mark of at least 75/100 (i.e., a Distinction) at UNSW and is allocated to roughly the top 30% of students. Grading systems vary across countries. For more information, read this guide for grade equivalencies between countries .

If you are unsure if you satisfy the academic entry requirement, contact us at [email protected] and we will provide feedback.

English Language Requirement

UNSW recognises the follow countries as English-speaking: American Samoa, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Canada, Fiji, Gibraltar, Ghana, Guyana, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa, The Gambia, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom (including Northern Ireland), United States of America, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

If you are not a citizen of an English-speaking country, then you will need to establish that you have sufficient English language fluency. There are four ways to establish sufficient English language fluency: English Tests (including IELTS, TOEFL, Pearson and Cambridge), UNSW Global English Course, Prior Study, or an English Waiver. For details on each of these, please review our English language requirements .

• University of Bologna, Department of Economics, Research Fellow
• The National University of Singapore, Asia Competitiveness Institute, Research Fellow
• Monash University, Centre for Global Business, Research Fellow
• University of Oxford, Magdalen College, Research Fellow, then ETH Zurich, Department of Management, Technology and Economics, Assistant Professor
• Shenzhen Research Institute of Big Data, Research Fellow
• Monash University, Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics, Research Fellow
• The University of Melbourne, School of Mathematics and Statistics (Lecturer)
• University of New South Wales, CEPAR, Research Fellow
• University of Sydney, School of Economics, Research Fellow
• Wuhan University, Economics and Management School, Assistant Professor
• Australian National University, ANU College of Business and Economics, Associate Lecturer
• East China University of Science and Technology, School of Business, Lecturer
• University of Toronto, Department of Economics, Research Fellow
• South China Normal University, School of Economics and Management, Lecturer
• University of Sydney, Research Fellow, then University of Technological Sydney, Economics Discipline, Chancellor's Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
• University of Geneva, Faculty of History, Economics and Society, Research Fellow, then South Mediterranean University, Mediterranean School of Business, Assistant Professor
• Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, School of Public Administration, Associate Professor
• International University of Japan, Graduate School of International Relations, Assistant Professor
• University of New South Wales, School of Economics, Research Fellow
• Shanghai Tech University, School of Entrepreneurship and Management, Assistant Professor
• University of Bath, Department of Economics, Lecturer
• Sun-yat Sen University, Department of Economics, Assistant Professor 
• University of Technology Sydney, Research Fellow, then Macquarie University, Centre for the Health Economy, Honorary Research Fellow
• Zurich University of Applied Sciences, ZHAW, Research Fellow
• Jinan University, Institute for Economic and Social Research, Assistant Professor
• University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, Research Fellow
• Curtin University, School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Lecturer, then Macquarie University, Macquarie Business School, Lecturer
• University of Technology Sydney, CHERE, Research Fellow
• University of Peradeniya, Department of Agricultural Economics and Business Management, Professor
• University of Technology Sydney, CHERE, Senior Research Fellow
• Monash University, Centre for Health Economics, Research Fellow
• Monash University, Monash Business School, Research Fellow
• UNSW, School of Economics, Research Fellow
• Durham University, Business School, Lecturer
• UCL Australia, Faculty of Engineering Science, Lecturer
• Shandong University, School of Economics, Assistant Professor
• University of Sydney, Charles Perkins Centre, Research Fellow
• University of Mannheim, Department of Economics, Research Fellow, then Monash University, School of Economics, Lecturer
• University of Tasmania, Tasmanian School of Business and Economics, Lecturer
• City University of London, Department of Economics, Lecturer
• Shangdong University, School of Economics, Lecturer
• Fukushima University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Associate Professor

Your PhD will set you on the path to a career in a premier research institution, anywhere in the world. Throughout your research degree, you’ll also have many opportunities to develop your teaching portfolio.

Beyond academia, there’s also significant demand in the private and public sectors for people with deep knowledge and sound research and analytical skills*.

Whether you’re looking to pursue a career in academia, or take your research skills out to industry, a PhD in Economics from UNSW will get you there.

* Source:  2019 Advancing Australia’s Knowledge Economy Report

The UNSW Business School is ranked within the Top 50 worldwide for Economics and Econometrics.

An increasing number of PhD graduates find employment in business, government, and the non-profit sector. Nineteen of the largest ASX companies have PhD graduates on their senior executive teams.

Degree type

Postgraduate Research

Commencing terms

Term 1 – February

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Delivery mode, domestic / international.

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MPhil/PhD Philosophy

• Graduate research
• Department of Philosophy Logic and Scientific Method
• Application code V7ZP
• Starting 2024
• Home full-time: Closed
• Overseas full-time: Closed
• Location: Houghton Street, London

The Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method is a world-leading centre for research in three broad areas of philosophy: rational choice theory and formal epistemology; philosophy of science; and moral and political philosophy.

We accept MPhil/PhD students wishing to work in any field of research in which the department has special expertise, including philosophy of the natural sciences (especially physics and biology); distributive justice and normative ethics; philosophy and public policy; philosophy of the social sciences (especially economics); decision theory, evolutionary and game theory; and formal epistemology.

We are committed to research that makes a difference not only to philosophy and the philosophies of the various sciences, but also to the practice of the sciences themselves – from economics and political science to physics, biology and medicine – as well as to the wider world. The Department’s teaching is research-led: courses cover cutting-edge material and are taught by some of the field’s leading scholars.

On this programme you will work towards producing a substantial piece of work that makes an original contribution to the subject and is of a sufficient standard to give rise to publications in professional academic journals.

You will benefit from the department’s close association with the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science , which hosts leading visiting scholars and supports a range of research projects, seminars and lecture series, and The Forum for Philosophy , which runs a full and varied programme of philosophy and interdisciplinary events. You will also have the opportunity to attend and take part in the Department’s regular seminar and lecture series, including the Choice Group on decision theory and social choice, and the Sigma Club on the philosophy and foundations of modern physics.

As a Philosophy MPhil/PhD student you will be given the chance to teach the undergraduate discussion classes that are run in parallel with lectures. An essential part of becoming a good philosopher is learning how to teach, share and discuss ideas with those interested in philosophy at all levels, and the discussion classes you lead at LSE will provide ample opportunity.

The department  is currently recruiting one research student for a fully funded 4-year PhD degree, as part of the ‘Not in My Name!’ project . Applications close on 15 January 2024 for a September 2024 start date.

Programme details

For more information about tuition fees and entry requirements, see the fees and funding and assessing your application sections.

Entry requirements

Minimum entry requirements for mphil/phd philosophy.

The minimum entry requirement for this programme is a taught master’s degree (or equivalent) in philosophy (or a sufficiently relevant discipline). We normally accept only those who achieve the equivalent of a distinction overall and in the dissertation component of their master's degree.

Competition for places at the School is high. This means that even if you meet our minimum entry requirement, this does not guarantee you an offer of admission. 

If you have studied or are studying outside of the UK then have a look at our  Information for International Students  to find out the entry requirements that apply to you.

Assessing your application

We welcome applications for research programmes that complement the academic interests of members of staff at the School, and we recommend that you investigate  staff research interests  before applying.

We carefully consider each application on an individual basis, taking into account all the information presented on your application form, including your:

- academic achievement (including existing and pending qualifications) - statement of academic purpose - references - CV - outline research proposal - sample of written work.

Research proposal

This is an important document, which should provide a description of your likely research topic for your PhD. (There is scope for changes in this topic during the first year. In consultation with your academic supervisor, you will need to settle on a definite research topic by the end of that year.) So long as you provide a brief summary of your entire research project at the outset, it is not a problem to exceed the suggested 1,500 word limit even by a significant amount. If you already have a well-worked-out PhD project, you are in fact encouraged to supply a detailed description, which may include chapter by chapter summaries. If you would like your project to be supervised by a particular member or members of the Department, please indicate this in your proposal. Contrary to LSE's general guidance on research proposals, you do not need to provide either a description of the methodology you will employ or case studies, as these particular guidelines are for dissertations in the social sciences rather than philosophy.

Please note that a precise research topic can be accepted only if someone in the Department is well-placed to supervise such a project.

Writing sample

This is another important document. It is not a problem to include a writing sample that exceeds 3,000 words even by a significant amount, so long as you indicate, at the outset, a 3,000 word subset of this longer piece of writing on which the selection committee should focus their attention. It is not necessary to provide a scanned copy of your writing sample. You may, for example, simply upload a Word file.

See further information on supporting documents

You may also have to provide evidence of your English proficiency. You do not need to provide this at the time of your application to LSE, but we recommend that you do.  See our English language requirements  for further information.

When to apply

The application deadline for this programme is 15 January 2024 . However, to be considered for any LSE funding opportunity, you must have submitted your application and all supporting documents by the funding deadline. See the fees and funding section for more details.

Fees and funding

Every research student is charged a fee in line with the fee structure for their programme.  The fee covers registration and examination fees payable to the School, lectures, classes and individual supervision, lectures given at other colleges under intercollegiate arrangements and, under current arrangements, membership of the Students' Union. It does not cover living costs or travel or fieldwork.

Tuition fees 2024/25 for MPhil/PhD Philosophy

Home students: £4,829 for the first year (provisional) Overseas students: £22,632 for the first year

The fee is likely to rise over subsequent years of the programme. The School charges home research students in line with the level of fee that the Research Councils recommend. The fees for overseas students are likely to rise in line with the assumed percentage increase in pay costs (ie, 4 per cent per annum).

The Table of Fees shows the latest tuition amounts for all programmes offered by the School.

Fee status​

The amount of tuition fees you will need to pay, and any financial support you are eligible for, will depend on whether you are classified as a home or overseas student, otherwise known as your fee status. LSE assesses your fee status based on guidelines provided by the Department of Education.

Further information about fee status classification.

Scholarships, studentships and other funding

This programme is eligible for  LSE PhD Studentships . Selection for the PhD Studentships is based on receipt of an application for a place – including all ancillary documents, before the funding deadline. 

The department is also currently recruiting one research student for a fully funded 4-year PhD degree, as part of the ‘Not in My Name!’ project . 

Funding deadline for the LSE PhD Studentships and the fully-funded 'Not in My Name!' project: 15 January 2024 . 

In addition to our needs-based awards, LSE also makes available scholarships for students from specific regions of the world and awards for students studying specific subject areas.  Find out more about financial support.

External funding 

There may be other funding opportunities available through other organisations or governments and we recommend you investigate these options as well.

Further information

Fees and funding opportunities

Information for international students

LSE is an international community, with over 140 nationalities represented amongst its student body. We celebrate this diversity through everything we do.  

If you are applying to LSE from outside of the UK then take a look at our Information for International students . 

1) Take a note of the UK qualifications we require for your programme of interest (found in the ‘Entry requirements’ section of this page). 

2) Go to the International Students section of our website. 

3) Select your country. 

4) Select ‘Graduate entry requirements’ and scroll until you arrive at the information about your local/national qualification. Compare the stated UK entry requirements listed on this page with the local/national entry requirement listed on your country specific page.

Programme structure and courses

In addition to making progress on your PhD project, you are expected to take the listed training and transferable skills courses. You may take courses in addition to those listed and should discuss this with your supervisor. All programmes of study should be agreed with your supervisor at the start of the year.

The first “coursework” year prepares students for research in philosophy and the completion of a central thesis chapter. At the end of this first year the progress of students is reviewed, to establish that they are on track to upgrade from MPhil to PhD status. In consultation with their academic supervisors, PhD students also settle on a definite research topic by the end of the first year.

Training courses

Compulsory (examined/not examined)  Philosophical Problems Seminar Examines a range of classic papers in contemporary analytic philosophy that might not otherwise be covered in LSE Philosophy Department courses.  Either Logic and Probability Aims to give a precise formulation of correct deductive reasoning – of what it means for a sentence to follow from a set of other sentences taken as premises – and to investigate on this basis other important logical notions such as that of consistency.  Or One further master's-level course not already taken

Either one further  master's-level course not already taken And Courses to the value of one unit of PhD Seminars Or   Three term units of PhD level seminars with associated coursework

Optional (not examined) Transferable skills courses offered by the Teaching and Learning Centre or the Methodology Institute.

Second year

Years 2–4 is the time when PhD students dive deep into the research and writing of their thesis. While writing the thesis students attend the Department’s Popper Seminar, but also any of the wealth of regular research seminars that may be relevant to their research.

Students in their 2nd year aim to write two or three further chapters beyond the chapter they completed in their first year.

Optional (not examined) Research Seminar in the Philosophy of Natural Sciences This is a special topics course on the philosophy of physics. It meets weekly, and has two components. The first component (roughly half the meetings) will consist in lectures on the philosophy of physics. The remaining component will consist in attending cutting-edge lectures by professional philosophers of physics, and in some cases by other philosophers of science.

Research Seminar in the Philosophy of Economics and Social Sciences Covers philosophical issues in economics and the social sciences. Research Methods in Philosophy Covers topics in contemporary philosophy. Optional (examined/not examined)  Transferable skills courses offered by the Teaching and Learning Centre or the Methodology Institute.

In the 3rd year students produce a draft of the entire thesis, while writing papers, submitting to conferences, and getting to know the dynamic field of philosophy and their place in it. In the 4th year, students polish their material and prepare to go on the job market.

Optional (not examined)

Research Seminar in the Philosophy of Natural Sciences This is a special topics course on the philosophy of physics. It meets weekly, and has two components. The first component (roughly half the meetings) will consist in lectures on the philosophy of physics. The remaining component will consist in attending cutting-edge lectures by professional philosophers of physics, and in some cases by other philosophers of science.

Research Seminar in the Philosophy of Economics and Social Sciences Covers philosophical issues in economics and the social sciences. Research Methods in Philosophy Covers topics in contemporary philosophy.

Optional (examined/not examined)  Transferable skills courses offered by the Teaching and Learning Centre or the Methodology Institute.

Fourth year

Optional (examined/not examined)  Transferable skills courses offered by the Teaching and Learning Centre or the Department of Methodology.

For the most up-to-date list of optional courses please visit the relevant School Calendar page.  

You must note, however, that while care has been taken to ensure that this information is up to date and correct, a change of circumstances since publication may cause the School to change, suspend or withdraw a course or programme of study, or change the fees that apply to it. The School will always notify the affected parties as early as practicably possible and propose any viable and relevant alternative options. Note that the School will neither be liable for information that after publication becomes inaccurate or irrelevant, nor for changing, suspending or withdrawing a course or programme of study due to events outside of its control, which includes but is not limited to a lack of demand for a course or programme of study, industrial action, fire, flood or other environmental or physical damage to premises.  

You must also note that places are limited on some courses and/or subject to specific entry requirements. The School cannot therefore guarantee you a place. Please note that changes to programmes and courses can sometimes occur after you have accepted your offer of a place. These changes are normally made in light of developments in the discipline or path-breaking research, or on the basis of student feedback. Changes can take the form of altered course content, teaching formats or assessment modes. Any such changes are intended to enhance the student learning experience. You should visit the School’s  Calendar , or contact the relevant academic department, for information on the availability and/or content of courses and programmes of study. Certain substantive changes will be listed on the  updated graduate course and programme information page.

Supervision, progression, and assessment

Supervision.

PhD students in the Department work with two supervisors from the  academic faculty , to ensure a wide range of advice. The choice of secondary supervisor can be quite flexible (and occasionally includes academics from outside the Department). The primary supervisor is a senior member of staff. Both primary and secondary supervisory arrangements can change in the course of the degree as your thesis develops. 

Progression and assessment

Successful completion of work required for each year is a necessary condition for re-registration in the following year; and for upgrading from MPhil to PhD status. During the first year you must write a first chapter of the thesis as well as an outline (research plan) of the rest of the thesis. The chapter should be around 40 pages; the research plan around ten pages. This upgrading will normally take place after the successful completion of Year One requirements in Case A, and after the successful completion of Year Two requirements in Case B. In both cases, once you are registered for the PhD that registration will be backdated to the start of your MPhil/PhD studies.

Student support and resources

We’re here to help and support you throughout your time at LSE, whether you need help with your academic studies, support with your welfare and wellbeing or simply to develop on a personal and professional level.

Whatever your query, big or small, there are a range of people you can speak to who will be happy to help.  

Department librarians   – they will be able to help you navigate the library and maximise its resources during your studies. 

Accommodation service  – they can offer advice on living in halls and offer guidance on private accommodation related queries.

Class teachers and seminar leaders  – they will be able to assist with queries relating to specific courses. 

Disability and Wellbeing Service  – they are experts in long-term health conditions, sensory impairments, mental health and specific learning difficulties. They offer confidential and free services such as  student counselling,  a  peer support scheme  and arranging  exam adjustments.  They run groups and workshops.  

IT help  – support is available 24 hours a day to assist with all your technology queries.   

LSE Faith Centre  – this is home to LSE's diverse religious activities and transformational interfaith leadership programmes, as well as a space for worship, prayer and quiet reflection. It includes Islamic prayer rooms and a main space for worship. It is also a space for wellbeing classes on campus and is open to all students and staff from all faiths and none.   

Language Centre  – the Centre specialises in offering language courses targeted to the needs of students and practitioners in the social sciences. We offer pre-course English for Academic Purposes programmes; English language support during your studies; modern language courses in nine languages; proofreading, translation and document authentication; and language learning community activities.

LSE Careers  ­ – with the help of LSE Careers, you can make the most of the opportunities that London has to offer. Whatever your career plans, LSE Careers will work with you, connecting you to opportunities and experiences from internships and volunteering to networking events and employer and alumni insights. 

LSE Library   –   founded in 1896, the British Library of Political and Economic Science is the major international library of the social sciences. It stays open late, has lots of excellent resources and is a great place to study. As an LSE student, you’ll have access to a number of other academic libraries in Greater London and nationwide. 

LSE LIFE  – this is where you should go to develop skills you’ll use as a student and beyond. The centre runs talks and workshops on skills you’ll find useful in the classroom; offers one-to-one sessions with study advisers who can help you with reading, making notes, writing, research and exam revision; and provides drop-in sessions for academic and personal support. (See ‘Teaching and assessment’). 

LSE Students’ Union (LSESU)  – they offer academic, personal and financial advice and funding.  

PhD Academy   – this is available for PhD students, wherever they are, to take part in interdisciplinary events and other professional development activities and access all the services related to their registration. 

Sardinia House Dental Practice   – this   offers discounted private dental services to LSE students.  

St Philips Medical Centre  – based in Pethwick-Lawrence House, the Centre provides NHS Primary Care services to registered patients.

Student Services Centre  – our staff here can answer general queries and can point you in the direction of other LSE services.  

Student advisers   – we have a  Deputy Head of Student Services (Advice and Policy)  and an  Adviser to Women Students  who can help with academic and pastoral matters.

Student life

As a student at LSE you’ll be based at our central London campus. Find out what our campus and London have to offer you on academic, social and career perspective. 

Student societies and activities

Your time at LSE is not just about studying, there are plenty of ways to get involved in  extracurricular activities . From joining one of over 200 societies, or starting your own society, to volunteering for a local charity, or attending a public lecture by a world-leading figure, there is a lot to choose from. 

The campus 

LSE is based on one  campus  in the centre of London. Despite the busy feel of the surrounding area, many of the streets around campus are pedestrianised, meaning the campus feels like a real community. 

Life in London 

London is an exciting, vibrant and colourful city. It's also an academic city, with more than 400,000 university students. Whatever your interests or appetite you will find something to suit your palate and pocket in this truly international capital. Make the most of career opportunities and social activities, theatre, museums, music and more. 

Want to find out more? Read why we think  London is a fantastic student city , find out about  key sights, places and experiences for new Londoners . Don't fear, London doesn't have to be super expensive: hear about  London on a budget . 

Quick Careers Facts for the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method

Median salary of our PG students 15 months after graduating: £34,500

Top 5 sectors our students work in:

• Education, Teaching and Research            
• Government, Public Sector and Policy   
• Consultancy      
• Health and Social Care  
• International Organisations

The data was collected as part of the Graduate Outcomes survey, which is administered by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Graduates from 2020-21 were the fourth group to be asked to respond to Graduate Outcomes. Median salaries are calculated for respondents who are paid in UK pounds sterling and who were working in full-time employment.

Students who successfully complete the programme often embark on an academic career. Recent doctoral graduates have also gone into careers in consulting, teaching and business. 

The Department maintains a placement record of its former PhD students.

Further information on graduate destinations for this programme

Support for your career

Many leading organisations give careers presentations at the School during the year, and LSE Careers has a wide range of resources available to assist students in their job search. Find out more about the  support available to students through LSE Careers .

Find out more about LSE

Discover more about being an LSE student - meet us in a city near you, visit our campus or experience LSE from home. 

Experience LSE from home

Webinars, videos, student blogs and student video diaries will help you gain an insight into what it's like to study at LSE for those that aren't able to make it to our campus.  Experience LSE from home . 

Come on a guided campus tour, attend an undergraduate open day, drop into our office or go on a self-guided tour.  Find out about opportunities to visit LSE . 

LSE visits you

Student Marketing, Recruitment and Study Abroad travels throughout the UK and around the world to meet with prospective students. We visit schools, attend education fairs and also hold Destination LSE events: pre-departure events for offer holders.  Find details on LSE's upcoming visits . 

How to apply

Virtual Graduate Open Day

Register your interest

Visit the Philosophy website

Related Programmes

Msc philosophy and public policy.

Code(s) V7U8

MRes/PhD Political Science

Code(s) M1ZN

MSc Philosophy of Economics and the Social Sciences

Code(s) V7U1

MPhil/PhD Sociology

Code(s) L3ZS

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Economics, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

The Department of Economics at the University of Maryland prepares graduate students for careers in teaching, research, and government service. The course of study provides a solid foundation in economic theory, econometrics and applied fields. The Ph.D. requires:

• completion of a three-course sequence and a written examination or field paper in a major field,
• completion of a two-course sequence in a minor field,
• completion of an econometrics sequence,
• an additional supporting course in a theoretical or applied field, and
• a dissertation.

In the third year, students begin directed research by participating in workshops appropriate to their dissertation research.

Advance to Candidacy: In addition to the course requirements below, students must successfully pass two written comprehensive examinations in microeconomic and macroeconomic theory, taken during the summer after the first year of study.

Post-Candidacy: Students must complete at least 12 credits of ECON899 Doctoral Dissertation Research and successfully defend and submit an original dissertation.

Average grade of B+ or better

Grade of B- or better

 Credits may vary

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• Administration
• PhD Program

The Ph.D. Program in the Department of Economics at Harvard is addressed to students of high promise who wish to prepare themselves in teaching and research in academia or for responsible positions in government, research organizations, or business enterprises. Students are expected to devote themselves full-time to their programs of study.

The program prepares students for productive and stimulating careers as economists. Courses and seminars offered by the department foster an intellectually active and stimulating environment. Each week, the department sponsors more than 15 different seminars on such topics as environmental economics, economic growth and development, monetary and fiscal policy, international economics, industrial organization, law and economics, behavioral economics, labor economics, and economic history. Top scholars from both domestic and international communities are often invited speakers at the seminars.  The Harvard community outside of the department functions as a strong and diverse resource. Students in the department are free to pursue research interests with scholars throughout the University. Faculty of the Harvard Law School, Kennedy School of Government, and Harvard Business School, for example, are available to students for consultation, instruction, and research guidance. As a member of the Harvard community, students in the department can register for courses in the various schools and have access to the enormous library resources available through the University. There are over 90 separate library units at Harvard, with the total collections of books and pamphlets numbering over 13 million.  Both the department and the wider University draw some of the brightest students from around the world, which makes for a student body that is culturally diverse and likely unequaled in the range of intellectual interests of its members. These factors combine to add an important dimension to the educational process. Students are able to learn from one another, collaborate on research projects and publications, and form bonds that are not broken by distance once the degree is completed and professional responsibilities lead them in different directions.

• Program Requirements
• Job Placement
• Financial Support

Texas A&M University Catalogs

Doctor of philosophy in economics.

The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Program in Economics emphasizes analytical and quantitative skills and exposes students to a broad range of contemporary policy issues to prepare them for careers in academic, business, or government careers. In their first two semesters of study, students receive rigorous training in three core areas: microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics.

After completing the core sequences, students choose three fields of specialization for intensive study. For most students, work on the dissertation begins in the third year and occupies them through the fourth or fifth year of residence.  

Steps to Fulfill a Doctoral Program

Program Requirements

• Student's Advisory Committee

Degree Plan

Transfer of credit, research proposal, preliminary examination, preliminary examination format, preliminary examination scheduling, preliminary examination grading, failure of the preliminary examination, retake of failed preliminary examination, final examination, final examination grading, dissertation, student’s advisory committee.

After receiving admission to graduate studies and enrolling, the student will consult with the head of their major or administrative department (or chair of the intercollegiate faculty) concerning appointment of the chair of the advisory committee. The student’s advisory committee will consist of  no fewer than four members of the graduate faculty  representative of the student’s several fields of study and research, where the chair or co-chair must be from the student’s department (or intercollegiate faculty, if applicable), and  at least one or more of the members must have an appointment to a department other than the student’s major department . The outside member for a student in an interdisciplinary degree program must be from a department different from the chair of the student’s committee.

The chair, in consultation with the student, will select the remainder of the advisory committee. Only graduate faculty members located on Texas A&M University campuses may serve as chair of a student’s advisory committee. Other Texas A&M University graduate faculty members located off-campus may serve as a member or co-chair (but not chair), with a member as the chair.

If the chair of a student’s advisory committee voluntarily leaves the University and the student is near completion of the degree and wants the chair to continue to serve in this role, the student is responsible for securing a current member of the University Graduate Faculty, from the student’s academic program and located near the Texas A&M University campus site, to serve as the co-chair of the committee. The Department Head or Chair of Intercollegiate faculty may request in writing to the Associate Provost and Dean of the Graduate and Professional School that a faculty member who is on an approved leave of absence or has voluntarily separated from the university, be allowed to continue to serve in the role of chair of a student’s advisory committee without a co-chair for up to one year. The students should be near completion of the degree. Extensions beyond the one year period can be granted with additional approval of the Dean.

The committee members’ signatures on the degree plan indicate their willingness to accept the responsibility for guiding and directing the entire academic program of the student and for initiating all academic actions concerning the student. Although individual committee members may be replaced by petition for valid reasons, a committee cannot resign  en masse . The chair of the committee, who usually has immediate supervision of the student’s research and dissertation or record of study, has the responsibility for calling all meetings of the committee. The duties of the committee include responsibility for the proposed degree plan, the research proposal, the preliminary examination, the dissertation or record of study and the final examination. In addition, the committee, as a group and as individual members, is responsible for counseling the student on academic matters, and, in the case of academic deficiency, initiating recommendations to the Graduate and Professional School.

The student’s advisory committee will evaluate the student’s previous education and degree objectives. The committee, in consultation with the student, will develop a proposed degree plan and outline a research problem which, when completed, as indicated by the dissertation (or its equivalent for the degree of Doctor of Education or the degree of Doctor of Engineering), will constitute the basic requirements for the degree. The degree plan must be filed with the Graduate and Professional School prior to the deadline imposed by the student’s college and no later than 90 days prior to the preliminary examination.

This proposed degree plan should be submitted through the online Document Processing Submission System located on the website  http://ogsdpss.tamu.edu . A minimum of 64 hours is required on the degree plan for the Doctor of Philosophy for a student who has completed a master’s degree. A student who has completed a DDS/DMD, DVM or a MD at a U.S. institution is also required to complete a minimum of 64 hours. A student who has completed a baccalaureate degree but not a master’s degree will be required to complete a 96-hour degree plan. Completion of a DDS/DMD, DVM or MD degree at a foreign institution requires completion of a minimum of 96 hours for the Doctor of Philosophy. A field of study may be primarily in one department or in a combination of departments. A degree plan must carry a reasonable amount of 691 (research). A maximum of 9 hours of 400-level undergraduate courses may be used toward meeting credit-hour requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy.

Additional coursework may be added by petition to the approved degree plan by the student’s advisory committee if it is deemed necessary to correct deficiencies in the student’s academic preparation. No changes can be made to the degree plan once the student’s Request for Final Examination is approved by the Graduate and Professional School.

Approval to enroll in any professional course (900-level) should be obtained from the head of the department (or Chair of the intercollegiate faculty, if applicable) in which the course will be offered before including such a course on a degree plan.

No credit may be obtained by correspondence study, by extension or for any course of fewer than three weeks duration.

For non-distance degree programs, no more than 50 percent of the non-research credit hours required for the program may be completed through distance education courses.

To receive a graduate degree from Texas A&M University, students must earn one-third or more of the credits through the institution’s own direct instruction. This limitation also applies to joint degree programs. 

Courses for which transfer credits are sought must have been completed with a grade of B or greater and must be approved by the student’s advisory committee and the Graduate and Professional School. These courses must not have been used previously for another degree. Except for officially approved cooperative doctoral programs, credit for thesis or dissertation research or the equivalent is not transferable. Credit for “internship” coursework in any form is not transferable. Courses taken in residence at an accredited U.S. institution or approved international institution with a final grade of B or greater will be considered for transfer credit if, at the time the courses were completed, the courses would be accepted for credit toward a similar degree for a student in degree-seeking status at the host institution. Credit for coursework taken by extension is not transferable. Coursework  in which no formal grades are given or in which grades other than letter grades (A or B) are earned (for example, CR, P, S, U, H, etc.) is not accepted for transfer credit . Credit for coursework submitted for transfer from any college or university must be shown in semester credit hours, or equated to semester credit hours.

Courses used toward a degree at another institution may not be applied for graduate credit. If the course to be transferred was taken prior to the conferral of a degree at the transfer institution, a letter from the registrar at that institution stating that the course was not applied for credit toward the degree must be submitted to the Graduate and Professional School.

Grades for courses completed at other institutions are not included in computing the GPA. An official transcript from the university at which transfer courses are taken must be sent directly to the Office of Admissions.

The general field of research to be used for the dissertation should be agreed on by the student and the advisory committee at their first meeting, as a basis for selecting the proper courses to support the proposed research.

As soon thereafter as the research project can be outlined in reasonable detail, the dissertation research proposal should be completed. The research proposal should be approved at a meeting of the student’s advisory committee, at which time the feasibility of the proposed research and the adequacy of available facilities should be reviewed. The approved proposal, signed by all members of the student’s advisory committee, the head of the student’s major department (or chair of the intercollegiate faculty, if applicable), must be submitted to the Graduate and Professional School at least 20 working days prior to the submission of the Request for the Final Examination.

Compliance issues must be addressed if a graduate student is performing research involving human subjects, animals, infectious biohazards and recombinant DNA. A student involved in these types of research should check with the Office of Research Compliance and Biosafety at (979) 458-1467 to address questions about all research compliance responsibilities. Additional information can also be obtained on the website  http:// rcb.tamu.edu .

Examinations

The student’s major department (or chair of the interdisciplinary degree program faculty, if applicable) and their advisory committee may require qualifying, cumulative or other types of examinations at any time deemed desirable. These examinations are entirely at the discretion of the department and the student’s advisory committee.

The preliminary examination is required. The preliminary examination for a doctoral student shall be given no earlier than a date at which the student is within 6 credit hours of completion of the formal coursework on the degree plan (i.e., all coursework on the degree plan except 681, 684, 690, 691, 692, 693, 695, 697, 791, or other graduate courses specifically designated as S/U in the course catalog). The student should complete the Preliminary Examination no later than the end of the semester following the completion of the formal coursework on the degree plan.

The objective of preliminary examination is to evaluate whether the student has demonstrated the following qualifications:

a.     a mastery of the subject matter of all fields in the program;

b.     an adequate knowledge of the literature in these fields and an ability to carry out bibliographical research;

c.     an understanding of the research problem and the appropriate methodological approaches.

The format of the preliminary examination shall be determined by the student’s department (or interdisciplinary degree program, if applicable) and advisory committee, and communicated to the student in advance of the examination. The exam may consist of a written component, oral component, or combination of written and oral components.

The preliminary exam may be administered by the advisory committee or a departmental committee; herein referred to as the examination committee.

Regardless of exam format, a student will receive an overall preliminary exam result of pass or fail. The department (or interdisciplinary degree program, if applicable) will determine how the overall pass or fail result is determined based on the exam structure and internal department procedures. If the exam is administered by the advisory committee, each advisory committee member will provide a pass or fail evaluation decision.

Only one advisory committee substitution is allowed to provide an evaluation decision for a student’s preliminary exam, and it cannot be the committee chair.

If a student is required to take, as a part of the preliminary examination, a written component administered by a department or interdisciplinary degree program, the department or interdisciplinary degree program faculty must:

a.     offer the examination at least once every six months. The departmental or interdisciplinary degree program examination should be announced at least 30 days prior to the scheduled examination date.

b.     assume the responsibility for marking the examination satisfactory or unsatisfactory, or otherwise graded, and in the case of unsatisfactory, stating specifically the reasons for such a mark.

c.     forward the marked examination to the chair of the student’s advisory committee within one week after the examination.

Students are eligible for to schedule the preliminary examination in the Academic Requirements Completion System (ARCS) if they meet the following list of eligibility requirements:

Student is registered at Texas A&M University for a minimum of one semester credit hour in the long semester or summer term during which any component of the preliminary examination is held. If the entire examination is held between semesters, then the student must be registered for the term immediately preceding the examination.

An approved degree plan is on file with the Graduate and Professional School prior to commencing the first component of the examination.

Student’s cumulative GPA is at least 3.000.

Student’s degree plan GPA is at least 3.000.

At the end of the semester in which at least the first component of the exam is given, there are no more than 6 hours of coursework remaining on the degree plan (except 681, 684, 690, 691, 692, 693, 695, 697, 791, or other graduate courses specifically designated as S/U in the course catalog). The head of the student’s department (or Chair of the Interdisciplinary Degree Program, if applicable) has the authority to approve a waiver of this criterion.

Credit for the preliminary examination is not transferable in cases where a student changes degree programs after passing a preliminary exam.

If a written component precedes an oral component of the preliminary exam, the chair of the student’s examination committee is responsible for making all written examinations available to all members of the committee. A positive evaluation of the preliminary exam by all members of a student’s examination committee with at most one dissension is required to pass a student on their preliminary exam.

The student’s department will promptly report the results of the Preliminary Examination to the Graduate and Professional School via the Academic Requirements Completion System (ARCS) within 10 working days of completion of the preliminary examination.

If an approved examination committee member substitution (one only) has been made, their approval must be submitted to the Graduate and Professional School via ARCS. The approval of the designated department approver is also required on the request.

After passing the required preliminary oral and written examinations for a doctoral degree, the student must complete the final examination within four years of the semester in which the preliminary exam is taken. Exams taken in between terms will expire at the end of the term that ended prior to the exam. For example, a preliminary exam taken and passed during the Fall 2023 semester will expire at the end of the Fall 2027 semester. A preliminary exam taken in the time between the Summer and Fall 2023 semesters will expire at the end of the Summer 2027 semester.

First Failure

Upon approval of a student’s examination committee (with no more than one member dissenting), and approval of the Department and Graduate and Professional School, a student who has failed a preliminary examination may be given one re-examination. In accordance with Student Rule 12.5, the student’s department head or designee, intercollegiate faculty, or graduate advisory committee should make a recommendation to the student regarding their scholastic deficiency.

Second Failure

Upon failing the preliminary exam twice in a doctoral program, a student is no longer eligible to continue to pursue the PhD in that program/major. In accordance with Student Rule 12.5.3 and/or 12.5.4, the student will be notified of the action being taken by the department as a result of the second failure of the preliminary examination.

Adequate time must be given to permit a student to address inadequacies emerging from the first preliminary examination. The examination committee must agree upon and communicate to the student, in writing, an adequate time-frame from the first examination (normally six months) to retest, as well as a detailed explanation of the inadequacies emerging from the examination. The student and committee should jointly negotiate a mutually acceptable date for this retest.  When providing feedback on inadequacies, the committee should clearly document expected improvements that the student must be able to exhibit in order to retake the exam.  The examination committee will document and communicate the time-frame and feedback within 10 working days of the exam that was not passed.

Candidates for the doctoral degrees must pass a final examination by deadline dates announced in the  Graduate and Professional School Calendar  each semester. A doctoral student is allowed only one opportunity to take the final examination.

No unabsolved grades of D, F, or U for any course can be listed on the degree plan. The student must be registered for any remaining hours of 681, 684, 690, 691, 692, 791 or other graduate courses specifically designated as S/U in the course catalog during the semester of the final exam. No student may be given a final examination until they have been admitted to candidacy and their current official cumulative and degree plan GPAs are 3.00 or better.

Refer to the  Admission to Candidacy  section of the graduate catalog for candidacy requirements.

A request to schedule the final examination must be submitted to the Graduate and Professional School via ARCS a minimum of 10 working days in advance of the scheduled date. Any changes to the degree plan must be approved by the Graduate and Professional School prior to the submission of the request for final examination.

The student’s advisory committee will conduct this examination. Only one committee member substitution is allowed with the approval of the Graduate and Professional School. If the substitution is for the sole external member of the advisory committee - with an appointment to a department other than the student's major department - then the substitute must also be external to the student's major department. In extenuating circumstances, with the approval of the Graduate and Professional School, an exception to this requirement may be granted.

The final examination is not to be administered until the dissertation or record of study is available in substantially final form to the student’s advisory committee, and all concerned have had adequate time to review the document. Whereas the final examination may cover the broad field of the candidate’s training, it is presumed that the major portion of the time will be devoted to the dissertation and closely allied topics. Persons other than members of the graduate faculty may, with mutual consent of the candidate and the chair of the advisory committee, be invited to attend a final examination for an advanced degree. A positive vote by all members of the graduate committee with at most one dissension is required to pass a student on their exam. A department can have a stricter requirement provided there is consistency within all degree programs within a department. Upon completion of the questioning of the candidate, all visitors must excuse themselves from the proceedings.

The student’s department will promptly report the results of the Final Examination to the Graduate and Professional School via the Academic Requirements Completion System (ARCS) within 10 working days of completion of the final examination. The Graduate and Professional School will be automatically notified via ARCS of any cancellations.

A positive evaluation of the final exam by all members of a student’s advisory committee with at most one dissension is required to pass a student on their final exam. If an approved committee member substitution (1 only) has been made, their approval must be submitted to the Graduate and Professional School via ARCS.

The dissertation,  which must be a candidate's original work demonstrates the ability to perform independent research . Whereas acceptance of the dissertation is based primarily on its scholarly merit, it must also exhibit creditable literary workmanship. Dissertation formatting must be acceptable to the Graduate and Professional School as outlined in the Guidelines for Theses, Dissertations, and Records of Study.

After successful defense and approval by the student’s advisory committee and the head of the student’s major department (or chair of intercollegiate faculty, if applicable), a student must submit the dissertation in electronic format as a single PDF file to https://etd.tamu.edu/ . Additionally, a dissertation approval form with original signatures must be received by the Graduate and Professional School through the Academic Requirements Completion System (ARCS). Both the PDF file and the completed ARCS approval form must be received by the deadline.

Deadline dates for submitting are announced each semester or summer term in the Graduate and Professional School Calendar (see Time Limit statement). These dates also can be accessed via the  Graduate and Professional School website .

Each student who submits a document for review is assessed a one-time thesis/dissertation processing fee through Student Business Services. This processing fee is for the thesis/dissertation services provided. After commencement, dissertations are digitally stored and made available through the Texas A&M Libraries.

A dissertation that is deemed unacceptable by the Graduate and Professional School because of excessive corrections will be returned to the student’s department head or chair of the intercollegiate faculty . The manuscript must be resubmitted as a new document, and the entire review process must begin anew. All original submittal deadlines must be met during the resubmittal process to graduate.

Additional Requirements

Continuous registration, admission to candidacy.

• 99-Hour Cap on Doctoral Degree

Application for Degree

A student who enters the doctoral degree program with a baccalaureate degree must spend one academic year plus one semester in resident study at Texas A&M University. A student who holds master’s degree when they enter a doctoral degree program must spend one academic year in resident study. One academic year may include two adjacent regular semesters or one regular semester and one adjacent 10-week summer semester. The third semester is not required to be adjacent to the one year. Enrollment for each semester must be a minimum of 9 credit hours each to satisfy the residence requirement. A minimum of 1 credit hour must be in a non-distance education delivery mode. Semesters in which the student is enrolled in all distance education coursework will not count toward fulfillment of the residence requirement.

To satisfy the residence requirement, the student must complete a minimum of 9 credit hours per semester or 10-week summer semester in resident study at Texas A&M University for the required period. A student who enters a doctoral degree program with a baccalaureate degree may fulfill residence requirements in excess of one academic year (18 credit hours) by registration during summer sessions or by completion of a less-than-full course load (in this context a full course load is considered 9 credit hours per semester).

Students who are employed full-time while completing their degree may fulfill total residence requirements by completion of less-than-full time course loads each semester. In order to be considered for this, the student is required to submit a Petition for Waivers and Exceptions along with verification of employment to the Graduate and Professional School. An employee should submit verification of employment at the time they submit the degree plan. See  Registration .

See  Residence Requirements .

All requirements for doctoral degrees must be completed within a period of ten consecutive calendar years for the degree to be granted. A course will be considered valid until 10 years after the end of the semester in which it is taken. Graduate credit for coursework more than ten calendar years old at the time of the final oral examination may not be used to satisfy degree requirements.

After passing the required preliminary oral and written examinations for a doctoral degree, the student must complete the final examination within four years of the semester in which the preliminary exam is taken. Exams taken in between terms will expire at the end of the term that ended prior to the exam. For example, a preliminary exam taken and passed during the fall 2019 semester will expire at the end of the fall 2023 semester. A preliminary exam taken in the time between the summer and fall 2019 semesters will expire at the end of the summer 2023 semester.

A final corrected version of the dissertation or record of study in electronic format as a single PDF file must be cleared by the Graduate and Professional School within one year of the semester in which the final exam is taken. Exams taken in between terms will expire at the end of the term that ended prior to the exam. For example, a final exam taken and passed during the fall 2022 semester will expire at the end of the fall 2023 semester. A final exam taken in the time between the summer and fall 2022 semesters will expire at the end of the summer 2023 semester. Failure to do so will result in the degree not being awarded.

A student in a program leading to a Doctor of Philosophy who has completed all coursework on their degree plan other than 691 (research) are required to be in continuous registration until all requirements for the degree have been completed. See  Continuous Registration Requirements .

To be admitted to candidacy for a doctoral degree, a student must have:

• completed all formal coursework on the degree plan with the exception of any remaining 681, 684, 690 and 691, or 791.
• a 3.0 Graduate GPA and a Degree Plan GPA of at least 3.0 with no grade lower than C in any course on the degree plan,
• passed the preliminary examination (written and oral portions),
• submitted an approved dissertation proposal,
• met the residence requirements. The final examination will not be authorized for any doctoral student who has not been admitted to candidacy.

A student is required to possess a competent command of English. For English language proficiency requirements, see the Admissions section of this catalog. The doctoral (PhD) foreign language requirement at Texas A&M University is a departmental option, to be administered and monitored by the individual departments of academic instruction.

99-Hour Cap on Doctoral Degrees

In Texas, public colleges and universities are funded by the state according to the number of students enrolled. In accordance with legislation passed by the Texas Legislature, the number of hours for which state universities may receive subvention funding at the doctoral rate for any individual is limited to 99 hours. Texas A&M and other universities will not receive subvention for hours in excess of the limit.

Institutions of higher education are allowed to charge the equivalent of non-resident tuition to a resident doctoral student who has enrolled in 100 or more semester credit hours of doctoral coursework.

Doctoral students at Texas A&M have seven years to complete their degree before being charged out-of-state tuition. A doctoral student who, after seven years of study, has accumulated 100 or more doctoral hours will be charged tuition at a rate equivalent to out-of-state tuition. Please note that the tuition increases will apply to Texas residents as well as students from other states and countries who are currently charged tuition at the resident rate. This includes those doctoral students who hold GAT, GANT, and GAR appointments or recipients of competitive fellowships who receive more than $1,000 per semester. Doctoral students who have not accumulated 100 hours after seven years of study are eligible to pay in-state tuition if otherwise eligible.

Doctoral students who exceed the credit limit will receive notification from the Graduate and Professional School during the semester in which they are enrolled and exceeding the limit in their current degree program. The notification will explain that the State of Texas does not provide funding for any additional hours in which a student is enrolled in excess of 99 hours. Texas A&M University will recover the lost funds by requiring students in excess of 99 hours to pay tuition at the non-funded, non-resident rate. This non-funded, non-resident tuition rate status will be updated for the following semester and in all subsequent semesters until receipt of a doctoral degree. Please see the  Tuition Calculator  at the non-resident rate for an example of potential charges.

The following majors are exempt from the 99-Hour Cap on Doctoral Degrees and have a limit of 130 doctoral hours:

• Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics
• Biomedical Sciences
• Clinical Psychology
• Counseling Psychology
• Genetics and Genomics
• Health Services Research
• Medical Sciences
• Microbiology
• Neurosciences (College of Medicine)
• Oral and Craniofacial Biomedical Sciences
• Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Public Health Sciences
• School Psychology

For information on applying for your degree, please visit the  Graduation  section.

School of Philosophy, Politics and Economics

PhD in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE)

Take the chance to explore multiple disciplines within your research, challenged by experts in the field.

October 2023 ( semester dates )

Apply for this PhD

International fees

2022/23 international fees

Meet us online or on campus and find out more about postgraduate study at York.

Our PhD programme offers high-quality training and a supportive environment in which to pursue your passion for research with internationally respected experts in the field from different disciplines.

Your research

Our PhD programme offers you the chance to become an agent of change, having the chance to explore multidisciplinary opportunities in research. You will be supported in your research by internationally respected experts in the field who will challenge you academically to enhance your PPE knowledge, skills, and experiences.

The PhD programme is aimed at those who wish to research areas such as:

• Political economy
• Economic philosophy
• Political philosophy

Supervision for your research projects will be across disciplines, meaning you will have access to support across at least two of our three highly regarded departments; Philosophy , Politics and Economics .

You should speak to potential supervisors before making your application, and you should say in the application who they are. If you need help in identifying potential supervisors please contact Professor Greg Currie, who is in charge of admissions to the programme. He is happy to talk through your ideas with you.

[email protected] +44 (0)1904 324167

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International reputation

As one of the first universities to offer a Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) degree, we have an established and strong reputation around the world.

Inspiring and innovative

We combine intellectual rigour with a friendly and inclusive atmosphere. You will have access to support, resources, and facilities across our three innovative departments.

Explore funding for MPhil/PhD researchers and wider postgraduate support.

Supervision

You will be supported by academic supervisors. Supervisors will normally share or complement your research interests.

Training and support

The PhD programme is undertaken over three years (full-time), with progression points at the end of the first and second year.

Throughout this time, your supervisors will guide you through the process of clarifying and completing your doctoral thesis.

In addition, during the first year, a range of subject-specific research training modules will be available to support your through the exploratory phase of this programme.

Course location

You will be based in the  School of Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE)  located on  Campus West . 

You should live in or near York during your PhD programme, whether part-time or full-time. We do not offer distance learning arrangements for this programme.

Entry requirements

Applicants should have a 2:1 at undergraduate degree level, and have or be completing a Masters degree. Fields of previous study may be Philosophy, Politics or Economics (singularly or in combination).

Other fields of study may be considered, however, it should be clear from your academic record that you are suitably prepared for the research that you propose to do. If your area of previous study is another field, please make sure to discuss this with potential supervisors to ensure you are suitable to apply for this PhD programme.

You should also be able to demonstrate proven interdisciplinary PPE skills and experience.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language, you must provide evidence of your ability.

Apply for the PhD in Philosophy, Politics and Education (PPE)

Take a look at the  supporting documents  you may need for your application.

Identify a supervisor

You should speak to potential supervisors before making your application, and you should say in the application who they are. They should be academics whose research overlaps with the area you wish to study.

You can find details on the research interests of our academic staff and how to contact them by using the following:

• Staff research interests for Philosophy
• Staff research interests for Politics
• Staff research interests for Economics

If you need help in identifying potential supervisors please contact Professor Greg Currie , who is in charge of admissions to the programme. He is happy to talk through your ideas with you. 

If your application is unsuitable for interdisciplinary supervision, we may encourage you to submit a single-subject application instead. 

Submitting your application

You will be required to submit the following documents:

• Application form
• Research proposal
• Academic transcripts
• Details of two referees
• Your curriculum vitae (CV)
• Personal statement

You can apply and send all your documentation electronically through our online system. You don’t need to complete your application all at once: you can start, save and finish it later.

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How to apply

Find out all you need to know about applying to York.

Scholarships

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We offer a range of campus accommodation to suit you and your budget, from economy to deluxe.

Student life

Explore campus and city life and hear what our current students have to say about living here.

Lively, full of culture and beautiful, York is regularly voted one of the best places to live and visit in the UK.

• Graduate School
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Doctor of Philosophy in Economics (PhD)

Canadian immigration updates.

Applicants to Master’s and Doctoral degrees are not affected by the recently announced cap on study permits. Review more details

Go to programs search

The Ph.D. program in economics at UBC owes its strength to the quality of its research faculty, extensive opportunity for student-faculty interaction, and a diverse offering of specializations for thesis work. Our faculty members specialize in a wide range of topics, including development economics, economic history, applied and theoretical econometrics, economics of inequality and gender, environmental economics, industrial organization, international finance, international trade, labour economics, macroeconomics, applied and theoretical micro, political economy, and public economics.

For specific program requirements, please refer to the departmental program website

What makes the program unique?

The Vancouver School of Economics at UBC is one of the world's best: in a recent ranking based on research publications, the department ranked in the top 20 worldwide, and number one in Canada.

Each year, we typically admit about 15 new students to our program. As a result, our program is small enough to provide extensive research supervision, yet large enough to offer expertise in a wide range of fields.

UBC Economics has the best graduate program in the country, and one of the best in the world. The graduate students at UBC have an astonishing track record of obtaining academic jobs in prestigious universities and research institutes.

Mahdi Ebrahimi Kahou

Quick Facts

Program enquiries, admission information & requirements, 1) check eligibility, minimum academic requirements.

The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies establishes the minimum admission requirements common to all applicants, usually a minimum overall average in the B+ range (76% at UBC). The graduate program that you are applying to may have additional requirements. Please review the specific requirements for applicants with credentials from institutions in:

• Canada or the United States
• International countries other than the United States

Each program may set higher academic minimum requirements. Please review the program website carefully to understand the program requirements. Meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee admission as it is a competitive process.

English Language Test

Applicants from a university outside Canada in which English is not the primary language of instruction must provide results of an English language proficiency examination as part of their application. Tests must have been taken within the last 24 months at the time of submission of your application.

Minimum requirements for the two most common English language proficiency tests to apply to this program are listed below:

TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language - internet-based

Overall score requirement : 93

IELTS: International English Language Testing System

Overall score requirement : 6.5

Other Test Scores

Some programs require additional test scores such as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or the Graduate Management Test (GMAT). The requirements for this program are:

The GRE is required by some applicants. Please check the program website.

2) Meet Deadlines

3) prepare application, transcripts.

All applicants have to submit transcripts from all past post-secondary study. Document submission requirements depend on whether your institution of study is within Canada or outside of Canada.

Letters of Reference

A minimum of three references are required for application to graduate programs at UBC. References should be requested from individuals who are prepared to provide a report on your academic ability and qualifications.

Statement of Interest

Many programs require a statement of interest , sometimes called a "statement of intent", "description of research interests" or something similar.

Supervision

Students in research-based programs usually require a faculty member to function as their thesis supervisor. Please follow the instructions provided by each program whether applicants should contact faculty members.

Instructions regarding thesis supervisor contact for Doctor of Philosophy in Economics (PhD)

Citizenship verification.

Permanent Residents of Canada must provide a clear photocopy of both sides of the Permanent Resident card.

4) Apply Online

All applicants must complete an online application form and pay the application fee to be considered for admission to UBC.

Research Information

Research facilities.

The school houses the Centre for Labour Studies and manages the British Columbia Inter-University Research Data Centre. As a result, unique training opportunities, research funding, and access to data and computing resources are available to our Ph.D. students.

Tuition & Financial Support

Financial support.

Applicants to UBC have access to a variety of funding options, including merit-based (i.e. based on your academic performance) and need-based (i.e. based on your financial situation) opportunities.

Program Funding Packages

Virtually all of the School's research faculty hold grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and other funding agencies, implying that opportunities for research assistantships and dissertation support are ample.

From September 2024 all full-time students in UBC-Vancouver PhD programs will be provided with a funding package of at least $24,000 for each of the first four years of their PhD. The funding package may consist of any combination of internal or external awards, teaching-related work, research assistantships, and graduate academic assistantships. Please note that many graduate programs provide funding packages that are substantially greater than $24,000 per year. Please check with your prospective graduate program for specific details of the funding provided to its PhD students.

Average Funding

• 33 students received Teaching Assistantships. Average TA funding based on 33 students was $13,467.
• 17 students received Research Assistantships. Average RA funding based on 17 students was $13,717.
• 19 students received Academic Assistantships. Average AA funding based on 19 students was $3,513.
• 49 students received internal awards. Average internal award funding based on 49 students was $22,471.
• 3 students received external awards. Average external award funding based on 3 students was $30,000.

Scholarships & awards (merit-based funding)

All applicants are encouraged to review the awards listing to identify potential opportunities to fund their graduate education. The database lists merit-based scholarships and awards and allows for filtering by various criteria, such as domestic vs. international or degree level.

Graduate Research Assistantships (GRA)

Many professors are able to provide Research Assistantships (GRA) from their research grants to support full-time graduate students studying under their supervision. The duties constitute part of the student's graduate degree requirements. A Graduate Research Assistantship is considered a form of fellowship for a period of graduate study and is therefore not covered by a collective agreement. Stipends vary widely, and are dependent on the field of study and the type of research grant from which the assistantship is being funded.

Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTA)

Graduate programs may have Teaching Assistantships available for registered full-time graduate students. Full teaching assistantships involve 12 hours work per week in preparation, lecturing, or laboratory instruction although many graduate programs offer partial TA appointments at less than 12 hours per week. Teaching assistantship rates are set by collective bargaining between the University and the Teaching Assistants' Union .

Graduate Academic Assistantships (GAA)

Academic Assistantships are employment opportunities to perform work that is relevant to the university or to an individual faculty member, but not to support the student’s graduate research and thesis. Wages are considered regular earnings and when paid monthly, include vacation pay.

Financial aid (need-based funding)

Canadian and US applicants may qualify for governmental loans to finance their studies. Please review eligibility and types of loans .

All students may be able to access private sector or bank loans.

Foreign government scholarships

Many foreign governments provide support to their citizens in pursuing education abroad. International applicants should check the various governmental resources in their home country, such as the Department of Education, for available scholarships.

Working while studying

The possibility to pursue work to supplement income may depend on the demands the program has on students. It should be carefully weighed if work leads to prolonged program durations or whether work placements can be meaningfully embedded into a program.

International students enrolled as full-time students with a valid study permit can work on campus for unlimited hours and work off-campus for no more than 20 hours a week.

A good starting point to explore student jobs is the UBC Work Learn program or a Co-Op placement .

Tax credits and RRSP withdrawals

Students with taxable income in Canada may be able to claim federal or provincial tax credits.

Canadian residents with RRSP accounts may be able to use the Lifelong Learning Plan (LLP) which allows students to withdraw amounts from their registered retirement savings plan (RRSPs) to finance full-time training or education for themselves or their partner.

Please review Filing taxes in Canada on the student services website for more information.

Cost Estimator

Applicants have access to the cost estimator to develop a financial plan that takes into account various income sources and expenses.

Career Outcomes

76 students graduated between 2005 and 2013. Of these, career information was obtained for 75 alumni (based on research conducted between Feb-May 2016):

Sample Employers in Higher Education

Sample employers outside higher education, sample job titles outside higher education, phd career outcome survey, career options.

The market for Ph.D. economists is strong and the School actively supports the placement of our Ph.D. job market candidates. Our students have obtained positions at leading research and teaching universities around the world. A number of graduates also obtained excellent positions at government agencies, central banks, non-governmental organizations, and in the private sector.

At the Vancouver School of Economics, we are dedicated to ensuring the success of our students on the job market.

Enrolment, Duration & Other Stats

These statistics show data for the Doctor of Philosophy in Economics (PhD). Data are separated for each degree program combination. You may view data for other degree options in the respective program profile.

ENROLMENT DATA

Completion rates & times, upcoming doctoral exams, wednesday, 22 may 2024 - 9:00am, monday, 17 june 2024 - 1:30pm - 167, iona building, 6000 iona dr, tuesday, 18 june 2024 - 12:30pm - room 200, monday, 22 july 2024 - 9:30am.

• Research Supervisors

This list shows faculty members with full supervisory privileges who are affiliated with this program. It is not a comprehensive list of all potential supervisors as faculty from other programs or faculty members without full supervisory privileges can request approvals to supervise graduate students in this program.

• Anderson, Siwan (Micro-level institutions, role of gender, studies of rural governments)
• Baylis, Patrick (Economics; Climate Changes and Impacts; Economic Planning of Energy; climate change economics; energy economics; environmental economics)
• Beaudry, Paul (National and International macroeconomic issues, Business cycles, inflation, financial markets, the macro-economic effects of technological change and globalization, and the determinants of aggregate employment and wages)
• Bostanci, Gorkem (Macroeconomics (including monetary and fiscal theory); Industry economics and industrial organization; Firm Dynamics; Input Allocation and Productivity; Labor Demand; intellectual property)
• Copeland, Brian (International trade, environmental economics, interaction between globalization, the environment, and the sustainability of renewable resources)
• Couture, Victor (Economics; Urban economics and transportation; Efficiency of urban transportation systems; Potential for e-commerce to reduce spatial inequality; Preferences for social interactions; Consequences of gentrification)
• Devereux, Michael (Economics, Macro and Monetary Economics Economic Policy, Monetary and Fiscal Policy, Deficits, Exchange Rates, Capital Flows, Financial Crises, International, monetary)
• Drelichman, Mauricio (Economic history, Spain, Argentina)
• Farinha Luz, Vitor (Microeconomic Theory,)
• Ferraz, Claudio (governance and accountability in developing countries; how politics affect public service delivery; the effects of electoral rules on political selection; the role of the state in high crime and violence environments)
• Fortin, Nicole (Wage inequality and its links to labour market institutions and public policies, including higher education policies economic progress of women, gender equality policies, and gender issues in education)
• Francois, Patrick (African Autocracies, Economics of Developing Countries, Indian Village Governance, Macro, development, problems in development economies, political economy and non profits)
• Gallipoli, Giovanni (Macroeconomics (including monetary and fiscal theory); Economic Policies; Economic Phenomena on a National or International Level; Economic Phenomena on an Individual or Organizational Level; applied microeconomics; computational economics; labor economics; macroeconomics; Consumption theory and measurement)
• Green, David (Antibiotic Resistance,  Infectious Disease, Epidemiology, Determinants of the wage and employment structure bridging between macro labour and micro labour identification issues)
• Hnatkovska, Viktoriya (International finance, macroeconomics, development economics in India )
• Hoffmann, Florian (Labor Economics, Macro Economics, Income Inequality, Education, Mobility )
• Hwang, Il Myoung (empirical industrial organization and market design; evaluating different school choice mechanisms)
• Jaccard, Torsten (Economics; international trade)
• Juhasz, Reka (Economics; international trade; Economic History; Development and Growth; industrial policy and industrialization)
• Kasahara, Hiroyuki (Econometrics and international trade )
• Lahiri, Amartya (Exchange rates and monetary policy, growth and development, international economics, macroeconomics, and development economics)
• Lemieux, Thomas (labour market issues, Applied, labour, earnings inequality in Canada and other countries I am also interested in econometric methods used to analyze the earnings distribution and regression discontinuity designs)
• Li, Hao (Microeconomic theory, theory of contracts and organizations, and games and decisions )
• Li, Wei (Contract theory, applied game theory, and information economics I am deeply interested in the interaction of information and incentives in various economics and political environments )
• Lowe, Matthew (preference formation; social integration; political selection)

Doctoral Citations

Sample thesis submissions.

• Essays on the economics of crime and violence
• Essays in economic history and development
• Essays in optimal monetary policy
• Essays in labour economics
• Algorithmic learning in games
• Essays in development economics and economic history
• Essays on fiscal and monetary policy during economic crises
• Essays on gender and behavioural economics
• Rally the vote : electoral competition with direct campaign communication
• Essays on theory and computation in economics
• Essays in urban and labor economics
• Essays on urban violence and health
• Essays in empirical Economics
• Essays on macroeconomics
• Essays in development economics

Related Programs

Same specialization.

• Master of Arts in Economics (MA)

Related Disciplines

• Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD)
• Doctor of Philosophy in History (PhD)
• Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies (PhD)
• Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science (PhD)

Further Information

Specialization.

Economics covers many fields including: macroeconomics, labour economics, international trade and finance, environmental economics, industrial organization, information and incentives, economic theory, health economics, development economics, and economic history.

UBC Calendar

Program website, faculty overview, academic unit, program identifier, classification, social media channels, supervisor search.

Departments/Programs may update graduate degree program details through the Faculty & Staff portal. To update contact details for application inquiries, please use this form .

Sebastian Gomez Cardona

I wanted to come to Canada for its culture and openness towards immigrants. UBC offers the best program in economics in the country and has a reputation worldwide for its research and top programs, not only in economics but also in many other disciplines.

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Philosophy of Economics

“Philosophy of Economics” consists of inquiries concerning (a) rational choice, (b) the appraisal of economic outcomes, institutions and processes, and (c) the ontology of economic phenomena and the possibilities of acquiring knowledge of them. Although these inquiries overlap in many ways, it is useful to divide philosophy of economics in this way into three subject matters which can be regarded respectively as branches of action theory, ethics (or normative social and political philosophy), and philosophy of science. Economic theories of rationality, welfare, and social choice defend substantive philosophical theses often informed by relevant philosophical literature and of evident interest to those interested in action theory, philosophical psychology, and social and political philosophy. Economics is of particular interest to those interested in epistemology and philosophy of science both because of its detailed peculiarities and because it possesses many of the overt features of the natural sciences, while its object consists of social phenomena.

1.1 The emergence of economics and of economies

1.2 contemporary economics and its several schools, 2.1 positive versus normative economics, 2.2 reasons versus causes, 2.3 social scientific naturalism, 2.4 abstraction, idealization, and ceteris paribus clauses in economics, 2.5 causation in economics and econometrics, 2.6 structure and strategy of economics: paradigms and research programmes, 3.1 classical economics and the method a priori, 3.2 friedman and the defense of “unrealistic assumptions”, 4.1 popperian approaches, 4.2 the rhetoric of economics, 4.3 “realism” in economic methodology, 4.4 economic methodology and social studies of science, 4.5 case studies, 5.1 individual rationality, 5.2 collective rationality and social choice, 5.3 game theory, 6.1 welfare, 6.2 efficiency, 6.3 other directions in normative economics, 7. conclusions, economic methodology, ethics and economics, rationality, other works cited, related entries, 1. introduction: what is economics.

Both the definition and the precise domain of economics are subjects of controversy within philosophy of economics. At first glance, the difficulties in defining economics may not appear serious. Economics is, after all, concerned with aspects of the production, exchange, distribution, and consumption of commodities and services. But this claim and the terms it contains are vague; and it is arguable that economics is relevant to a great deal more. It helps to approach the question, “What is economics?” historically, before turning to comments on contemporary features of the discipline.

Philosophical reflection on economics is ancient, but the conception of the economy as a distinct object of study dates back only to the 18th century. Aristotle addresses some problems that most would recognize as pertaining to economics, mainly as problems concerning how to manage a household. Scholastic philosophers addressed ethical questions concerning economic behavior, and they condemned usury — that is, the taking of interest on money. With the increasing importance of trade and of nation-states in the early modern period, ‘mercantilist’ philosophers and pamphleteers were largely concerned with the balance of trade and the regulation of the currency. There was an increasing recognition of the complexities of the financial management of the state and of the possibility that the way that the state taxed and acted influenced the production of wealth.

In the early modern period, those who reflected on the sources of a country’s wealth recognized that the annual harvest, the quantities of goods manufactured, and the products of mines and fisheries depend on facts about nature, individual labor and enterprise, tools and what we would call “capital goods”, and state and social regulations. Trade also seemed advantageous, at least if the terms were good enough. It took no conceptual leap to recognize that manufacturing and farming could be improved and that some taxes and tariffs might be less harmful to productive activities than others. But to formulate the idea that there is such a thing as “the economy” with regularities that can be investigated requires a bold further step. In order for there to be an object of inquiry, there must be regularities in production and exchange; and for the inquiry to be non-trivial, these regularities must go beyond what is obvious to the producers, consumers, and exchangers themselves. Only in the eighteenth century, most clearly illustrated by the work of Cantillon, the physiocrats, David Hume , and especially Adam Smith (see the entry on Smith’s moral and political philosophy ), does one find the idea that there are laws to be discovered that govern the complex set of interactions that produce and distribute consumption goods and the resources and tools that produce them (Backhouse 2002).

Crucial to the possibility of a social object of scientific inquiry is the idea of tracing out the unintended consequences of the intentional actions of individuals. Thus, for example, Hume traces the rise in prices and the temporary increase in economic activity that follow an increase in currency to the perceptions and actions of individuals who first spend the additional currency (1752). In spending their additional gold imported from abroad, traders do not intend to increase the price level. But that is what they do nevertheless. Adam Smith expands and perfects this insight and offers a systematic Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations . From his account of the demise of feudalism (1776, Book II, Ch. 4) to his famous discussion of the invisible hand, Smith emphasizes unintended consequences. “[H]e intends only his own gain; and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was no part of it. By pursuing his own interest, he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it” (1776, Book IV, Ch. 2). The existence of regularities, which are the unintended consequences of individual choices gives rise to an object of scientific investigation.

One can distinguish the domain of economics from the domain of other social scientific inquiries either by specifying some set of causal factors or by specifying some range of phenomena. The phenomena with which economists are concerned are production, consumption, distribution and exchange—particularly via markets. But since so many different causal factors are relevant to these, including the laws of thermodynamics, metallurgy, geography and social norms, even the laws governing digestion, economics cannot be distinguished from other inquiries only by the phenomena it studies. Some reference to a set of central causal factors is needed. Thus, for example, John Stuart Mill maintained that, “Political economy…[is concerned with] such of the phenomena of the social state as take place in consequence of the pursuit of wealth. It makes entire abstraction of every other human passion or motive, except those which may be regarded as perpetually antagonising principles to the desire of wealth, namely aversion to labour, and desire of the present enjoyment of costly indulgences.” (1843, Book VI, Chapter 9, Section 3) In Mill’s view, economics is mainly concerned with the consequences of individual pursuit of tangible wealth, though it takes some account of less significant motives such as aversion to labor.

Mill takes it for granted that individuals act rationally in their pursuit of wealth and luxury and avoidance of labor, rather than in a disjointed or erratic way, but he has no theory of consumption, or explicit theory of rational economic choice, and his theory of resource allocation is rather thin. These gaps were gradually filled during the so-called neoclassical or marginalist revolution, which linked choice of some object of consumption (and its price) not to its total utility but to its marginal utility. For example, water is obviously extremely useful, but in much of the world it is plentiful enough that another glass more or less matters little to an agent. So water is cheap. Early “neoclassical” economists such as William Stanley Jevons held that agents make consumption choices so as to maximize their own happiness (1871). This implies that they distribute their expenditures so that a dollar’s worth of water or porridge or upholstery makes the same contribution to their happiness. The “marginal utility” of a dollar’s worth of each good is the same.

In the Twentieth Century, economists stripped this theory of its hedonistic clothing (Pareto 1909, Hicks and Allen 1934). Rather than supposing that all consumption choices can be ranked by how much they promote an agent’s happiness, economists focused on the ranking itself. All that they suppose concerning evaluations is that agents are able consistently to rank the alternatives they face. This is equivalent to supposing first that rankings are complete — that is, for any two alternatives x and y that the agent considers, either the agent ranks x above y (prefers x to y ), or the agent prefers y to x , or the agent is indifferent. Second, economists suppose that agent’s rankings of alternatives (preferences) are transitive. To say that an agent’s preferences are transitive is to claim that if the agent prefers x to y and y to z , then the agent prefers x to z , with similar claims concerning indifference and combinations of indifference and preference. Though there are further technical conditions to extend the theory to infinite sets of alternatives and to capture further plausible rationality conditions concerning gambles, economists generally subscribe to a view of rational agents as at least possessing complete and transitive preferences and as choosing among the feasible alternatives whichever they most prefer. In the theory of revealed preference, economists have attempted unsuccessfully to eliminate all reference to subjective preference or to define preference in terms of choices (Samuelson 1947, Houtthaker 1950, Little 1957, Sen 1971, 1973, Hausman 2012, chapter 3).

In clarifying the view of rationality that characterizes economic agents, economists have for the most part continued to distinguish economics from other social inquiries by the content of the motives or preferences with which it is concerned. So even though people may seek happiness through asceticism, or they may rationally prefer to sacrifice all their worldly goods to a political cause, economists have supposed that such preferences are rare and unimportant to economics. Economists are concerned with the phenomena deriving from rationality coupled with a desire for wealth and for larger bundles of goods and services.

Economists have flirted with a less substantive characterization of individual motivation and with a more expansive view of the domain of economics. In his influential monograph, An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science , Lionel Robbins defined economics as “the science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses” (1932, p. 15). According to Robbins, economics is not concerned with production, exchange, distribution, or consumption as such. It is instead concerned with an aspect of all human action. Robbins’ definition helps one to understand efforts to apply economic concepts, models, and techniques to other subject matters such as the analysis of voting behavior and legislation, even as economics maintains its connection to a traditional domain.

Contemporary economics is diverse. There are many schools and many branches. Even so-called “orthodox” or “mainstream” economics has many variants. Some mainstream economics is highly theoretical, though most of it is applied and relies on rudimentary theory. Theoretical and applied work can be distinguished as microeconomics or macroeconomics. There is also a third branch, econometrics which is devoted to the empirical estimation, elaboration, and to some extent testing of microeconomic and macroeconomic models (but see Summers 1991 and Hoover 1994).

Microeconomics focuses on relations among individuals (with firms and households frequently counting as honorary individuals and little said about the idiosyncrasies of the demand of particular individuals). Individuals have complete and transitive preferences that govern their choices. Consumers prefer more commodities to fewer and have “diminishing marginal rates of substitution” — i. e. they will pay less for units of a commodity when they already have lots of it than when they have little of it. Firms attempt to maximize profits in the face of diminishing returns: holding fixed all the inputs into production except one, output increases when there is more of the remaining input, but at a diminishing rate. Economists idealize and suppose that in competitive markets, firms and individuals cannot influence prices, but economists are also interested in strategic interactions, in which the rational choices of separate individuals are interdependent. Game theory, which is devoted to the study of strategic interactions, is of growing importance in economics. Economists model the outcome of the profit-maximizing activities of firms and the attempts of consumers optimally to satisfy their preferences as an equilibrium in which there is no excess demand on any market. What this means is that anyone who wants to buy anything at the going market price is able to do so. There is no excess demand, and unless a good is free, there is no excess supply.

Macroeconomics grapples with the relations among economic aggregates, such as relations between the money supply and the rate of interest or the rate of growth, focusing especially on problems concerning the business cycle and the influence of monetary and fiscal policy on economic outcomes. Many mainstream economists would like to unify macroeconomics and microeconomics, but few economists are satisfied with the attempts that have been made to do so, especially via so called “representative agents” (Kirman 1992, Hoover 2001a). Macroeconomics is immediately relevant to economic policy and hence (and unsurprisingly) subject to much more heated (and politically-charged) controversy than microeconomics or econometrics. Schools of macroeconomics include Keynesians (and “new-Keynesians”), monetarists, “new classical economics” (rational expectations theory — Begg 1982, Carter and Maddock 1984, Hoover 1988, Minford and Peel 1983), and “real business cycle” theories (Kydland and Prescott 1991, 1994; Sent 1998).

Branches of mainstream economics are also devoted to specific questions concerning growth, finance, employment, agriculture, housing, natural resources, international trade, and so forth. Within orthodox economics, there are also many different approaches, such as agency theory (Jensen and Meckling 1976, Fama 1980), the Chicago school (Becker 1976), or public choice theory (Brennan and Buchanan 1985, Buchanan 1975). These address questions concerning incentives within firms and families and the ways that institutions guide choices.

Although mainstream economics is dominant and demands the most attention, there are many other schools. Austrian economists accept orthodox views of choices and constraints, but they emphasize uncertainty and question whether one should regard outcomes as equilibria, and they are skeptical about the value of mathematical modeling (Buchanan and Vanberg 1989, Dolan 1976, Kirzner 1976, Mises 1949, 1978, 1981, Rothbard 1957, Wiseman 1983, Boettke 2010, Holcombe 2014, Nell 2014a, 2014b, 2017, Boettke and Coyne 2015, Hagedorn 2015, Horwitz 2015, Dekker 2016, Linsbichler 2017 ).

Traditional institutionalist economists question the value of abstract general theorizing and emphasize evolutionary concepts (Dugger 1979, Wilber and Harrison 1978, Wisman and Rozansky 1991, Hodgson 2000, 2013, 2016, Hodgson and Knudsen 2010, Delorme 2010, Richter 2015). They emphasize the importance of generalizations concerning norms and behavior within particular institutions. Applied work in institutional economics is sometimes very similar to applied orthodox economics. More recent work in economics, which is also called institutionalist, attempts to explain features of institutions by emphasizing the costs of transactions, the inevitable incompleteness of contracts, and the problems “principals” face in monitoring and directing their agents (Coase 1937; Williamson 1985; Mäki et al. 1993, North 1990; Brousseau and Glachant 2008).

Marxian and socialist economists traditionally articulated and developed Karl Marx’s economic theories, but recently many socialist economists have revised traditional Marxian concepts and themes with tools borrowed from orthodox economic theory (Morishima 1973, Roemer 1981, 1982, Bowles 2012, Piketty 2014, Lebowitz 2015, Auerbach 2016, Beckert 2016, Jacobs and Mazzucato 2016).

There are also socio-economists , who are concerned with the norms that govern choices (Etzioni 1988, 2018), behavioral economists , who study the nitty-gritty of choice behavior (Winter 1962, Thaler 1994, Ben Ner and Putterman 1998, Kahneman and Tversky 2000, Camerer 2003, Camerer and Loewenstein 2003, Camerer et al. 2003, Loewenstein 2008, Thaler and Sunstein 2008, Saint-Paul 2011, Oliver 2013), post-Keynesians , who look to Keynes’s work and especially his emphasis on demand (Dow 1985, Kregel 1976, Harcourt and Kriesler 2013 Rochon and Rossi 2017), evolutionary economists , who emphasize the importance of institutions (Witt 2008, Hodgson and Knudsen 2010, Vromen 2009, Hodgson 2013, 2016, Carsten 2013, Dopfer and Potts 2014, Wilson and Kirman 2016), neo-Ricardians , who emphasize relations among economic classes (Sraffa 1960, Pasinetti 1981, Roncaglia 1978), and even neuroeconomists , who study neurological concomitants of choice behavior (Camerer 2007, Camerer et al. 2005, Camerer et al. 2008, Glimcher et al. 2008, Loewenstein et al. 2008, Rusticinni 2005, 2008, Glimcher 2010). Economics is not one homogeneous enterprise.

2. Six central methodological problems

Although the different branches and schools of economics raise a wide variety of epistemological and ontological issues concerning economics, six problems have been central to methodological reflection (in this philosophical sense) concerning economics:

Policy makers look to economics to guide policy, and it seems inevitable that even the most esoteric issues in theoretical economics may bear on some people’s material interests. The extent to which economics bears on and may be influenced by normative concerns raises methodological questions about the relationships between a positive science concerning “facts” and a normative inquiry into values and what ought to be. Most economists and methodologists believe that there is a reasonably clear distinction between facts and values, between what is and what ought to be, and they believe that most of economics should be regarded as a positive science that helps policy makers choose means to accomplish their ends, though it does not bear on the choice of ends itself.

This view is questionable for several reasons (Mongin 2006, Hausman, McPherson, and Satz 2017). First, economists have to interpret and articulate the incomplete specifications of goals and constraints provided by policy makers (Machlup 1969b). Second, economic “science” is a human activity, and like all human activities, it is governed by values. Those values need not be the same as the values that influence economic policy, but it is debatable whether the values that govern the activity of economists can be sharply distinguished from the values that govern policy makers. Third, much of economics is built around a normative theory of rationality. One can question whether the values implicit in such theories are sharply distinguishable from the values that govern policies. For example, it may be difficult to hold a maximizing view of individual rationality, while at the same time insisting that social policy should resist maximizing growth, wealth, or welfare in the name of freedom, rights, or equality. Fourth, people’s views of what is right and wrong are, as a matter of fact, influenced by their beliefs about how people in fact behave. There is evidence that studying theories that depict individuals as self-interested leads people to regard self-interested behavior more favorably and to become more self-interested (Marwell and Ames 1981, Frank et al . 1993). Finally, people’s judgments are clouded by their interests. Since economic theories bear so centrally on people’s interests, there are bound to be ideological biases at work in the discipline (Marx 1867, Preface). Positive and normative are especially interlinked within economics, because economists are not all researchers and teachers. In addition, economists work as commentators and as it were “hired guns” whose salaries depend on arriving at the conclusions their employers want. The bitter polemics concerning macroeconomic policy responses to the great recession beginning in 2008 testify to the influence of ideology.

Orthodox theoretical microeconomics is as much a theory of rational choices as it a theory that explains and predicts economic outcomes. Since virtually all economic theories that discuss individual choices take individuals as acting for reasons, and thus in some way rational, questions about the role that views of rationality and reasons should play in economics are of general importance. Economists are typically concerned with the aggregate results of individual choices rather than with the actions of particular individuals, but their theories in fact offer both causal explanations for why individuals choose as they do and accounts of the reasons for their choices. See also the entries on methodological individualism and reasons for action: justification, motivation, explanation .

Explanations in terms of reasons have several features that distinguish them from explanations in terms of causes. Reasons purport to justify the actions they explain, and indeed so called “external reasons” (Williams 1981) only justify action, without purporting to explain it. Reasons can be evaluated, and they are responsive to criticism. Reasons, unlike causes, must be intelligible to those for whom they are reasons. On grounds such as these, many philosophers have questioned whether explanations of human action can be causal explanations (von Wright 1971, Winch 1958). Yet merely giving a reason — even an extremely good reason — fails to explain an agent’s action, if the reason was not in fact “effective.” Someone might, for example, start attending church regularly and give as his reason a concern with salvation. But others might suspect that this agent is deceiving himself and that the minister’s attractive daughter is in fact responsible for his renewed interest in religion. Donald Davidson (1963) argued that what distinguishes the reasons that explain an action from the reasons that fail to explain it is that the former are also causes of the action. Although the account of rationality within economics differs in some ways from the folk psychology people tacitly invoke in everyday explanations of actions, many of the same questions carry over (Rosenberg 1976, ch. 5; 1980, Hausman 2012).

An additional difference between explanations in terms of reasons and explanations in terms of causes, which some economists have emphasized, is that the beliefs and preferences that explain actions may depend on mistakes and ignorance (Knight 1935). As a first approximation, economists can abstract from such difficulties caused by the intentionality of belief and desire. They thus often assume that people have perfect information about all the relevant facts. In that way theorists need not worry about what people’s beliefs are. (If people have perfect information, then they believe and expect whatever the facts are.) But once one goes beyond this first approximation, difficulties arise which have no parallel in the natural sciences. Choice depends on how things look “from the inside”, which may be very different from the actual state of affairs. Consider for example the stock market. The “true” value of a stock depends on the future profits of the company, which are of course uncertain. In 2006 house prices in the U.S. were extremely inflated. But whether they were “too high” depended at least in the short run, on what people believe. They were excellent investments if one could sell them to others who would be willing to pay even more for them. Economists disagree about how significant this subjectivity is. Members of the Austrian school argue that these differences are of great importance and sharply distinguish theorizing about economics from theorizing about any of the natural sciences (Buchanan and Vanberg 1989, von Mises 1981).

Of all the social sciences, economics most closely resembles the natural sciences. Economic theories have been axiomatized, and articles and books of economics are full of theorems. Of all the social sciences, only economics boasts an ersatz Nobel Prize. Economics is thus a test case for those concerned with the extent of the similarities between the natural and social sciences. Those who have wondered whether social sciences must differ fundamentally from the natural sciences seem to have been concerned mainly with three questions:

(i) Are there fundamental differences between the structure or concepts of theories and explanations in the natural and social sciences? Some of these issues were already mentioned in the discussion above of reasons versus causes.

(ii) Are there fundamental differences in goals? Philosophers and economists have argued that in addition to or instead of the predictive and explanatory goals of the natural sciences, the social sciences should aim at providing us with understanding . Weber and others have argued that the social sciences should provide us with an understanding “from the inside”, that we should be able to empathize with the reactions of the agents and to find what happens “understandable” (Weber 1904, Knight 1935, Machlup 1969a). This (and the closely related recognition that explanations cite reasons rather than just causes) seems to introduce an element of subjectivity into the social sciences that is not found in the natural sciences.

(iii) Owing to the importance of human choices (or perhaps free will), are social phenomena too irregular to be captured within a framework of laws and theories? Given human free will, perhaps human behavior is intrinsically unpredictable and not subject to any laws. But there are, in fact, many regularities in human action, and given the enormous causal complexity characterizing some natural systems, the natural sciences must cope with many irregularities, too.

Economics raises questions concerning the legitimacy of severe abstraction and idealization. For example, mainstream economic models often stipulate that everyone is perfectly rational and has perfect information or that commodities are infinitely divisible. Such claims are exaggerations, and they are clearly false. Other schools of economics may not employ idealizations that are this extreme, but there is no way to do economics if one is not willing to simplify drastically and abstract from many complications. How much simplification, idealization, abstraction or “isolation” (Mäki 2006) is legitimate?

In addition, because economists attempt to study economic phenomena as constituting a separate domain, influenced only by a small number of causal factors, the claims of economics are true only ceteris paribus — that is, they are true only if there are no interferences or disturbing causes. What are ceteris paribus clauses, and when if ever are they legitimate in science? Questions concerning ceteris paribus clauses are closely related to questions concerning simplifications and idealizations, since one way to simplify is to suppose that the various disturbing causes or interferences are inactive and to explore the consequences of some small number of causal factors. These issues and the related question of how well supported economics is by the evidence have been the central questions in economic methodology. They will be discussed further below mainly in Section 3 .

Many important generalizations in economics are causal claims. For example, the law of demand asserts that a price increase will ( ceteris paribus ) diminish the quantity demanded. (It does not merely assert an inverse relationship between price and demand. When demand increases for some other reason, such as a change in tastes, price increases .) Econometricians have also been deeply concerned with the possibilities of determining causal relations from statistical evidence and with the relevance of causal relations to the possibility of consistent estimation of parameter values. Since concerns about the consequences of alternative policies are so central to economics, causal inquiry is unavoidable.

Before the 1930s, economists were generally willing to use causal language explicitly and literally, despite some concerns that there might be a conflict between causal analysis of economic changes and “comparative statics” treatments of equilibrium states. Some economists were also worried that thinking in terms of causes was not compatible with recognizing the multiplicity and mutuality of determination in economic equilibrium. In the anti-metaphysical intellectual environment of the 1930s and 1940s (of which logical positivism was at least symptomatic), any mention of causation became suspicious, and economists commonly pretended to avoid causal concepts. The consequence was that they ceased to reflect carefully on the causal concepts that they continued implicitly to invoke (Hausman 1983, 1990, Helm 1984, Runde 1998). For example, rather than formulating the law of demand in terms of the causal consequences of price changes for quantity demanded, economists tried to confine themselves to discussing the mathematical function relating price and quantity demanded. There were important exceptions (Haavelmo 1944, Simon 1953, Wold 1954), and during the past generation, this state of affairs has changed dramatically.

For example, in his Causality in Macroeconomics (2001b) Kevin Hoover develops feasible methods for investigating large scale causal questions, such as whether changes in the money supply ( M ) cause changes in the rate of inflation P or accommodate changes in P that are otherwise caused. If changes in M cause changes in P , then the conditional distribution of P on M should remain stable with exogenous changes in M , but should change with exogenous changes in P . Hoover argues that historical investigation, backed by statistical inquiry, can justify the conclusion that some particular changes in M or P have been exogenous. One can then determine the causal direction by examining the stability of the conditional distributions. Econometricians have made vital contributions to the contemporary revival of philosophical interest in the notion of causation. In addition to Hoover’s work, see for example Geweke (1982), Granger (1969, 1980), Cartwright (1989), Sims (1977), Zellner and Aigner (1988), Pearl (2000), Spirtes, Glymour and Scheines (2001).

One relatively secure way to determine causal relations is via randomized controlled experiments. If the experimenters sort subjects randomly into experimental and control groups and vary just one factor, then, unless by bad luck the two groups differ in some unknown way, changes in the outcomes given the common features of the control and treatment groups should be due to the difference in the one factor. Indeed, in the case of quantitative variables, one can calculate average causal effects (Deaton 2010). This makes randomized controlled trials very attractive, though no panacea, since the treatment and control groups may not be representative of the population in which policy-makers hope to apply the causal conclusions, and the causal consequences of the intervention might differ across different subgroups within the control and treatment groups (Worrall 2007, Cartwright and Hardie 2013).

For both practical and ethical reasons, it is often hard to experiment in economics (though, as discussed in section 4.5, far from impossible). But with some ingenuity and with far greater enthusiasm for experimentation than had been the case previously, economists are experimenting much more frequently both in the laboratory and in the field. In addition, as a substitute for experimentation, or as a way of stretching the limits on experimentation, economists in recent years have become very enthusiastic about so-called “instrumental variable” techniques. For example, merely examining the correlation between economic growth and development aid, even controlling for other factors known to influence economic growth is unlikely to reveal the causal influence of aid on growth, because aid may reciprocally depend on growth and well as many factors that are hard to measure that also influence growth. These problems can be to some extent circumvented if economists can find an “instrumental” variable x upon which aid depends that influences growth (if at all) only by its influence on aid and which is probabilistically independent of all other determinants of growth. In that case, one can use the effect of x on growth to estimate the effect of aid on growth. Instrumental variable techniques, policy experimentation, and reliance on “natural experiments” have become widespread, though they bring with them new problems extrapolating experimental results to the target population (Deaton 2010; Cartwright and Hardie 2013).

In the wake of the work of Kuhn (1970) and Lakatos (1970), philosophers are much more aware of and interested in the larger theoretical structures that unify and guide research within particular research traditions. Since many theoretical projects or approaches in economics are systematically unified, they pose questions about what guides research, and many economists have applied the work of Kuhn or Lakatos in the attempt to shed light on the overall structure of economics (Baumberg 1977, Blaug 1976, de Marchi and Blaug 1991, Bronfenbrenner 1971, Coats 1969, Dillard 1978, Hands 1985b, Hausman 1992, ch. 6, Hutchison 1978, Latsis 1976, Jalladeau 1978, Kunin and Weaver 1971, Stanfield 1974, Weintraub 1985, Worland 1972). Whether these applications have been successful is controversial, but the comparison of the structure of economics to Kuhn’s and Lakatos’ schema served to highlight distinctive features of economics and may have contributed to some of the changes that economics has undergone. For example, asking what the “positive heuristic” of mainstream economics consists in permits one to see that mainstream theoretical models typically attempted to demonstrate that an economic equilibrium will obtain, and thus that mainstream models were unified in more than just their common assumptions. Since the success of research projects in economics is controversial, understanding their global structure and strategy helped to clarify their drawbacks as well as their advantages.

3. Inexactness, ceteris paribus clauses, tendencies, “unrealistic assumptions” and models

As mentioned in the previous section, the most important methodological issue concerning economics involves the very considerable simplification, idealization, and abstraction that characterizes economic theory and the consequent doubts these features of economics raise concerning whether economics is well supported. Claims such as, “Agents prefer larger commodity bundles to smaller commodity bundles,” raise serious questions, because if they are interpreted as universal generalizations, they are false; and philosophy of science has traditionally supposed that science is devoted to the discovery of genuine laws—that is, true universal generalizations. Even though it is false that everyone always prefers larger commodity bundles to smaller, the generalization seems informative and useful. Can a science rest on false generalizations? If these claims are not universal generalizations, then what is their logical form? And how can claims that appear in this way to be false or approximate be tested and confirmed or disconfirmed? These problems have bedeviled economists and economic methodologists from the first methodological reflections to the present day.

The first extended reflections on economic methodology appear in the work of Nassau Senior (1836) and John Stuart Mill (1836). Their essays must be understood against the background of both the economic theory and the philosophy of science of their times. Like Smith’s economics (to which it owed a great deal) and modern economics, the “classical” economics of the middle decades of the 19th century traced economic regularities to the choices of individuals facing social and natural constraints. But, as compared to Smith, more reliance was placed on severely simplified models. David Ricardo’s Principles of Political Economy (1817), draws a portrait in which wages above the subsistence level lead to increases in the population, which in turn require more intensive agriculture or cultivation of inferior land. The extension of cultivation leads to lower profits and higher rents; and the whole tale of economic development leads to a gloomy stationary state in which profits are too low to command any net investment, wages slide back to subsistence levels, and only the landlords are affluent.

Fortunately for the world, but unfortunately for economic theorists of the mid 19th century, the data consistently contradicted the trends the theory predicted (de Marchi 1970). Yet the theory continued to hold sway for more than half a century, and the consistently unfavorable data were explained away as due to various “disturbing causes.” It is consequently not surprising that Senior’s and Mill’s accounts of the method of economics emphasize the relative autonomy of theory.

Mill distinguishes between two main kinds of inductive methods. The method a posteriori is a method of direct experience. In his view, it is only suitable for phenomena in which few causal factors are operating or in which experimental controls are possible. Mill’s famous methods of induction provide an articulation of the method a posteriori . In his method of difference, for example, one holds fixed every causal factor except one and checks to see whether the effect ceases to obtain when that one factor is removed. The goal is to identify exceptionless causal laws.

Mill maintains that direct inductive methods cannot be used to study phenomena in which many causal factors are in play. If, for example, one attempts to investigate whether tariffs enhance or impede prosperity by comparing the prosperity of nations with high tariffs and nations without high tariffs, the results will be uninformative, because prosperity depends on so many other causal factors. So, Mill argues, one needs instead to employ the method a priori . Despite its name, this too is an inductive method. However, unlike the method a posteriori , the method a priori is an indirect inductive method. Scientists first determine the laws governing individual causal factors in domains in which Mill’s methods of induction are applicable. Having then determined the laws of the individual causes, they investigate their combined consequences deductively. Finally, there is a role for “verification” of the combined consequences, but owing to the causal complications, this testing has comparatively little weight. The testing of the conclusions serves only as a check on the scientist’s deductions and as an indicator of whether there are significant disturbing causes that scientists have not yet accounted for.

Mill gives the example of the science of the tides. Physicists determined the law of gravitation by studying planetary motion, in which gravity is the only significant causal factor. Then physicists develop the theory of tides deductively from that law and information concerning the positions and motions of the moon and sun. The implications of the theory will be inexact and sometimes badly mistaken, because many subsidiary causal factors influence tides. Testing theories of tides can uncover mistakes in the deductions physicists made, and it may uncover evidence concerning the role of the subsidiary factors. But because of the causal complexity, such testing does little to confirm or disconfirm the law of gravitation, which has already been established. Although Mill does not often use the language of “ ceteris paribus ”, his view that the principles or “laws” of economics hold in the absence of “interferences” or “disturbing causes” provides an account of how the principles of economics can be true ceteris paribus (Hausman 1992, ch. 8, 12).

Because economic theory includes only the most important causes and necessarily ignores minor causes, its claims, like claims concerning tides, are inexact. Its predictions will be imprecise, and sometimes far off. Mill maintains that it is nevertheless possible to develop and confirm economic theory by studying in simpler domains the laws governing the major causal factors and then deducing their consequences in more complicated circumstances. For example, the statistical data are ambiguous concerning the relationship between minimum wages and unemployment of unskilled workers; and since the minimum wage has never been extremely high, there are no data about what unemployment would be in those circumstances. On the other hand, everyday experience teaches economists that firms can choose among more or less labor-intensive processes and that a high minimum wage will make more labor-intensive processes more expensive. On the assumption that firms try to keep their costs down, economists have good (though not conclusive) reason to believe that a high minimum wage will increase unemployment.

In defending a view of economics as in this way inexact and employing the method a priori, Mill thought he was able to reconcile his empiricism and his commitment to Ricardo’s economics. Although Mill’s views on economic methodology were challenged later in the nineteenth century by economists who believed that theory was too remote from the contingencies of policy and history (Roscher 1874, Schmoller 1888, 1898), Mill’s methodological views dominated the mainstream of economic theory for a century (for example, Cairnes 1875). Mill’s vision survived the so-called neoclassical revolution in economics beginning in the 1870s and is clearly discernible in the most important methodological treatises concerning neoclassical economics, such as John Neville Keynes’ The Scope and Method of Political Economy (1891) or Lionel Robbins’ An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science (1932). Hausman (1992) argues that current methodological practice closely resembles Mill’s methodology, despite the fact that few economists explicitly defend it.

Although this way of interpreting Mill and the methodology of economics is coherent and conforms to an old-fashioned empiricist philosophy of science that finds the nomological force of generalizations in their universality, it is not faithful to the way in which economists see their theories. Rather than regarding generalizations such as acquisitiveness as universal laws carrying implicit ceteris paribus qualifications in their antecedents, economists are much more likely to regard these generalizations as “tendencies” that continue to operate even when defeated by interferences and that need to be studied separately (Woodward 2003). Even Mill speaks of tendencies, though without reconciling his talk of tendencies with his empiricism. If one sets aside metaphysical qualms about tendencies and counterfactuals, the most natural way to see economic theorizing is as the counterfactual investigation of combinations of tendencies. As the discussion below of models confirms, such views are congenial to economists and puzzling to philosophers with empiricist scruples.

Conceptualizing of economic inquiry as the study of models and tendencies, seems to shift the terms of the problems posed by inexactness rather than to offer a solution. Julian Reiss has, in effect, rediscovered the problem in an influential essay, “The Explanation Paradox.” (2013), where he argues that the following three propositions are inconsistent: (1) Economic models are false. (2) Economic models are explanatory. (3) Explanation requires truth.The formulation is a bit obscure, since models are not single sentences or propositions that can be true or false, but it should be clear that Reiss’s putative paradox is a reformulation of the problem posed by the inexactness of economic theories or models.

Although some contemporary philosophers have argued that Mill’s method a priori is largely defensible (Bhaskar 1975, Cartwright 1989, and Hausman 1992), by the middle of the Twentieth Century Mill’s views appeared to many economists out of step with their understanding of contemporary philosophy of science. Without studying Mill’s text carefully, it was easy for economists to misunderstand his terminology and to regard his method a priori as opposed to empiricism. Others took seriously Mill’s view that the basic principles of economics should be empirically established and found evidence to cast doubt on some of the basic principles, particularly the view that firms attempt to maximize profits (Hall and Hitch 1938, Lester 1946, 1947). Methodologists who were well-informed about contemporary developments in philosophy of science, such as Terence Hutchison (1938), denounced “pure theory” in economics as unscientific.

Philosophically reflective economists proposed several ways to replace the old-fashioned Millian view with a more up-to-date methodology that would continue to justify much of current practice (see particularly Machlup 1955, 1960 and Koopmans 1957). By far the most influential of these efforts was Milton Friedman’s 1953 essay, “The Methodology of Positive Economics.” This essay has had an enormous influence, far more than any other work on methodology.

Friedman begins his essay by distinguishing in a conventional way between positive and normative economics and conjecturing that policy disputes are typically really disputes about the consequences of alternatives and can thus be resolved by progress in positive economics. Turning to positive economics, Friedman asserts (without argument) that correct prediction concerning phenomena not yet observed is the ultimate goal of all positive sciences. He holds a practical view of science and finds the value of science in predictions that will guide policy.

Since it is difficult and often impossible to carry out experiments and since the uncontrolled phenomena economists observe are difficult to interpret (owing to the same causal complexity that bothered Mill), it is hard to judge whether a particular theory is a good basis for predictions or not. Tendencies are not universal laws. A claim such as “firms attempt to maximize profits” will be “unrealistic” in the sense that it is not a true universal generalization. Although not in these terms, Friedman objects to criticisms of tendencies that in effect complain that they are merely tendencies, rather than universal laws. If his criticism stopped there, it would be sensible, although it would avoid the problems of understanding and appraising claims about tendencies.

But Friedman draws a much more radical conclusion. In his terminology, the mistake economists make who criticize claims such as “firms attempt to maximize profits” lies in the attempt to test theories by the “realism” of their “assumptions” rather than by the accuracy of their predictions. He maintains that the realism of a theory’s assumptions is irrelevant to its predictive value. It does not matter whether the assumption that firms maximize profits is realistic. Theories should be appraised exclusively in terms of the accuracy of their predictions. What matters is exclusively whether the theory of the firm makes correct and significant predictions.

As critics have pointed out (and almost all commentators have been critical), Friedman refers to several different things as “assumptions” of a theory and means several different things by speaking of assumptions as “unrealistic” (Brunner 1969). Since Friedman aims his criticism to those who investigate empirically whether firms in fact attempt to maximize profits, he must take “assumptions” to include central economic generalizations, such as “Firms attempt to maximize profits,” and by “unrealistic,” he must mean, among other things, “false.” In arguing that it is a mistake to appraise theories in terms of the realism of assumptions, Friedman is arguing at least that it is a mistake to appraise theories by investigating whether their central generalizations are true or false.

It would seem that this interpretation would render Friedman’s views inconsistent, because in testing whether firms attempt to maximize profits, one is checking whether predictions of theory concerning the behavior of firms are true or false. An “assumption” such as “firms maximize profits” is itself a prediction. But there is a further wrinkle. Friedman is not concerned with every prediction of economic theories. In Friedman’s view, “theory is to be judged by its predictive power exclusively for the class of phenomena which it is intended to explain” (1953, p. 8 [italics added]). Economists are interested in only some of the implications of economic theories. Other predictions, such as those concerning the results of surveys of managers, are irrelevant to policy. What matters is whether economic theories are successful at predicting the phenomena that economists are interested in. In other words, Friedman believes that economic theories should be appraised in terms of their predictions concerning prices and quantities exchanged on markets. In his view, what matters is “narrow predictive success” (Hausman 2008a), not overall predictive adequacy.

So Friedman permits economists to ignore the disquieting findings of surveys, or the fact that people do not always prefer larger bundles of commodities to smaller bundles of commodities. Nor do economists need to be concerned about whether there is a tendency to prefer more commodities to fewer. They need not be troubled that some of their models suppose extravagantly that all agents know the prices of all present and future commodities in all markets. All that matters is whether the predictions concerning market phenomena turn out to be correct. And since anomalous market outcomes could be due to any number of uncontrolled causal factors, while experiments are difficult to carry out, it turns out that economists need not worry about ever encountering evidence that would strongly disconfirm fundamental theory. Detailed models may be confirmed or disconfirmed, but fundamental theory is safe. In this way one can understand how Friedman’s methodology, which appears to justify the eclectic and pragmatic view that economists should use any model that appears to “work” regardless of how absurd or unreasonable its assumptions might appear, has been deployed in service of a rigid theoretical orthodoxy. For other discussions of Friedman’s essay, see Bear and Orr 1969, Boland 1979, Hammond 1992, Hirsch and de Marchi 1990, Mäki 1990a, Melitz 1963, Rotwein 1959, and Samuelson 1963.

Over the last two decades there has been a surge of experimentation in economics, and Friedman’s methodological views probably do not command the same near unanimity that they used to. But they are still enormously influential, and they still serve as a way of avoiding awkward questions concerning simplifications, idealizations, and abstraction in economics rather than responding to them.

A century ago economists talked of their work in terms of “principles,” “laws,”, and “theories.” That language has not disappeared altogether: economists still talk of “game theory”, “consumer choice theory”, or the “law of demand”. But nowadays the standard intellectual tool or form in economics is a “model.” Econometricians speak of models and structures. Economists are more comfortable describing the axioms concerning rational choice as constituting a model of rational choice than as delineating a theory of rational choice. Many of the most distinguished commentators on models regard them as fictional worlds, whose study informs our understanding of actual phenomena (Frigg, 2010). “Creating models is ‘world-making.’” (Morgan 2012, pp. 95, 405). In their view, economists are able to investigate how causal factors would operate in the absence of interferences by constructing models —that is fictional economies—in which the interferences are absent. Uskali Mäki maintains that “Models are experiments. Experiments are models.” (2005). Dani Rodrik (2015) argues that economics consists of a collection of models, and that doing economics consists in selecting or customizing a model from this collection. Is the ubiquity of talk of models just a change in terminological fashion, or does the concern with models (which is by no means unique to economics) signal a methodological shift? What are models? These questions have been discussed by Cartwright 1989, 1999, Godfrey Smith 2006, Grüne-Yanoff 2009, Hausman 1992, 2015a, Kuorikoski and Lehtinen 2009, Mäki, ed. 1991, Mäki 2005, 2009a, 2009b, Morgan 2001, 2004, 2012, Morgan and Morrison 1999, Rappaport 1998, Sugden 2000, 2009, Weisberg 2007, and Lehtinen, Kuorikoski and Ylikoski 2012.

The view of models to which economists are most attracted is philosophically problematic, because it is apparently committed to the existence of fictional entities whose properties and causal propensities economists can investigate. In experiments, whether carried out in a laboratory or in the field, experimenters interact causally with flesh and blood experimental subjects, and the outcome may contradict the economist’s predictions. In investigating a model, in contrast, the economist “interacts” with fictional entities, which are arguably nothing other than his or her own thoughts, and the logical implications of the axioms that define the model are never disappointed. This is not to say that the logical investigation of models never results in surprises. Humans are not logically omniscient, and discovering the implications of a set of axioms may be an arduous task. But it is a different task than carrying out an experiment in the laboratory or the field, and ontology of the “worlds” that economists allegedly “create” and then study is deeply puzzling. Although less faithful to economic practice, it is far more intelligible philosophically to regard models as predicates or as definitions of predicates (Hausman 1992). For example, when economists write down a model of a firm with a single output and just two inputs, they are defining a concept that they can use to describe actual firms.

4. Influential approaches to economic methodology

The past half century has witnessed the emergence of a large literature devoted to economic methodology. That literature explores many methodological approaches and applies its conclusions to many schools and branches of economics. Much of the literature has focused on the fundamental theory of mainstream economics — the theory of the equilibria resulting from constrained rational individual choice — but the tremendous importance of macroeconomics in determining the proper responses to the great recession beginning in 2008, coupled with the rapidly increasing role of empirical and experimental inquiries in the day-to-day work of economists have seen echoes in methodological inquiries (Backhouse 2010). Since 1985, there has been a journal Economics and Philosophy devoted specifically to philosophy of economics, and since 1994 there has also been a Journal of Economic Methodology . This section will sample some of the methodological approaches of the past two decades.

Karl Popper ’s philosophy of science has been influential among economists, as among other scientists. Popper defends what he calls a falsificationist methodology (1968, 1969). Scientists should formulate theories that are “logically falsifiable” — that is, inconsistent with some possible observation reports. “All crows are black” is logically falsifiable; it is inconsistent with (and would be falsified by) an observation report of a red crow. (Probabilistic claims are obviously not in this sense falsifiable.) Popper insists on falsifiability on the grounds that unfalsifiable claims that rule out no observations are uninformative. They provide no guidance concerning what to expect, and there is nothing to be learned from testing them. Second, Popper maintains that scientists should subject theories to harsh test and should be willing to reject them when they fail the tests. Third, scientists should regard theories as at best interesting conjectures. Passing a test does not confirm a theory or provide scientists with reason to believe it. It only justifies on the one hand continuing to employ the hypothesis (since it has not yet been falsified) and, on the other hand, devoting increased efforts to attempting to falsify it (since it has thus far survived testing). Popper has defended what he calls “situational logic” (which is basically rational choice theory) as the correct method for the social sciences (1967, 1976). There appear to be serious tensions between Popper’s falsificationism and his defense of situational logic, and his discussion of situational logic has not been as influential as his falsificationism. For discussion of how situational logic applies to economics, see Hands (1985a).

Given Popper’s falsificationism, there seems little hope of understanding how extreme simplifications can be legitimate or how current economic practice could be scientifically reputable. Economic theories and models are almost all unfalsifiable, and if they were, the widespread acceptance of Friedman’s methodological views would insure that they are not subjected to serious test. When models apparently fail tests, they are rarely repudiated. Economists conclude instead merely that they chose the wrong model for the task, or that there were disturbing causes. Economic models, which have not been well tested, are often taken to be well-established guides to policy, rather than merely conjectures. Critics of neoclassical economics have made these criticisms (Eichner 1983), but most of those who have espoused Popper’s philosophy of science have not repudiated mainstream economics and have not been harshly critical of its practitioners.

Mark Blaug (1992) and Terence Hutchison (1938, 1977, 1978, 2000), who are the most prominent Popperian methodologists, criticize particular features of economics, and they both call for more testing and a more critical attitude. For example, Blaug praises Gary Becker (1976) for his refusal to explain differences in choices by differences in preferences, but criticizes him for failing to go on and test his theories severely (1980a, chapter 14). However, both Blaug and Hutchison understate the radicalism of Popper’s views and take his message to be little more than that scientists should be critical and concerned to test their theories.

Blaug’s and Hutchison’s criticisms have sometimes been challenged on the grounds that economic theories cannot be tested, because of their ceteris paribus clauses and the many subsidiary assumptions required to derive testable implications (Caldwell 1984). But this response ignores Popper’s insistence that testing requires methodological decisions not to attribute failures of predictions to mistakes in subsidiary assumptions or to “interferences.” For views of Popper’s philosophy and its applicability to economics, see de Marchi (1988), Caldwell (1991), Boland (1982, 1989, 1992, 1997), and Boylan and O’Gorman (2007), Backhouse (2009), and Thomas (2017).

Applying Popper’s views on falsification literally would be destructive. Not only neoclassical economics, but all significant economic theories would be condemned as unscientific, and there would be no way to discriminate among economic theories. One major problem with a naive reading of Popper’s views is that one cannot derive testable implications from theories by themselves. To derive testable implications, one also needs subsidiary assumptions concerning probability distributions, measurement devices, proxies for unmeasured variables, the absence of interferences, and so forth. This is the so-called “Duhem-Quine problem” (Duhem 1906, Quine 1953, Cross 1982). These problems arise generally, and Popper proposes that they be solved by a methodological decision to regard a failure of the deduced testable implication to be a failure of the theory. But in economics the subsidiary assumptions are dubious and in many cases known to be false. Making the methodological decision that Popper requires is unreasonable and would lead one to reject all economic theories.

Imre Lakatos (1970), who was for most of his philosophical career a follower of Popper, offers a broadly Popperian solution to this problem. Lakatos insists that testing is always comparative. When theories face empirical difficulties, as they always do, one attempts to modify them. Scientifically acceptable (in Lakatos’ terminology “theoretically progressive”) modifications must always have some additional testable implications; otherwise they are purely ad hoc . If some of the new predictions are confirmed, then the modification is “empirically progressive,” and one has reason to reject the unmodified theory and to employ the new theory, regardless of how unsuccessful in general either theory may be. Though progress may be hard to come by, Lakatos’ views do not have the same destructive implications as Popper’s. Lakatos appears to solve the problem of how to appraise mainstream economic theory by arguing that what matters is empirical progress or retrogression rather than empirical success or failure. Lakatos’ views have thus been more attractive to economic methodologists than Popper’s.

Developing Thomas Kuhn’s notion of a “paradigm” (1970) and some hints from Popper, Lakatos also presented a view of the global theory structure of whole theoretical enterprises, which he called “scientific research programmes.” Lakatos emphasized that there is a “hard core” of basic theoretical propositions that define a research programme and that are not to be questioned within the research programme. In addition members of a research programme accept a common body of heuristics that guide them in the articulation and modification of specific theories. These views have also been attractive to economic methodologists, since theory development in economics is sharply constrained and since economics appears at first glance to have a “hard core.” The fact that economists do not give up basic theoretical postulates that appear to be false might be explained and justified by regarding them as part of the “hard core” of the “neoclassical research programme”.

Yet Lakatos’ views do not provide a satisfactory account of how economics can be a reputable science despite its reliance on extreme simplifications. For it is questionable whether the development of neoclassical economic theory has demonstrated empirical progress. For example, the replacement of “cardinal” utility theory by “ordinal” utility theory (see below Section 5.1 ) in the 1930s, which is generally regarded as a major step forward, involved the replacement of one theory by another that had no additional empirical content. Furthermore, despite his emphasis on heuristics as guiding theory modification, Lakatos still emphasizes testing. Science is for Lakatos more empirically driven than mainstream economics has been (Hands 1992). It is also doubtful whether research enterprises in economics have “hard cores” (Hoover 1991, Hausman 1992, ch. 6). For attempts to apply Lakatos’ views to economics see Latsis (1976), and Weintraub (1985). As is apparent in de Marchi and Blaug (1991), writers on economic methodology have in recent years become increasingly disenchanted with Lakatos’ philosophy (Backhouse 2009).

There is a second major problem with Popper’s philosophy of science, which plagues Lakatos’ views as well. Both maintain that there is no such thing as empirical confirmation (for some late qualms, see Lakatos 1974). Popper and Lakatos maintain that evidence never provides reason to believe that scientific claims are true, and both also deny that results of tests can justify relying on statements in practical endeavours or in theoretical inquiry. There is no better evidence for one unfalsified proposition than for another. On this view, someone who questions whether there is enough evidence for some proposition to justify relying on it in theoretical studies or for policy purposes would be making the methodological “error” of supposing that there can be evidence in support of hypotheses. With the notable exception of Watkins (1984), few philosophers within the Popperian tradition have faced up to this challenging consequence.

One radical reaction to the difficulties of justifying the reliance on severe simplifications is to deny that economics passes methodological muster. Alexander Rosenberg (1992) maintains that economics can only make imprecise generic predictions, and it cannot make progress, because it is built around folk psychology, which is a mediocre theory of human behavior and which (owing to the irreducibility of intentional notions) cannot be improved. Complex economic theories are scientifically valuable only as applied mathematics, not as empirical theory. Since economics does not show the same consistent progress as the natural sciences, one cannot dismiss Rosenberg’s suggestion that economics is an empirical dead end. But his view that it has made no progress and that it does not permit quantitative predictions is hard to accept. For example, contemporary economists are much better at pricing stock options or designing auctions than economists were even a generation ago.

An equally radical but opposite reaction is Deirdre McCloskey’s, who denies that there are any non-trivial methodological standards that economics must meet (1985, 1992, 1994, 2000, McCloskey and Ziliak 2003, Ziliak and McCloskey 2008). In her view, the only relevant and significant criteria for assessing the practices and products of a discipline are those accepted by the practitioners. Apart from a few general standards such as honesty and a willingness to listen to criticisms, the only justifiable criteria for any conversation are those of the participants. Economists can thus dismiss the arrogant pretensions of philosophers to judge economic discourse. Whatever a group of respected economists takes to be good economics is automatically good economics. Philosophical standards of empirical success are just so much hot air. Those who are interested in understanding the character of economics and in contributing to its improvement should eschew methodology and study instead the “rhetoric” of economics — that is, the means of argument and persuasion that succeed among economists.

McCloskey’s studies of the rhetoric of economics have been valuable and influential (1985, esp. ch. 5–7, McCloskey and Ziliak 2003, Ziliak and McCloskey 2008), but a great deal of her work during the 1980s and 1990s consists of philosophical critiques of economic methodology rather than studies of the rhetoric of economics. Her philosophical critiques are problematic, because the position sketched in the previous paragraph is hard to defend and potentially self-defeating. It is hard to defend, because epistemological standards have already influenced the conversation of economists. The standards of predictive success which lead one to have qualms about economics are already standards that many economists accept. The only way to escape these doubts is to surrender the standards that gave rise to them. But McCloskey’s position undermines any principled argument for a change in standards. Furthermore, as Rosenberg has argued (1988), it seems that economists would doom themselves to irrelevance if they were to surrender standards of predictive success, for it is upon such standards that policy decisions are made.

McCloskey does not, in fact, want to preclude the possibiity that economists are sometimes persuaded when they should not be or are not persuaded when they should be. For she herself criticizes the bad habit some economists have of conflating statistical significance with economic importance (1985, ch. 9, McCloskey and Ziliak 2003, Ziliak and McCloskey 2008). McCloskey typically characterizes rhetoric descriptively as the study of what in fact persuades, but sometimes she instead characterizes it normatively as the study of what ought to persuade (1985, ch. 2). And if rhetoric is the study of what ought rationally to persuade, then it is methodology, not an alternative to methodology. Questions about whether economics is a successful empirical science cannot be conjured away.

Economic methodologist have paid little attention to debates within philosophy of science between realists and anti-realists (van Fraassen 1980, Boyd 1984, Psillos 1999, Niniluoto 2002, Chakravarty 2010, Dicken 2016), because economic theories rarely postulate the existence of unobservable entities or properties, apart from variants of “everyday unobservables,” such as beliefs and desires. Methodologists have, on the other hand, vigorously debated the goals of economics, but those who argue that the ultimate goals are predictive (such as Milton Friedman) do so because of their interest in policy, not because they seek to avoid or resolve epistemological and semantic puzzles concerning references to unobservables.

Nevertheless there are two important recent realist programs in economic methodology. The first, developed mainly by Uskali Mäki, is devoted to exploring the varieties of realism implicit in the methodological statements and theoretical enterprises of economists (see Mäki 1990a, b, c, 2007, and Lehtinen, Kuorikoski and Ylikoski 2012). The second, which is espoused by Tony Lawson and his co-workers, mainly at Cambridge University, derives from the work of Roy Bhaskar (1975) (see Lawson 1997, 2015, Bhaskar et al. 1998, Fleetwood 1999, Brown and Fleetwood 2003, Ackroyd and Fleetwood 2004, Edwards, Mahoney, and Vincent 2014). In Lawson’s view, one can trace many of the inadequacies of mainstream economics (of which he is a critic) to an insufficient concern with ontology. In attempting to identify regularities on the surface of the phenomena, mainstream economists are doomed to failure. Economic phenomena are in fact influenced by a large number of different causal factors, and one can achieve scientific knowledge only of the underlying mechanisms and tendencies, whose operation can be glimpsed intermittently and obscurely in observable relations. Mäki’s and Lawson’s programs have little to do with one another, though Mäki (like Mill, Cartwright, and Hausman) shares Lawson’s and Bhaskar’s concern with underlying causal mechanisms. See also the entry on scientific realism .

Throughout its history, economics has been the subject of sociological as well as methodological scrutiny. Many sociological discussions of economics, like Marx’s critique of classical political economy, have been concerned to identify ideological distortions and thereby to criticize particular aspects of economic theory and economic policy. Since every political program finds economists who testify to its economic virtues, there is a never-ending source of material for such critiques. For example, in the wake of the near collapse of the international financial system in 2008, American economists who argued for austerity were mostly Republicans, while those who defended efforts to increase aggregate demand were mostly Democrats.

The influence of contemporary sociology of science and social studies of science, coupled with the difficulties methodologists have had making sense of and rationalizing the conduct of economics, have led to efforts at fusing economics and sociology (Granovetter 1985, Swedberg 1990, 2007) as well as to a sociological turn within methodological reflection itself. Rather than showing that there is good evidence supporting developments in economic theory or that those developments have other broadly epistemic virtues, methodologists and historians such as D. Wade Hands (2001); Hands and Mirowski 1998), Philip Mirowski (1990, 2002, 2004, 2013), and E. Roy Weintraub (1991) have argued that these changes reflect a wide variety of non-rational factors, from changes in funding for theoretical economics, political commitments, personal rivalries, attachments to metaphors, or mathematical interests.

Furthermore, many of the same methodologists and historians have argued that economics is not only an object of social inquiry, but that it can be a tool of social inquiry into science. By studying the incentive structure of scientific disciplines and the implicit or explicit market forces impinging on research (including of course research in economics), it should be possible to write the economics of science and the economics of economics itself (Hands 1995, Hull 1988, Leonard 2002, Mirowski and Sent 2002).

Exactly how, if at all, this work is supposed to bear on questions concerning how well supported are the claims economists make is not clear. Though eschewing traditional methodology, Mirowski’s monograph on the role of physical analogy in economics (1990) is often very critical of mainstream economics. In his Reflection without Rules (2001) D. W. Hands maintains that general methodological rules are of little use. He defends a naturalistic view of methodology and is skeptical of prescriptions that are not based on detailed knowledge. But he does not argue that no rules apply.

The above survey of approaches to the fundamental problems of appraising economic theory is far from complete. For example, there have been substantial efforts to apply structuralist views of scientific theories (Sneed 1971, Stegmüller 1976, 1979) to economics (Stegmüller et al. 1981, Hamminga 1983, Hands 1985c, Balzer and Hamminga 1989). The above discussion documents the diversity and disagreements concerning how to interpret and appraise economic theories. It is not surprising that there is no consensus among those writing on economic methodology concerning the overall empirical appraisal of specific approaches in economics, including mainstream microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics. When practitioners cannot agree, it is questionable whether those who know more philosophy but less economics will be able to settle the matter. Since the debates continue, those who reflect on economic methodology should have a continuing part to play.

Meanwhile, there are many other more specific methodological questions to address, and it is a sign of the maturity of the subdiscipline that a large and increasing percentage of work on economic methodology addresses more specific questions. There is plethora of work, as a perusal of any recent issue of the Journal of Economic Methodology or Economics and Philosophy will confirm. Some of the range of issues currently under discussion were mentioned above in Section 2. Here is a list of three of the many areas of current interest:

1. Although more concerned with the content of economics than with its methodology, the recent explosion of work on feminist economics is shot through with methodological and sociological self-reflection. The fact that a considerably larger percentage of economists are men than is true of any of the other social sciences and indeed than most of the natural sciences raises questions about whether there is something particularly masculine about the discipline. Important texts are Ferber and Nelson (1993, 2003), Nelson (1995, 1996, 2001), Barker and Kuiper (2003). Since 1995, there has been a journal, Feminist Economics , which pulls together much of this work.

2. During the past decades, laboratory experimentation in economics has expanded rapidly. Laboratory experimentation has many different objectives (see Roth 1988) and apparently holds out the prospect of bridging the gulf between fundamental economic theory and empirical evidence. Some of it casts light on the way in which methodological commitments influence the extent to which economists heed empirical evidence. A good deal of laboratory experimentation in contemporary economics is in the service of behavioral economics, which prides itself on heeding experimental evidence concerning the structure and determinants of individual choices. Although behavioral economics has secured a foothold within mainstream economics, it remains controversial substantively and methodologically, and its implications for normative economics, discussed below in section 6, are controversial.

For example, in the case of preference reversals, discussed briefly below in Section 5.1, economists devoted considerable attention to the experimental findings and conceded that they disconfirmed central principles of economics. But economists have been generally unwilling to pay serious attention to the theories proposed by psychologists that predicted the phenomena before they were observed. The reason seems to be that these psychological theories do not have the same wide scope as the basic principles of mainstream economics (Hausman 1992, chapter 13). Hesitation concerning neuroeconomics (Camerer et al. 2005, Camerer 2009, Marchionni and Vromen 2014, Rustichini 2005, 2009, Glimcher and Fehr 2013, Reuter and Montag 2016, Vromen and Marchionni 2018) is also common. In an extremely influential essay, “The Case for Mindless Economics.” Gul and Pesandorfer (2008) argue that the findings of behavioral economics (and neuroeconomics) are irrelevant to economics. They are at most of heuristic value. They maintain that the findings of behavioral economics are irrelevant to economics, because they do not concern market choices and their consequences, which are the only germane data. Sometimes Gul and Pesandorfer appear to identify economic theory with the empirical consequences economists are concerned with, while at other points they echo Milton Friedman (see section 3.2) and deny that the “realism” of the “assumptions” of economic models matters. They do not address sophisticated defenses of realism concerning mental states like Dietrich and List (2016). It seems to me that theoretical resistance to engaging with behavioral economists like that one finds in Gul and Pesandorfer’s essay is weakening. But it is clear that the methodological commitments governing theoretical economics are much more complex and more specific to economics than the general rules proposed by philosophers such as Popper and Lakatos.

The relevance of laboratory experimentation remains controversial. Behavioral economists are enthusiastic, while more traditional theorists question whether experimental findings can be generalized to non-experimental contexts and, more generally, concerning the possibilities of learning from experiments (Caplin and Schotter 2008). For discussions of experimental economics, see Guala (2000a, b, 2005), Hey (1991), Kagel and Roth (1995, 2016), Plott (1991), Smith (1991), Starmer (1999), Camerer (2003), Bardsley and Cubitt 2009, Durlauf and Blume (2009), Branas-Garza and Cabrales (2015), Fréchette and Schotter (2015), Jacquemet and L’Haridon (2018), and the June, 2005 special issue of the Journal of Economic Methodology . Al Roth’s Game Theory, Experimental Economics, and Market Design Page (http://kuznets.fas.harvard.edu/~aroth/alroth.html) is a useful source. For recent work on behavioral economics see the Journal of Behavioral Economics , the Review of Behavioral Economics , and Behavioural Public Policy.

3. During the past generation, there has been a radical transformation in the attitudes of economists toward empirical causal inquiry, especially in the form of field experiments and natural experiments, often employing instrumental variables. For example, about two-thirds of the articles in the February, 2018 American Economic Review are based on empirical studies. The titles of the first four entries in the table of contents are: “The Effects of Pretrial Detention on Conviction, Future Crime, and Employment: Evidence from Randomly Assigned Judges,” “Implications of US Tax Policy for House Prices, Rents, and Homeownership,” “The Welfare Cost of Perceived Policy Uncertainty: Evidence from Social Security,” “The Economic Consequences of Hospital Admissions.” If one goes back twenty-five years, only about one-eighth of the first issue of the 1993 American Economic Review appear to rely on any empirical studies. The first four entries are: “Today’s Task for Economists,” “Trigger Points and Budget Cuts: Explaining the Effects of Fiscal Austerity,” “Economic Policy, Economic Performance, and Elections,” “The Macroeconomics of Dr. Strangelove.” A Rip Van Winkle who had gone to sleep in 1983 reading the principal economics journals would be staggered when he awoke in 2018.

Field experiments have been especially important in development economics where the results of various foreign aid projects have too often provided meagre benefits. One can find good introductions to this work in Carpenter et al. (2005), Duflo and Banerjee (2011, 2017), Gugerty and Karlan (2018), Karlan and Appel (2011, 2016), Kremer and Glennerster (2011), List and Samek (2018), and Mullainathan and Shafir (2013). See also the Poverty Action Lab . Although field experiments appear to be hard-nosed inquiries that establish what works and what does not work, matters are not so simple (Deaton 2010, Cartwright and Hardie 2013). Without knowledge of the mechanisms, it is all too easy for an intervention that works splendidly at a specific time and place to fail abysmally when tried elsewhere. Atheoretical inquiry, even when methodologically sophisticated, has severe limits as a tactic of knowledge acquisition.

The empirical turn in economics has also had the effect of increasing the importance of economic history. With some ingenuity, especially in identifying possible instrumental variables, history is full of “natural experiments.” For example (J. Hausman 2016), in 1936, the American Congress voted to pay pensions to veterans of World War I eight years before they were due to be paid. Because the percentages of veterans differed across states, Hausman can use the differing economic performances of states to estimate the effects of the economic stimulus the pensions provided. Although less decisive than randomized controlled trials (which are often impossible to carry out), examination of historical episodes such as this one provide significant evidence concerning economic hypotheses.

5. Rational choice theory

Insofar as economics explains and predicts phenomena as consequences of individual choices, which are themselves explained in terms of alleged reasons, it must depict agents as to some extent rational. Rationality, like reasons, involves evaluation, and just as one can assess the rationality of individual choices, so one can assess the rationality of social choices and examine how they are and ought to be related to the preferences and judgments of individuals. In addition, there are intricate questions concerning rationality in strategic situations in which outcomes depend on the choices of multiple individuals. Since rationality is a central concept in branches of philosophy such as action theory, epistemology, ethics, and philosophy of mind, studies of rationality frequently cross the boundaries between economics and philosophy.

The barebones theory of rationality discussed above in Section 1.1 takes an agent’s preferences (rankings of states of affairs) to be rational if they are complete and transitive, and it takes the agent’s choice to be rational if the agent does not prefer any feasible alternative to the one he or she chooses. Such a theory of rationality is clearly too weak, because it says nothing about belief or what rationality implies when agents do not know (with certainty) everything relevant to their choices. But it may also be too strong, since, as Isaac Levi in particular has argued (1986), there is nothing irrational about having incomplete preferences in situations involving uncertainty. Sometimes it is rational to suspend judgment and to refuse to rank alternatives that are not well understood. On the other hand, transitivity is a plausible condition, and the so-called “money pump” argument demonstrates that if one’s preferences are intransitive and one is willing to make exchanges, then one can be exploited. (Suppose an agent A prefers X to Y , Y to Z and Z to X , and that A will pay some small amount of money $ P to exchange Y for X , Z for Y , and X for Z . That means that, starting with Z , A will pay $ P for Y , then $ P again for X , then $ P again for Z and so on. Agents are not this stupid. They will instead refuse to trade or adjust their preferences to eliminate the intransitivity (but see Schick 1986).

On the other hand, there is considerable experimental evidence that people’s preferences are not in fact transitive. Such evidence does not establish that transitivity is not a requirement of rationality. It may show instead that people are sometimes irrational. In the case of so-called “preference reversals,” for example, it seems plausible that people in fact make irrational choices (Lichtenstein and Slovic 1971, Tversky and Thaler 1990). Evidence of persistent violations of transitivity is disquieting, since standards of rationality should not be impossibly high.

A further difficulty with the barebones theory of rationality concerns the individuation of the objects of preference or choice. Consider, for example, data from multistage ultimatum games. Suppose A can propose any division of $10 between A and B . B can accept or reject A ’s proposal. If B rejects the proposal, then the amount of money drops to $5, and B gets to offer a division of the $5 which A can accept or reject. If A rejects B ’s offer, then both players get nothing. Suppose that A proposes to divide the money with $7 for A and $3 for B . B declines and offers to split the $5 evenly, with $2.50 for each. Behavior such as this is, in fact, common (Ochs and Roth 1989, p. 362). Assuming that B prefers more money to less, these choices appear to be a violation of transitivity. B prefers $3 to $2.50, yet declines $3 for certain for $2.50 (with some slight chance of A declining and B getting nothing). But the objects of choice are not just quantities of money. B is turning down $3 as part of “a raw deal” in favor of $2.50 as part of a fair arrangement. If the objects of choice are defined in this way, there is no failure of transitivity.

This plausible observation gives rise to a serious problem. Unless there are constraints on how the objects of choice are individuated, conditions of rationality such as transitivity are empty. A ’s choice of X over Y , Y over Z and Z over X does not violate transitivity if “ X when the alternative is Y ” is not the same object of choice as “ X when the alternative is Z ”. John Broome (1991) argues that further substantive principles of rationality are required to limit how alternatives are individuated or to require that agents be indifferent between alternatives such as “ X when the alternative is Y ” and “ X when the alternative is Z .”

To extend the theory of rationality to circumstances involving risk (where the objects of choice are lotteries with known probabilities) and uncertainty (where agents do not know the probabilities or even all the possible outcomes of their choices) requires further principles of rationality, as well as controversial technical simplifications. Subjective Bayesians suppose that individuals in circumstances of uncertainty have well-defined subjective probabilities (degrees of belief) over all the payoffs and thus that the objects of choice can be modeled as lotteries, just as in circumstances involving risk, though with subjective probabilities in place of objective probabilities. See the entries on Bayes’ theorem and Bayesian epistemology . The most important of the axioms needed for the theory of rational choice under conditions of risk and uncertainty is the independence condition. It says roughly that the preferences of rational agent between two lotteries that differ in only one outcome should match their preferences between the differing outcomes. Although initially plausible, the independence condition is very controversial. See Allais and Hagen (1979) and McClennen (1983, 1990).

A considerable part of rational choice theory is concerned with formalizations of conditions of rationality and investigation of their implications. When an agent’s preferences are complete and transitive and satisfy a further continuity condition, then they can be represented by a so-called ordinal utility function. What this means is that it is possible to define a function that represents an agent’s preferences so that U ( X ) > U ( Y ) if and only if the agent prefers X to Y , and U ( X ) = U ( Y ) if and only if the agent is indifferent between X and Y . This function merely represents the preference ranking. It contains no information beyond the ranking. Any order-preserving transformation of “ U ” would represent the agent’s preferences just as well.

When an agent’s preferences in addition satisfy the independence condition and some other technical conditions, then they can be represented by an expected utility function (Harsanyi 1977b, ch. 4, Hernstein and Milnor 1953, Ramsey 1926, and Savage 1972). Such a function has two important properties. First, the expected utility of a lottery is equal to the sum of the (expected) utilities of its prizes weighted by their probabilities. Second, expected utility functions are unique up to a positive affine transformation. What this means is that if U and V are both expected utility functions representing the preferences of an agent, then for all objects of preference, X , V ( X ) must be equal to a U ( X ) + b , where a and b are real numbers and a is positive. In addition, the axioms of rationality imply that the agent’s degrees of belief will satisfy the axioms of the probability calculus.

A great deal of controversy surrounds the theory of rationality, and there have been many formal investigations into weakened or amended theories of rationality. For further discussion, see Allais and Hagen 1979, Barberà, Hammond and Seidl 1999, Kahneman and Tversky 1979, Loomes and Sugden 1982, Luce and Raiffa 1957, Machina 1987, and Gilboa and Schmeidler 2001.

Although societies are very different from individuals, they have mechanisms to evaluate alternatives and make choices, and their evaluations and choices may be rational or irrational. It is not, however, obvious, what principles of rationality should govern the choices and evaluations of society. Transitivity is one plausible condition. It seems that a society that chooses X when faced with the alternatives X or Y , Y when faced with the alternatives Y or Z and Z when faced with the alternatives X or Z either has had a change of heart or is choosing irrationally. Yet, purported irrationalities such as these can easily arise from standard mechanisms that aim to link social choices and individual preferences. Suppose there are three individuals in the society. Individual One ranks the alternatives X , Y , Z . Individual Two ranks them Y , Z , X . Individual Three ranks them Z , X , Y . If decisions are made by pairwise majority voting, X will be chosen from the pair ( X , Y ), Y will be chosen from ( Y , Z ), and Z will be chosen from ( X , Z ). Clearly this is unsettling, but are possible cycles in social choices irrational ?

Similar problems affect what one might call the logical coherence of social judgments (List and Pettit 2002). Suppose society consists of three individuals who make the following judgments concerning the truth or falsity of the propositions P and Q and that social judgment follows the majority.

The judgments of each of the individuals are consistent with the principles of logic, while social judgments violate them. How important is it that social judgments be consistent with the principles of logic?

Although social choice theory in this way bears on questions of social rationality, most work in social choice theory explores the consequences of principles of rationality coupled with explicitly ethical constraints. The seminal contribution is Kenneth Arrow’s impossibility theorem (1963, 1967). Arrow assumes that both individual preferences and social preferences are complete and transitive and that the method of forming social preferences (or making social choices) issues in some social preference ranking or social choice for any possible profile of individual preferences. In addition, Arrow imposes a weak unanimity condition: if everybody prefers X to Y , then Y must not be socially preferred. Third, he requires that there be no dictator whose preferences determine social preferences or choices irrespective of the preferences of anybody else. Lastly, he imposes the condition that the social preference between X and Y should depend on how individuals rank X and Y and on nothing else. Arrow then proved the surprising result that no method of relating social and individual preferences can satisfy all these conditions!

In the sixty years since Arrow wrote, there has been a plethora of work in social choice theory, a good deal of which is arguably of great importance to ethics. For example, John Harsanyi proved that if individual preferences and social evaluations both satisfy the axioms of expected utility theory (with shared or objective probabilities) and that social preferences conform to unanimous individual preferences, then social evaluations are determined by a weighted sum of individual utilities (1955, 1977a). Matthew Adler (2012) has extended an approach like Harsanyi’s to demonstrate that a form of weighted utilitarianism, which prioritizes the interests of those who are worse off, uniquely satisfies a longer list of rational and ethical constraints. When there are instead disagreements in probability assignments, there is an impossibility result: the unanimity condition implies that for some profiles of individual preferences, social evaluations will not satisfy the axioms of expected utility theory (Hammond 1983, Seidenfeld, et al . 1989, Mongin 1995). For further discussion of social choice theory and the relevance of utility theory to social evaluation, see the entry on social choice theory , Sen (1970) and for recent reappraisals Fleurbaey (2007) and Adler (2012).

When outcomes depend on what several agents do, one agent’s best choice may depend on what other agents choose. Although the principles of rationality governing individual choice still apply, arguably there are further principles of rationality governing expectations of the actions of others (and of their expectations concerning your actions and expectations, and so forth). Game theory occupies an increasingly important role within economics, and it is also relevant both to inquiries concerning rationality and inquiries concerning ethics. For further discussion see the entries on game theory , game theory and ethics , and evolutionary game theory .

6. Economics and ethics

As discussed above in Section 2.1 most economists distinguish between positive and normative economics, and most would argue that economics is relevant to policy mainly because of the (positive) information it provides concerning the consequences of policy. Yet the same economists also offer their advice concerning how to fix the economy, and there is a whole field of normative economics.

Economic outcomes, institutions, and processes may be better or worse in several different ways. Some outcomes may make people better off. Other outcomes may be less unequal. Others may restrict individual freedom more severely. Economists typically evaluate outcomes exclusively in terms of welfare. This does not imply that they believe that only welfare is of moral importance. They focus on welfare, because they believe that economics provides an excellent set of tools to address questions of welfare and because they hope that questions about welfare can be separated from questions about equality, freedom, or justice. As sketched below, economists have had some things to say about other dimensions of moral appraisal, but welfare takes center stage. Indeed normative economics is standardly called “welfare economics.”

One central question of moral philosophy has been to determine what things are intrinsically good for human beings. This is a central question, because all plausible moral views assign an important place to individual welfare or well-being . This is obviously true of utilitarianism (which holds that what is right maximizes total or average welfare), but even non-utilitarian views are concerned with welfare, if they recognize the virtue of benevolence, or if they are concerned with the interests of individuals or with avoiding harm to individuals.

There are many ways to think about well-being, and the prevailing view among economists has shifted from hedonism (which takes the good to be a mental state such as pleasure or happiness) to the view that welfare should be measured by the satisfaction of preferences. A number of prominent economists are currently arguing for a return to hedonism, but they remain a minority. (See Bavetta et al. 2014. Clark Flèche 2018, Dolan and Kahneman 2014, Frey 2010, 2018, Frey and Stutzer 2001, Kahneman 1999, 2000a, 2000b, Kahneman and Krueger 2006, Kahneman and Sugden 2005, Kahneman and Thaler 2006, Layard 2006, Ormerod 2008, Radcliff 2013, Weimann and Knabe 2015 and for criticism Davies 2015, Etzioni 2018, and Hausman 2010.) Unlike hedonism, taking welfare to be preference satisfaction specifies how to find out what is good for a person rather than committing itself to any substantive view of a person’s good. Note that equating welfare with the satisfaction of preferences is not equating welfare with any feeling of satisfaction. If welfare can be measured by the satisfaction of preferences, then a person is better off if what he or she prefers comes to pass, regardless of whether that occurrence makes the agent feel satisfied.

Since mainstream economics attributes a consistent preference ordering to all agents, and since more specific models typically take agents to be well-informed and self-interested, it is easy for economists to accept the view that an individual agent A will prefer X to Y if and only if X is in fact better for A than Y is. This is one place where positive theory bleeds into normative theory. In addition, the identification of welfare with the satisfaction of preferences is attractive to economists, because it prevents questions about the justification of paternalism (to which most economists are strongly opposed) from even arising.

Welfare and the satisfaction of preferences may coincide because the satisfaction of preferences constitutes welfare or because people are self-interested and good judges of their own interests and hence prefer what is good for them. There are many obvious objections to the view that the satisfaction of preferences constitutes welfare. Preferences may be based on mistaken beliefs. People may prefer to sacrifice their own well-being for some purpose they value more highly. Preferences may reflect past manipulation or distorting psychological influences (Elster 1983). In addition, if preference satisfaction constitutes welfare, then policy makers can make people better off by molding their wants rather than by improving conditions. Furthermore, it seems unreasonable that social policy should attend to extravagant preferences. Rather than responding to these objections and attempting to defend the view that preference satisfaction constitutes well-being, economists can blunt these objections by taking preferences in circumstances where people are self-interested and good judges of their interests to be merely good evidence of what will promote welfare (Hausman and McPherson 2009, Hausman 2012). There are some exceptions, most notably Amartya Sen (1987a,b,c, 1992), but most economists take welfare to coincide with the satisfaction of preference.

Because the identification of welfare with preference satisfaction makes it questionable whether one can make interpersonal welfare comparisons, few economists defend a utilitarian view of policy as maximizing total or average welfare. (Harsanyi is one exception, for another see Ng 1983). Economists have instead explored the possibility of making welfare assessments of economic processes, institutions, outcomes, and policies without making interpersonal comparisons. Consider two economic outcomes S and R , and suppose that some people prefer S to R and that nobody prefers R to S . In that case S is “Pareto superior” to R , or S is a “Pareto improvement” over R . Without making any interpersonal comparisons, one can conclude that people’s preferences are better satisfied in S than in R . If there is no state of affairs that is Pareto superior to S , then economists say that S is “Pareto optimal” or “Pareto efficient.” Efficiency here is efficiency with respect to satisfying preferences rather than minimizing the number of inputs needed to produce a unit of output or some other technical notion (Le Grand 1991). If a state of affairs is not Pareto efficient, then society is missing an opportunity costlessly to satisfy some people’s preferences better. A Pareto efficient state of affairs avoids this failure, but it has no other obvious virtues. For example, suppose nobody is satiated and people care only about how much food they get. Consider two distributions of food. In the first, millions are starving but no food is wasted. In the second, nobody is starving, but some food is wasted. The first is Pareto efficient, while the second is not.

The notions of Pareto improvements and Pareto efficiency might seem useless, because economic policies almost always have both winners and losers. Mainstream economists have nevertheless found these concepts useful in two ways. First, they have proved two theorems concerning properties of perfectly competitive equilibria (Arrow 1968). The first theorem says that equilibria in perfectly competitive markets are Pareto optimal, and the second says that any Pareto optimal allocation, with whatever distribution of income policy makers might prefer, can be achieved as a perfectly competitive market equilibrium, provided that one begins with just the right distribution of endowments among economic agents. The first theorem has been regarded as underwriting Adam Smith’s view of the invisible hand (Arrow and Hahn 1971, preface; Hahn 1973). This interpretation is problematic, because no economy has ever been or will ever be in perfectly competitive equilibrium. The second theorem provides some justification for the normative division of labor economists prefer, with economists concerned about efficiency and others concerned about justice. The thought is that the second theorem shows that theories of just distribution are compatible with reliance on competitive markets. The two fundamental theorems of welfare economics go some way toward explaining why mainstream economists, whether they support laissez-faire policies or government intervention to remedy market imperfections, think of perfectly competitive equilibria as ideals. But the significance of the theorems is debatable, since actual markets differ significantly from perfectly competitive markets and, when there are multiple market imperfections, the “theory of the second best” shows that fixing some of the imperfections may lead the society away from a perfectly competitive equilibrium (and diminish efficiency and welfare) rather than toward one (Lipsey and Lancaster 1956–7).

The other way that economists have found to extend the Pareto efficiency notions leads to cost-benefit analysis, which is a practical tool for policy analysis (Mishan 1971; Sugden and Williams 1978; Adler and Posner 2000, 2006; Broadman et al. 2010; Boadway 2016). Suppose that S is not a Pareto improvement over R . Some members of the society would be losers in a shift from R to S . Those losers prefer R to S , but there are enough winners — enough people who prefer S to R — that the winners could compensate the losers and make the preference for S ′ ( S with compensation paid) over R unanimous. S is a “potential Pareto improvement” over R . In other terms, the amount of money the winners would be willing to pay to bring about the change is larger than the amount of money the losers would have to be compensated so as not to object to the change. (Economists are skeptical about what one learns from asking people how much they would be willing to pay, and they attempt instead to infer how much individuals are willing to pay indirectly from market phenomena.) When S is a potential Pareto improvement over R , there is said to be a “net benefit” to the policy of bringing about S . According to cost-benefit analysis, among eligible policies (which satisfy legal and moral constraints), one should, other things being equal, employ the one with the largest net benefit. Note that the compensation is entirely hypothetical. Potential Pareto improvements result in winners and losers, the justice or injustice of which is irrelevant to cost-benefit analysis. Justice or beneficence may require that the society do something to mitigate distributional imbalances. Because there is a larger “pie” of goods and services to satisfy preferences (since compensation could be paid and everybody’s preferences better satisfied), selecting policies with the greatest net benefit serves economic efficiency (Hicks 1939, Kaldor 1939).

Despite the practical importance of cost-benefit analysis, the technique and the justification for it sketched in the previous paragraph are problematic. One technical difficulty is that it is possible for S to be a potential Pareto improvement over R and for R to be a potential Pareto improvement over S (Scitovsky 1941, Samuelson 1950)! That means that the fact that S is a potential Pareto improvement over R does not imply that there is a larger economic “pie” in S than in R , because there cannot, of course, be a larger economic pie in S than in R and a larger economic pie in R than in S . A second problem is that willingness to pay for some policy and the amount one would require in compensation if one opposes the policy depend on how much wealth one has as well as on one’s attitude to the policy. Cost-benefit analysis weights the preferences of the rich more than the preferences of the poor (Baker 1975). It is possible to compensate roughly for the effects of income and wealth (Harburger 1978, Fankhauser et al. 1997), but it is bothersome to do so, and cost-benefit analysis is commonly employed without any adjustment for wealth or income.

A further serious difficulty for traditional welfare economics, which has been as it were hiding in plain sight, is the fact that choices are imperfect indicators of preferences, which are in turn imperfect indicators of what enhances well-being. The same facts that show that preference satisfaction does not constitute well-being (false beliefs, lack of information, other-directed and non-rational preferences) show that choices and preferences are sometimes misleading indicators of well-being. Moreover, once one recognizes that preferences are good indicators of welfare only if agents are good judges of what will benefit them, one is bound to recognize that agents are not always good judges of what will benefit themselves, even when they have all the information they need. In some contexts, these problems may be minor. For example, people’s preferences among new automobiles are largely self-interested, thoughtful, and well-informed. In other contexts, such as environmental protection, preferences for ignoring the problems are often badly informed, while preferences to take action are typically not self-interested. Either way, popular preferences among policies to address environmental problems are unlikely to be a good guide to welfare.

Ignoring these problems has been a great convenience to normative economics. If what people choose reveals their preferences, which in turn indicate what is good for them, then, as noted before, government action to steer someone’s choices can never make that person better off, and so questions about whether to endorse paternalistic policies cannot arise. But whether or not it is advisable, successful paternalism is not impossible; and recent work by behavioral economists, which document a wide variety of systematic deliberative foibles, has put questions concerning paternalism back on the table (Ariely 2009, Kahneman 2011). Some economists have searched for ways to identify an agent’s “true” preferences (as described by Infante et al. 2016). Others have argued that policy makers must respect the preferences of agents among their ends or objectives, while overruling preferences among means when these are distorted by bad judgment or false beliefs (Thaler and Sunstein 2008, Le Grand and New 2015). Moreover, Thaler and Sunstein’s proposal that government explore non-coercive methods of influencing people to make better choices (“nudges”) has been popular among policy makers and has arguably shifted philosophical discussion of paternalism away from Mill’s (1859) focus on avoiding coercion (Shiffrin 2000, Hausman and Welch 2010, Le Grand and New 2015).

Although welfare economics and concerns about efficiency dominate normative economics, they do not exhaust the subject, and in collaboration with philosophers, economists have made important contributions to contemporary work in ethics and normative social and political philosophy. Section 5.2 and Section 5.3 gave some hint of the contributions of social choice theory and game theory. In addition economists and philosophers have worked on the problem of providing a formal characterization of freedom so as to bring tools of economic analysis to bear (Pattanaik and Xu 1990, Sen 1988, 1990, 1991, Carter 1999, Sugden 2018). Others have developed formal characterizations of social welfare functions that prioritize the interests of those who are less well off or that favor equality of resources, opportunity, and outcomes and that separate individual and social responsibility for inequalities (Pazner and Schmeidler 1974, Varian 1974, 1975, Roemer 1986b, 1987, Fleurbaey 1995, 2008, Fleurbaey and Maniquet 2014, Greaves 2015, McCarthy 2015, 2017). John Roemer has put contemporary economic modeling to work to offer precise characterizations of exploitation (1982). Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum have not only developed novel interpretations of the proper concerns of normative economics in terms of capabilities (Sen 1992, Nussbaum and Sen 1993, Nussbaum 2000), which Sen has linked to characterizations of egalitarianism and to operational measures of deprivation (1999). There are many lively interactions between normative economics and moral philosophy. See also the entries on libertarianism , paternalism , egalitarianism , and economics [normative] and economic justice .

The frontiers between economics and philosophy concerned with methodology, rationality, ethics and normative social and political philosophy are buzzing with activity. This activity is diverse and concerned with very different questions. Although many of these are related, philosophy of economics is not a single unified enterprise. It is a collection of separate inquiries linked to one another by connections among the questions and by the dominating influence of mainstream economic models and techniques.

The following bibliography is not comprehensive. It generally avoids separate citations for methodological essays in collections. It does not list separately the essays on economic methodology from special issues on philosophy and economics. A large number of essays on philosophy of economics can be found in the journals, Economics and Philosophy , The Journal of Economic Methodology and the annual series Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology .

Readers may want to consult the Journal of Economic Methodology , Vol. 8, No. 1, March 2001 Millennium symposium on “The Past, Present and Future of Economic Methodology” the and Binder et al. 2016. For an encyclopedic overview of economic methodology, see the Handbook of Economic Methodology edited by Davis, Hands, and Mäki. For a comprehensive bibliography of works on economic methodology through 1988, see Redman 1989. Essays from economics journals are indexed in The Journal of Economic Literature , and the Index of Economic Articles in Journal and Collective Volumes also indexes collections. Since 1991, works on methodology can be found under the number B4. Works on ethics and economics can be found under the numbers A13, D6, and I3. Discussions of rationality and game theory can be found under A1, C7, D00, D7, D8, and D9.

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There are now a large number of blogs by prominent economists. Though not predominantly concerned with methodology and typically not exclusively concerned with economics, these blogs show economists arguing with one another, responding to current events, and formulating and reformulating their views. The following are of particular interest, but there are many more:

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• The Becker-Posner Blog (Gary Becker and Richard Posner) , terminated in 2014, but still available online.

action | Bayes’ Theorem | economics [normative] and economic justice | epistemology: Bayesian | folk psychology: as a theory | game theory | game theory: and ethics | game theory: evolutionary | Hume, David | individualism, methodological | intentionality | Kuhn, Thomas | Lakatos, Imre | laws of nature: ceteris paribus | Mill, John Stuart | Popper, Karl | preferences | reasons for action: justification, motivation, explanation | risk | scientific explanation | scientific realism | Smith, Adam: moral and political philosophy | social choice theory | socialism | well-being

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Library of Congress Catalog Data: ISSN 1095-5054

Department of Economics

Doctor of philosophy, admission requirements.

Applicants are required to submit three letters of recommendation, a statement of interest, official transcript(s) delivered and/or mailed in a sealed envelope by the Registrar of the college/university attended, and the most recent Graduate Record Examination scores.

Applicants for admission into the Doctor of Philosophy Program in Economics must have earned a Master of Arts degree in economics. Applicants with a Master's degree in a related field may be considered for a conditional admission to the Doctor of Philosophy program upon submission of proof that work completed is equivalent to the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in economics at Howard University.

Students admitted into the Ph.D. program with an MA degree must have a GPA of well over B and a minimum of 24 graduate course credits, including at least 6 credits in economic theory, 3 credits in econometrics, and 3 credits in graduate statistics.

Students may be admitted with a deficiency in mathematics or statistics on the condition that the deficiency be corrected in the first semester. These makeup credits will not count toward completion of the degree program in which the student is enrolled. The student must earn a grade of B or better in these courses.

Interested in Applying?

To apply to our graduate programs, please click here  then click on GradCAS.

Residence Requirements

The completion of minimum course requirements or credits does not guarantee receipt of the degree. The student must have at least four semesters of residence and full-time study (at least 9 credits per semester) or the equivalent in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Howard University. Two of these four semesters of residence and full-time study, or the equivalent, must be consecutive. No graduate student will be permitted to take more than 15 credits per semester.

Financial Assistance

Full-time students admitted to the Ph.D. program may apply for research assistantships which carry a stipend.

Graduate School Requirements (all Ph.D. Students)

Language Requirement

Each student is required to demonstrate in a formal examination a reading proficiency in French, Spanish, German, Russian, Chinese, or Japanese. Under exceptional circumstances, the department may permit students to substitute for a language examination an advanced course that provides skills relevant to dissertation research, such as computer programming, mathematics, or advanced topics in econometrics. Such exceptions must be approved in advance by the Department. The language requirement must be fulfilled before the student is admitted to candidacy.

English Competency and Expository Writing

All graduate students must demonstrate their competency in the English language as evidenced by earning a passing score on the English Proficiency Examination administered by the Graduate School. Students who do not pass the examination must successfully complete a course on expository writing, "Writing Workshop in Exposition for Graduate Students." All graduate students, both part-time and full-time, must satisfy this requirement during their first year of enrollment. Students will not be allowed to advance to candidacy without having satisfied this requirement. Doctoral students who have demonstrated competency at the Master's level at Howard University need not do so again at the doctoral level.

Responsible Conduct of Research

The Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) Workshop is intended to provide students with information on pertinent federal and University guidelines and regulations pertaining to the responsible conduct of research as well as to instruct them in a method of utilizing moral reasoning skills in responding to ethical dilemmas in research. Workshop topics include intellectual property, data sharing and understanding of Institutional Review Board (IRB) policies and procedures, data acquisition and management, and mentoring. The RCR training workshop is a requirement for admission to candidacy. To receive the RCR certificate, students must complete all required training sessions and successfully complete a learning assessment exercise at the end of the workshop.

Additional Details

More details about these Graduate School requirements may be found on the Graduate School website:

GS.Howard.edu/admissions/admission-requirements

Doctor of Philosophy and the Dissertation (all Ph.D. students)

The Dissertation Proposal and Admission to Candidacy

After completing the requirements listed above, the student must prepare a formal written dissertation proposal under the supervision of a member of the graduate faculty. Selecting a principal advisor for the dissertation proposal is extremely important to the future of the student. In general, the student should choose an advisor who has extensive research experience in the field in which the student proposes to write the dissertation. For example, a dissertation focusing on economic development in Nigeria should be supervised by a member of the graduate faculty who has published in development economics; a dissertation focusing on racial discrimination in home mortgage lending in Detroit should be supervised by a member of the graduate faculty who has published in urban economics. The graduate faculty member may decline the invitation to serve as principal advisor in a specific case, but all graduate faculty members are expected to serve as principal advisors from time to time. Hence, any graduate faculty member may be approached by a student seeking a principal advisor.

Once substantial work has been done on the proposal by the student under the supervision of a principal advisor, it is advisable to maintain the principal advisor-student relationship until the dissertation is completed. However, the student may elect to change advisors for any reason if he/she wishes, understanding that such a change may require substantial changes in the student's proposal and, ultimately, his/her dissertation. Once the written proposal is completed to the satisfaction of the principal advisor, the student presents the dissertation proposal orally in a formal seminar to the faculty. Once the faculty judges the proposal to be satisfactory, the student and the advisor prepare the requisite paperwork for advancement to candidacy. Once such paperwork is approved by the Graduate School, the student becomes a doctoral candidate.

The Dissertation

Once the student advances to candidacy, the preparation of the dissertation begins. The dissertation is an original, creative work that advances knowledge in the discipline of economics. The dissertation may be a single paper studying a specific research question. In recent years, the "three-essay" dissertation has also become a popular and appropriate approach to the dissertation. In this dissertation model, the student addresses three different questions within the same general area of inquiry with separate essays. Essays may also focus on different aspects of the same problem. For example, a student may write one article as a primarily theoretical exploration of a topic, a second as a general modeling exercise, and a third as a specific application of a model to a particular example. Each of these essays could become the foundation for an article submitted for publication to a refereed scholarly journal. In all cases, each of the three essays is a self-contained research project; the three essays are combined into a single final product for presentation to the faculty.

As a doctoral candidate, the student is required to enroll for twelve (12) dissertation credit hours over the course of the dissertation process. The principal advisor and the student work together to complete the staffing of the dissertation committee. This committee is made up of the principal advisor and two additional graduate faculty members from the Department of Economics. Its members advise the student throughout the dissertation process. A formal defense of the dissertation is required. The dissertation cannot be defended during the same semester that the student advances to candidacy. The examination committee is made up of the principal advisor, two additional graduate faculty members drawn from the Department of Economics, an economist drawn from outside the university who, based on his/her credentials is judged by the Economics Department and Graduate School to be qualified to serve as a graduate faculty member, and a Howard University graduate faculty member drawn from a department other than the Department of Economics. After the student presents the formal oral defense of the dissertation, the examination committee determines whether the defense was satisfactory and whether the written dissertation is completely correct. Should the student fail the defense as a whole, a second opportunity for a defense may be established by the Department and Graduate School within six (6) months of the first examination. Should the student be judged to have passed the oral defense itself but have additional corrections or changes to make to the written document, the examination committee will determine the process and timing for ensuring that such corrections meet the requirements of its members for the satisfactory completion of the dissertation evaluation process.

General Requirements for Students Entering the PhD Program

Ba, bs, or mba degree.

General Program Requirements

Students entering this track must earn a minimum of 72 credits beyond the baccalaureate degree, of which 12 must be devoted to dissertation work, 24 to electives and to the area of concentration, and 36 to the following core course requirements:

Core Course Requirements

• Microeconomic Theory I (ECOG-200)
• Microeconomic Theory II (ECOG-201)
• Microeconomic Theory III (ECOG-205)
• Macroeconomic Theory I (ECOG-203)
• Macroeconomic Theory II (ECOG-202)
• Macroeconomic Theory III (ECOG-206)
• History of Economic Analysis (ECOG-204)
• Workshop in Economic Research (ECOG-207)
• Econometrics I (ECOG-211)
• Econometrics II (ECOG-212)
• Advanced Topics in Econometrics (ECOG-216)
• Mathematics for Economists (ECOG-213)

Areas of Specialization

The Department offers four areas of specialization. The required courses for the Ph.D. degree in each of the specializations are as follows:

• Growth and Development Economics - ECOG-220, ECOG-221, ECOG-228
• Urban Economics - ECOG-230, ECOG-231, ECOG-237
• Labor Economics - ECOG-261, ECOG-262, ECOG-263
• International Economics-ECOG-244, ECOG-249, ECOG-245

The Major Field

Each student chooses a primary area of specialization (the Major Field) from among the four areas. The student completes the three required courses (all three courses in the area of specialization labeled I, II, and III) with a grade of B or better in each course. The student then takes the comprehensive examination or chooses to write a field paper related to their Major Field. To acquire certification in their Major Field, the student must pass the three courses (with a grade of B or higher), pass the comprehensive examination, or, instead of the field comprehensive examination, write a research paper that, in the judgment of the faculty in that field of specialization, demonstrates mastery of that field.

The Minor Field

Each student chooses a second area of specialization (called the Minor Field) either from the four areas (Growth and Development, Urban, Labor, or International) or from the elective field courses. If the minor field is chosen from the four areas, students must complete two courses (either I and II or I and III) in their area of choice with no grade lower than a B. If the student chooses the minor field from among the elective field courses, the student must complete the field course and either Independent Study (ECOG 290, 291, 292, 293, or 294) or Research Topics in Economics (ECOG 295, 296, or 297) related to their field of choice. The student must receive a B or better in each of these two courses. There are no further requirements for certification of the Minor Field. Neither a comprehensive examination nor a field paper is required for the Minor Field.

Students may earn up to 6 credits in an internship program as part of their elective choices (Internship I, ECOG 298 and Internship II, ECOG 299).

Comprehensive Examinations

Students must pass comprehensive examinations (which are offered twice annually) in the following four areas: microeconomic theory, macroeconomic theory, econometrics, and the major field. The student may substitute a research paper in the student's Major Field for the major-field comprehensive examination. This research paper must, in the judgment of the faculty in that field of specialization, demonstrate mastery of that field.

Students are required to take the Ph.D. comprehensive examinations in both microeconomic theory and macroeconomic theory after they have successfully completed the required macroeconomic and microeconomic theory course sequences. If the student passes both of these examinations, the student becomes eligible to take the comprehensive examinations in econometrics and the student's Major Field.

MA or MS Degree in Economics

Students must earn a minimum of 72 credits beyond the baccalaureate degree. Up to 24 credits from the student's MA program may be transferred into the Ph.D. program. Eighteen (18) credit hours must be earned in the core courses. Twenty-one (21) credit hours are earned in the major field and electives, and twelve (12) credit hours must be devoted to dissertation work.

The Department offers four areas of specialization. The student selects one area of specialization called the Major Field. The required courses for the Ph.D. degree in each of the specializations are:

• Growth and Development Economics - ECOG-221, ECOG-228
• Urban Economics - ECOG-231, ECOG-237
• Labor Economics - ECOG-262, ECOG-2632
• International Economics - ECOG-249, ECOG-245

Field Prerequisites

Each of these two-course sequences has a prerequisite. Specifically, the prerequisites are:

• Growth and Development Economics - ECOG-220
• Urban Economics - ECOG-230
• Labor Economics - ECOG-261
• International Economics - ECOG-244

If the student has taken an equivalent course and achieved a grade of B or better at a different university, it may be substituted for the field prerequisite if the Director of Graduate Studies approves.

Each student chooses his/her first area of specialization (called the Major Field) from among the four areas. The student completes the prerequisite (or approved equivalent course from another university) and two required courses (all three courses in the area of specialization labeled, II, and III) with a grade of B or better in each course. The student takes the comprehensive examination in that field or chooses to write a major paper related to that field. The student must either pass the comprehensive examination or receive approval by a graduate faculty member of the major paper to achieve certification in the Major Field.

Each student chooses a second area of specialization (called the Minor Field) either from the Department's four areas of specialization (Growth and Development, Urban, Labor, or International) or from the elective field courses. If the minor field is chosen from the four areas of specialization, the student must complete two courses (either I and II or I and III within that area) with no grade lower than a B. If the student chooses the minor field from among the elective field courses, the student completes the field course and either Independent Study (ECOG-290, ECOG-291, ECOG-292, ECOG-293, or ECOG-294) or Research Topics in Economics (ECOG-295, ECOG-296, or ECOG-297) related to the field of choice. The student must receive a B or better in each of these two courses. There are no further requirements for certification of the Minor Field. Neither a comprehensive examination nor a field paper is required for the Minor Field.

Students must pass comprehensive examinations (which are offered twice annually) in the following four areas: microeconomic theory, macroeconomic theory, econometrics, and the major field. The student may substitute a research paper in his/her major field for the major-field comprehensive examination.

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Economics Doctor of Philosophy

The primary mission of our graduate program is to educate students as research economists. As they pursue PhD degrees, our graduate students acquire a wide range of skills that make them excellent university teachers and professional economists. An advanced degree in economics offers an exciting range of career choice in academia, business and government.

About 80 graduate students are in the economics PhD program. Our entering class consists of approximately 15-20 students selected from a very competitive pool of approximately 300 applicants from all over the world. In recent years, we have ranked in the top echelon of all departments at The Ohio State University in the number of university fellowships awarded to new graduate students . Almost all of our PhD students are supported through research and teaching assistantships with competitive stipends and full tuition waiver. We also provide conference travel support, dissertation research support and support for the job market preparations of our dissertation students.

The faculty and department The dedication of our graduate faculty  to excellence in economics education is reflected in the depth and breadth of their research activities. Our faculty includes three Fellows of the Econometric Society and several editors and associate editors of top-ranked economics journals. We are in the Top 10 ranked economics programs among public universities and in the top 25 of all U.S. economics departments in terms of publication productivity.

Optional Practical Training (OPT)

International graduates of this major are approved by the Department of Homeland Security for three (3) years of work permission in the United States after graduation. Visit the Office of International Affairs website for more information.

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Department of Economics

The Ph.D. program in Economics at Brown trains students in economic theory and the tools of economic analysis. Through coursework, participation in seminars, and supervised research students are taught to conduct theoretical and empirical research at the highest level.

The Economics Department will be accepting applications to its PhD program for Fall 2024.  Applications are due by January 1, 2024. Application information is available at  https://www.brown.edu/graduateprograms/economics-phd  . 

FAQ: If you have questions about the program or the admissions process please consult our list of frequently asked questions  . If your questions are not answered there please contact  [email protected] . 

Requirements

The Ph.D. degree usually requires two years of course work, followed by supervised research and the completion of a doctoral dissertation.

The first year involves core courses in:

• Microeconomics (Economics 2050, 2060)
• Macroeconomics (Economics 2070, 2080)
• Econometrics (Economics 2030, 2040)
• One in mathematics (Economics 2010)
• One in applied economics analysis (Economics 2020) 

Students will take microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics in their first year and must receive a passing grade in these courses. Starting in the second year, each student chooses two fields of specialization, and takes an oral field exam. Each field comprises two advanced courses within an area. Beyond the fields, the student takes three additional advanced courses, for a total of seven.  Students must receive a B or better in these courses. The rest of pre-dissertation requirements include a poster presentation in late March, a research paper turned in during May of the third year, and successful seminar presentations each year from the fourth year and on.

Handbook of the Graduate Program

The detailed description of all requirements, along with guidelines for the student, can be found in The Handbook of the Graduate Program.

View Handbook

Dissertation

The culmination of the Ph.D. program is the dissertation, which embodies the results of the student's original research. Work on the dissertation usually takes two-three years after completion of course work. Students working on dissertations participate actively in research workshops. After a faculty committee has approved the dissertation, the student takes a final oral examination on the subject of the dissertation.

High Standards

The work in the Ph.D. program is demanding and the standards of performance are high. The Department's reputation for providing superb training has enabled its graduates to compile an excellent placement record. Some of the institutions at which recent graduates have obtained positions include major research universities (Chicago, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Michigan, Dartmouth, Minnesota, New York University, Penn State, University College London, University of British Columbia, University of Pittsburgh, University of Toronto, University of Virginia), prestigious liberal arts colleges (Wesleyan University and Williams College), government and international agencies (International Monetary Fund, Federal Trade Commission, World Bank, Congressional Budget Office, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, US Census Bureau), and private industrial, consulting, and research firms. Brown graduates have an outstanding record of research accomplishments and publications.

Exceptional Faculty

The Department currently has about 40 tenure track faculty . The faculty includes several Fellows of the Econometric Society, several Sloan Fellows, several Guggenheim Fellows, several recipients of prestigious prizes and awards, the editor of the Journal of Economic Growth, the editor of the Journal of Financial Intermediation, a past editor of the American Economic Review, and several associates and fellows of the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Center for Economic Policy Research. The Department's faculty publishes regularly their research in the top journals of economics and other disciplines, as well as in top field journals (see our "Selected Faculty Publications"). Members of the faculty in the Department have also delivered numerous named, keynote and plenary lectures in main international scientific conferences. The atmosphere in the Department is highly collegial. Interaction among faculty members and graduate students is easy and extensive. The department collaborates with the  Brown Population Studies and Training Center,  which provides support for students doing research in population economics and economic development. Active workshops provide opportunities for faculty, graduate students, and visiting scholars to discuss current research. Library and computer facilities are excellent. 

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The PhD program in economics prepares you to conduct cutting-edge original research addressing the fundamental economic questions of our time.  Learn the skills of leading economists, choose from many specializations, and develop your own research program.  You can utilize your knowledge in faculty positions in academia, in governmental organizations, as well as in the private sector.

At a glance:

• One or two years of coursework on state-of-the-art knowledge and skills.
• Independent research period guided by faculty members.
• Tuition waiver and a generous stipend for all students.

You will take courses taught by internationally recognized faculty with PhD degrees from some of the world’s leading universities, including Harvard, MIT, and Princeton.  After choosing two fields of specialization, you will select an advisor from these faculty members to guide you as you hone your skills and develop your own research program. 

Fast transition to research, close supervision:  

• Low coursework for students from qualified MA programs. Extensive coursework reduction for graduates from  MA in Economics at CEU .    
• We expect that you have taken core courses in a research-oriented MA program. If you have insufficient training, we encourage you to apply to  MA in Economics  first and opt for the research track once you are admitted.  
• High faculty-to-student ratio. Supervision by researchers  working on the cutting edge of their fields .  
• Regular one-on-one coaching in presentation skills.  
• Access to detailed micro-level datasets on the region and the related institutional knowledge.  
• Seminar series  hosting top researchers  in  a variety of fields.  

Placements in academia, policy and private sector:  

As a PhD economist, your skills will be in high demand from many different types of organizations.  You can become a faculty member at a university, a researcher at a central bank or other national or international governmental organization, or a consultant or other professional in the private sector.

Program Heads:  Prof. Andrea Weber  (for the U.S. and Austrian accredited program) and  Prof. László Mátyás  (for the Hungarian accredited program).

Program Administrator: Zsuzsanna Bordas (room: QS B-507, email: [email protected] )

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Economics - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Our PhD program focuses on a solid core curriculum in economic theory and econometrics. Beyond this, we offer a number of specialized fields of study: econometrics, economic development, economic history, industrial organization, international trade and finance, labor and human resources, natural resources and environmental economics and public economics.

Master's Degree in Economics

The Department of Economics does not currently offer a stand-alone MA degree program, although students enrolled in our PhD program will earn their MA degree as they progress toward their doctorate.

Requirements

Admission requirements, course requirements, preliminary examinations, third-year research colloquium, comprehensive examination, admission to candidacy and dissertation requirements, administration: examining committees for examinations, dissertation guidelines.

An applicant for admission as a regular degree student must:

• Hold a baccalaureate degree from a college or university of recognized standing, or have done work equivalent to that required for such a degree and equivalent to the degree given at this university. The undergraduate GPA must be at least 2.75 (2.00=C).
• Have completed intermediate microeconomic and macroeconomic theory courses, 6 credit hours of calculus at the university level or equivalent, and statistics.
• Submit Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores for aptitude (verbal and quantitative). International applicants whose native language is not English must also submit a TOEFL score with a speaking component, even if they have attended college in an English-speaking country.
• Arrange for the submission of three letters of recommendation.

Graduate study in economics is quantitative and analytical. Students should be comfortable with basic calculus (derivatives and integration), linear algebra, matrix algebra and basic statistics.

The university deadline for international applications is Dec. 1 for the following fall semester. The department encourages international applicants to comply with this deadline. Late applications may be considered; however, they may be at a disadvantage with respect to the award of financial aid. Domestic applicants who wish to be considered for financial assistance should apply by Jan. 15. Students must begin the program in a fall semester.

Degree Requirements

Students are expected to complete all requirements for the PhD degree within five years of entering the program (the maximum time allowed by the Graduate School is six years). The schedule of required courses is centered on this expectation. Failure to make timely and satisfactory progress toward the degree may result in loss of financial assistance or dismissal from the program.

• obtain written approval from the DGS to waive the requirement for ECON 7800 due to sufficient mathematical preparation in prior studies, or
• pass the final examination in ECON 7800 at a level of B- without taking the course.
• Six elective courses at the 8000 level. Basic fields are econometrics, economic development, economic history, industrial organization, international trade and finance, labor and human resources, natural resources and environmental economics and public economics. Ordinarily, a student would take two elective courses in a basic field of specialization in preparation for a dissertation.
• 6 credit hours in a research colloquium.
• At least 30 credit hours of dissertation.
• At least four of the core courses must be taken on the Boulder campus. Courses transferred for credit must be approved by the DGS. After entry into the PhD program, all remaining courses must be taken on the Boulder campus.
• All courses for PhD credit taken on the Boulder campus must be passed with a grade of B- or better. A student who receives a grade of C+ or lower in a core course must retake that course the following academic year.
• No more than 12 credit hours (exclusive of dissertation credit hours) from a single faculty member may be counted toward PhD requirements. Independent study is allowed only to satisfy elective requirements. No more than 6 credit hours of independent study may be applied to the PhD degree and no more than 3 credit hours of independent study may be taken from a single faculty member. In consultation with the DGS, students may choose to take up to two graduate offerings in other departments as elective courses.
• See the Plan of Study tab for course recommendations.

Written preliminary examinations in microeconomic theory, macroeconomic theory and econometrics must be taken in the examination period following the successful completion of core courses in these areas. Under most circumstances this period would be in August prior to the second year. An examination attempted and failed must be taken again and passed in the next examination period. A second failure results in dismissal from the program, subject to appeal to the GCRC under extraordinary circumstances. In no case are attempts beyond the third granted.

Students who have failed any of the core courses are ineligible to take the preliminary examination in the area of failure. These students must retake the failed course(s) in the following year and attempt the relevant preliminary examination in the first scheduled examination period after they pass.

Students who fail to pass all three preliminary examinations within two-and-one-half years of beginning the PhD program must exit the program.

An MA degree will be awarded to students who have successfully completed all core courses in the PhD program, completed 30 hours of graduate credit with a 3.00 GPA and performed satisfactorily within two attempts on at least two out of three preliminary examinations.

Third-year students are expected to register for 3 credit hours per semester in the research colloquium, which will meet weekly under the direction of a faculty member. The purpose of the colloquium is to provide students the opportunity and guidance to complete the required third-year paper and to facilitate progress toward the dissertation stage.

Students must take an oral comprehensive examination before admission to PhD candidacy. This examination may occur either at the time of the student's research presentation in ECON 8219 or at a later date, and will encompass the materials in the presentation and all relevant coursework completed by the candidate. Students who fail this comprehensive examination will be given a second chance during the following semester. For those students for whom the presentation in ECON 8219 does not serve as the oral comprehensive examination, a separate oral examination must be scheduled before admission to candidacy. Students who do not pass this exam by the end of their fifth year must exit the program.

Students are formally admitted to candidacy for the PhD degree after completing all course requirements and all preliminary and comprehensive examinations and after earning four semesters of residency (see the Doctoral Degree Requirements section of this catalog for details). After admission to candidacy, students must register each fall and spring semester for dissertation credit ( ECON 8999 ) until attaining the degree; the accumulated credit for the thesis must total at least 30 credit hours to attain the degree. A student must prepare a written dissertation and successfully pass an oral examination before a dissertation committee and other interested persons on its content before receiving the degree. The minimum residence requirement for the PhD degree is six semesters of scholarly work beyond the bachelor's degree.

Examining committees for preliminary examinations consist of three members of the economics department who teach in the relevant area. Examining committees for comprehensive examinations consist of at least three members of the economics department.

• Written examinations are numbered so that insofar as possible the identity of the student is unknown. Each faculty member grades independently and writes no comments in the examination booklet. A meeting of the graders is called by the chair of the examination committee and the committee grade is submitted to the graduate program manager. The possible grades include "High Pass," "Pass" and "Fail."
• In cases where there is a question of pass or fail on any exam, if two of the members of the examination committee vote affirmatively, a grade of pass will be recorded; if two of the members of the grading committee vote negatively, a grade of fail will be recorded. If the vote of the grading committee is tied and the third member is absent (but will be available within seven days), the decision to pass or to fail is to be made by the reconvened grading committee. If fewer than two members of the grading committee are present and voting, or if the vote of the grading committee is tied and the third member is not available within seven days, the decision to pass or fail will be made by the Graduate Curriculum and Review Committee; in such circumstances the grade is reported as pass or fail, based on a majority vote.
• When examination results are reported, a student who failed should have an opportunity to discuss their performance with a member of the examining committee.
• In the spring term of the academic year following the research colloquium, each student must submit a written dissertation proposal and conduct an oral defense of that proposal before his or her basic committee. A dissertation proposal form must be signed by each member of the basic committee and submitted to the graduate program manager. The basic committee consists of the student's faculty supervisor and three other faculty members from the department. An acceptable proposal must include a statement of purpose and a justification for the importance of the work; a full literature review and a statement of how this research will contribute to the literature; and a detailed description of the methodologies to be used and of the data bases, if appropriate.
• Normally students are expected to complete their dissertation by the end of their fifth academic year. The graduate program manager provides details on submission of the dissertation and arrangements for the oral defense. The final defense is conducted before a basic committee of four faculty members from the department plus one outside member. After the defense, minor changes are agreed upon between candidate and supervisor before the final dissertation is submitted.

Plan of Study

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PhD in Economics

PhD students take 16 courses, roughly half of which are spent acquiring the core analytic tools of the profession (microeconomics, macroeconomics, and quantitative methods), with the balance spent applying those tools in particular fields of specialization. All PhD students must complete a doctoral dissertation (thesis).

The PhD in Economics is a STEM designated degree program.

View the complete PhD Rules here

Program Requirements

Doctoral students must complete a minimum of 16 semester courses (64 credits). They are required to successfully complete the core courses by the end of the first year.

Theory and Quantitative Core Requirements

These core courses must be passed by the end of the first year with a grade of at least B- in each course.

• EC 701 Advanced Microeconomics I (4 credits)
• EC 702 Advanced Macroeconomics I (4 credits)
• EC 703 Advanced Microeconomics II (4 credits)
• EC 704 Advanced Macroeconomics II (4 credits)
• EC 707 Advanced Statistics for Economists (4 credits)
• EC 708 Advanced Econometrics I (4 credits)

Students must also take EC 705 Mathematical Economics in the first semester, unless a waiver is granted, and EC 709 Advanced Econometrics II (4 credits) in the third semester.

In addition, students must pass a qualifying examination in both microeconomics and macroeconomics. Students have at most three opportunities to take the qualifying examinations; failing may result in termination from the PhD program.

Field Requirements

All students must pass 2 2-course fields, each with a minimum grade average of B.

In addition, students must take at least 2 other courses. The following fields are generally offered each year:

• Development
• Econometrics
• Economic Theory
• Empirical Finance
• Financial Econometrics
• Industrial Organization
• International Economics
• Labor Economics
• Money/Macroeconomics
• Public Economics

GPA Requirements

All courses must be passed with a grade of B– or higher. An overall grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 must be attained in all courses taken after enrollment in the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.

Time Requirement

The PhD program is designed so that a typical student can complete all requirements within 5 to 6 years. International students may be subject to additional restrictions imposed by the terms of their visas, as governed by the International Students & Scholars Office (ISSO).

Students are expected to meet the following milestones each year:

By the end of the 1st year:

• Finish and pass all core first-year courses, as well as EC 705 (unless exempted through placement exam).
• Sit for the first attempt at the micro and macro qualifying exams in June. The second attempt, if necessary, is in August.

By the end of the 2nd year:

• Pass EC 709, a required course in Advanced Econometrics.
• Continue and, if possible, complete remaining coursework, including a two-course sequence in each of two fields. A B average (3.0) is required in each of the field course sequence.
• Achieve an overall GPA of at least 3.0.
• If both qualifiers are not passed, the third and final attempt is in June of the second year.
• Each student must prepare a research paper during the second year and the following summer. By April 1 of the second year, the student must ask a faculty member to serve as an advisor on this paper; have this faculty member agree to serve in this manner; and inform the DGS of the topic of the paper and the advisor’s name. The paper is due in the third year as described below.

By the end of the 3rd year:

• Submit the second-year paper by October 1. By October 15, the faculty advisor must provide (i) a grade for the paper; and (ii) a brief written evaluation the paper. These documents will be sent to the DGS and the student. A student must receive a passing grade on the research paper.
• Complete all coursework with GPA of at least 3.0.
• Continue work on research for the dissertation.
• Attend and present at least annually in one of the research workshops until completion of all degree requirements.

Years 4, 5, and (if necessary) 6:

• Student carries out thesis research, defending the thesis no later than the end of the sixth year.

Dissertation

Under the supervision of two faculty advisers, a student prepares a dissertation proposal for presentation at a proposal seminar. If the proposal is approved, the student proceeds to research and write the dissertation. When the dissertation is completed, the student must defend it at a final oral examination. The Graduate School of Arts & Sciences requires that the dissertation be completed within seven years of initial enrollment in the program.

For more details, view the complete PhD Rules here and check out our past PhD Placements here .

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MPhil. PhD in Economics

The Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) and the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees are research degrees. Research degrees involve independent study, directed by a supervisor, and the production of a thesis. The essential difference between the master and doctoral levels, aside from the length of the registration period, lies in the quality of a successful Ph.D. thesis, which must be judged to be the result of original research, an addition to knowledge and worthy of publication either in full or in an abridged form in a refereed journal. The award of a M.Phil./Ph.D. also requires the candidate to defend his/her thesis at a public, oral examination. The maximum period for registration for full time M.Phil. and Ph.D. students are three (3) years and five (5) years respectively and part time students' maximum registration is five (5) years and seven (7) years respectively.

Candidates seeking entry to the M.Phil. programme should hold a Bachelor’s degree (Second Class Honours or above), in addition to the courses outlined in the M.Sc. programme. M.Phil. students are required to read for courses totalling a minimum of six (6) credits, and courses must be of the graduate level. 

Candidates seeking entry to the Ph.D. programmes should hold Master’s degree from an approved university with a specialty in the area of study. Students may be required to attend an interview prior to being accepted. Students applying for M.Phil./Ph.D. degrees must prepare an appropriate research proposal for consideration in the area in which they wish to pursue. Ph.D. students are required to read for courses totalling a minimum of nine (9) credits and courses must be of the graduate level. 

The intention of these taught courses is to provide students with research techniques and skills that will not only help them to complete their current research topic, but will also stand them in good stead for life after university. M.Phil./Ph.D candidates who have completed the M.Sc. in Economics are encouraged to apply for exemption from taught courses. The Department will decide on the eligibility and acceptance of candidates.

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Economics - Philosophy

Departmental Office: 1022 International Affairs Building; 212-854-3680 http://www.columbia.edu/cu/economics/

Director of Undergraduate Studies: Dr. Susan Elmes, 1006 International Affairs Building; 212-854-9124; [email protected]

Director of Departmental Honors Program: Dr. Susan Elmes, 1006 International Affairs Building; 212-854-9124; [email protected]

Economics is the study of the ways in which society allocates its scarce resources among alternative uses and the consequences of these decisions. The areas of inquiry deal with a varied range of topics such as international trade, domestic and international financial systems, labor market analysis, and the study of less developed economies. Broadly speaking, the goal of an economics major is to train students to think analytically about social issues and, as such, provide a solid foundation for not only further study and careers in economics, but also for careers in law, public service, business, and related fields.

The Economics Department offers a general economics major in addition to five interdisciplinary majors structured to suit the interests and professional goals of a heterogeneous student body. All of these programs have different specific requirements but share the common structure of core theoretical courses that provide the foundation for higher-level elective courses culminating in a senior seminar. Students are urged to carefully look through the details of each of these programs and to contact an appropriate departmental adviser to discuss their particular interests.

Advanced Placement

Tests must be taken in both microeconomics and macroeconomics, with a score of 5 on one test and at least a 4 on the other. Provided that this is achieved, the department grants 4 credits for a score of 4 and 5 on the AP Economics exam along with exemption from ECON UN1105 PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS .

The Department of Economics offers a variety of advising resources to provide prospective and current undergraduate majors and concentrators with the information and support needed to successfully navigate through the program. These resources are described below.

Frequently Asked Questions

Please see: http://econ.columbia.edu/frequently-asked-questions-0

As a first step, students are encouraged to visit the department's FAQ page, which provides comprehensive information and answers to the most frequently asked questions about the departmental majors and requirements. This page also includes a section that answers specific questions of first-years, sophomores, and non-majors.

Graduate Student Advisers

For answers to the most common questions that students have about the majors, the department has graduate student advisers, who are available by e-mail at [email protected] , or during weekly office hours to meet with students.

Students should direct all questions and concerns about their major to the graduate student advisers either in person or via e-mail. The graduate student advisers can discuss major requirements, scheduling, and major course selection, as well as review student checklists and discuss progress in the major. Occasionally, graduate student advisers may refer a student to someone else in the department (such as the director of undergraduate studies) or in the student's school for additional advising.

Contact information and office hours for the graduate student advisers are posted on the Advisers page of the departmental website in the week prior to the beginning of the semester. Students considering one of the interdepartmental majors should speak to both a graduate student adviser from the Economics Department and the adviser from the other department early in the sophomore year.

Faculty Advisers

Faculty advisers are available to discuss students' academic and career goals, both in terms of the undergraduate career and post-graduate degrees and research. Students wishing to discuss these types of substantive topics may request a faculty adviser by completing the form available on the Advisers page of the departmental website and depositing it in the mailbox of the director of undergraduate studies in 1122 International Affairs Building.

The department does its best to match students with faculty members that share similar academic interests. While faculty advisers do not discuss major requirements—that is the role of the graduate student advisers—they do provide guidance in course selection as it relates to meeting a student's intellectual goals and interests, as well as advise on career and research options. It is recommended that students who plan on attending a Ph.D. program in economics or are interested in pursuing economics research after graduation request a faculty adviser.

On-Line Information

Students can access useful information on-line, including: a comprehensive FAQ page; requirement changes to the major and concentration; sample programs and checklists; faculty office hours, contact information and fields of specialization; adviser information; teaching assistant information; research assistant opportunities; list of tutors; and Columbia-Barnard Economics Society information.

Departmental Honors

Economics majors and economics joint majors who wish to be considered for departmental honors in economics must:

• Have at least a 3.7 GPA in their major courses;
• Take ECON GU4999 SENIOR HONORS THESIS WORKSHOP (a one-year course);
• Receive at least a grade of A- in ECON GU4999 SENIOR HONORS THESIS WORKSHOP .

Students must consult and obtain the approval of the departmental undergraduate director in order to be admitted to the workshop. Please note that ECON GU4999 SENIOR HONORS THESIS WORKSHOP may be taken to fulfill the seminar requirement for the economics major and all economics joint majors. Students who wish to write a senior thesis ( ECON GU4999 SENIOR HONORS THESIS WORKSHOP ) must have completed the core major requirements . Normally no more than 10% of graduating majors receive departmental honors in a given academic year. Please see the Honors Prizes page on the department's website for more information.

Undergraduate Prizes

All prize recipients are announced at the end of the spring semester each academic year.

Sanford S. Parker Prize

Established in 1980, this prize is awarded annually to a Columbia College graduating student who majored or concentrated in economics and plans on continuing his or her studies in an economics Ph.D. program within the two years following his or her graduation.

The Dean’s Prize in Economics

Awarded to General Studies students for excellence in the study of Economics.

Romine Prize

Established in 1997, this prize is awarded annually to two students (Columbia College or General Studies) majoring in economics: one for the best honors thesis paper, and the other for the best economics seminar paper.

Parker Prize for Summer Research

The department provides financial support for five Columbia College underclassmen who take unpaid summer internships that focus on research.

• Douglas Almond (also School of International and Public Affairs)
• Jagdish N. Bhagwati
• Sandra Black (also School of International and Public Affairs)
• Alessandra Casella (also Political Science Department)
• Yeon-Koo Che
• Pierre-André Chiappori
• Graciela Chichilnisky
• Richard Clarida (also School of International and Public Affairs)
• Donald Davis
• Prajit Dutta
• Gautaum Gowrisankaran
• Harrison Hong
• R. Glenn Hubbard (also Business School)
• Navin Kartik
• Wojciech Kopczuk (also School of International and Public Affairs)
• Sokbae (Simon) Lee
• Qingmin Liu
• Suresh Naidu (also School of International and Public Affairs)
• Brendan O'Flaherty
• Andrea Prat (also Business School)
• Jeffrey Sachs (also Earth Institute, School of International and Public Affairs, Dept of Health Policy and Management)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
• Xavier Sala-i-Martin
• Bernard Salanié
• José A. Scheinkman
• Stephanie Schmitt-Grohé
• Joseph Stiglitz (also Business School, School of International and Public Affairs)
• Martín Uribe
• Miguel Urquiola (also School of International and Public Affairs)
• Eric Verhoogen (also School of International and Public Affairs) Ebonya Washington (also School of International and Public Affairs)
• David Weinstein
• Michael Woodford (Chair)

Associate Professors

• Lena Edlund
• Jennifer La'O

Assistant Professors

• Hassan Afrouzi
• Michael Best
• Matthieu Gomez
• Emilien Gouin-Bonenfant
• Elliot Lipnowski
• Neomie Pinardon-Touati
• Evan Sadler
• Pietro Tebaldi
• Jack Willis
• Irasema Alonso
• Isaac Bjorke
• Tri Vi Dang
• Susan Elmes
• Seyhan Erden
• Tamrat Gashaw
• Sunil Gulati
• Waseem Noor

Adjunct Faculty

• Qi Ge Claudia Halbac Karla Hoff
• Caterina Musatti
• Prof. Willis ( 2023-2024 )
• Profs. Che, Gouin-Bonenfant, Hong, Lipnowski, Sadler, Washongton Fall 2023 )
• Profs. Casella, Schmitt-Grohe ( Spring 2024)

Guidelines for all Economics Majors, Concentrators, and Interdepartmental Majors

Checklists and requirement.

Checklists and Requirement information are available on the Department website .

Course List

Economics core courses.

All of the core courses must be completed no later than the spring semester of the student’s junior year and must be taken at Columbia. Students who take any core course during the fall semester of their senior year must obtain written permission from the department's director of undergraduate studies.  Unless otherwise specified below, all students must complete the following core courses:

Prerequisites

Course prerequisites are strictly enforced. Prerequisites must be taken before the course, not after or concurrently.

Economics courses taken before the completion of any of its prerequisites, even with instructor approval, are not counted toward the major, concentration, or interdepartmental majors. Exemptions from a prerequisite requirement may only be made, in writing, by the department's director of undergraduate studies. Credits from a course taken prior to the completion of its prerequisites are not counted towards the major requirements. As a consequence, students are required to complete additional , specific courses in economics at the direction of the director of undergraduate studies.

The prerequisites for required courses are as follows:

It is strongly recommended that students take ECON UN3412 INTRODUCTION TO ECONOMETRICS  in the semester immediately following the completion of the statistics course.

No course with a grade of D or lower, including calculus and statistics courses, can count toward the major, concentration, or interdepartmental majors. Economics core courses with a grade of D or F must be retaken and completed with a grade of C- or better.

Students who receive a grade of D or F in a core course are permitted to take a higher-level elective course that has that core course as a prerequisite, so long as it is taken concurrently with the retaking of that core course. For example, if a student fails ECON UN3211 INTERMEDIATE MICROECONOMICS , the student must retake it and, in the same semester, may enroll in an elective course for which it is a prerequisite, provided that all other prerequisites for the elective have been completed. The same rule applies to the required math and statistics courses. For example, if a student fails MATH UN1201 CALCULUS III , the student may retake calculus III concurrently with Intermediate Microeconomics . Students who must retake any core economics or math course may not retake it concurrently with a senior seminar; the economics core courses  ECON UN3211 INTERMEDIATE MICROECONOMICS , ECON UN3213 INTERMEDIATE MACROECONOMICS , and  ECON UN3412 INTRODUCTION TO ECONOMETRICS must be successfully completed before a student may enroll in a seminar.

A grade of W is not equivalent to a grade of D or F; it does not qualify a student to retake the course concurrently with a higher level course that lists the course as a prerequisite. Students who receive a grade of W in a core course must complete the course with a grade of C- or better before taking a course that lists it as a prerequisite.

Only ECON UN1105 PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS may be taken for a grade of Pass/D/Fail, and the student must receive a grade of P for it to count towards the requirements for the major, concentration, or interdepartmental majors.

Economics Electives

Only those courses identified in the Economics Department listings in this Bulletin may be taken for elective credit. All 3000 -level or higher electives offered by the Economics Department have ECON UN3211 INTERMEDIATE MICROECONOMICS  and ECON UN3213 INTERMEDIATE MACROECONOMICS as prerequisites. However, some electives have additional prerequisites and students should ensure that all prerequisites have been completed (see the table of prerequisites printed above). Seminars do not count as electives.

Seminars can be taken only after all of the required core courses in economics have been successfully completed. Students may not take or re-take ECON UN3211 INTERMEDIATE MICROECONOMICS , ECON UN3213 INTERMEDIATE MACROECONOMICS , or ECON UN3412 INTRODUCTION TO ECONOMETRICS concurrently with any senior seminar. Seminars do not count as electives . Each seminar is limited to sixteen students, with priority given to seniors. For ECPS GU4921 SEMINAR IN POLITICAL ECONOMICS  and ECPH GU4950 ECONOMICS ＆ PHILOSOPHY , priority is given to economics–political science and economics-philosophy majors, respectively.

For seminar registration details, read the information posted on the department's Senior Seminar Registration  page: http://econ.columbia.edu/senior-seminars-registration .

Mathematics

Students must consult with the Mathematics Department for the appropriate placement in the calculus sequence. Students must complete one of the following sequences:

In addition:

• Students who receive a grade of D or F in MATH UN1201 CALCULUS III or MATH UN1205 must retake the course, but may enroll in ECON UN3211 INTERMEDIATE MICROECONOMICS .
• Students who receive a grade of D or F in MATH UN1207 HONORS MATHEMATICS A   may either retake the course, or take MATH UN1201 CALCULUS III or MATH UN1205, and enroll in ECON UN3211 INTERMEDIATE MICROECONOMICS  concurrently.

Unless otherwise specified below, all students must take STAT UN1201 CALC-BASED INTRO TO STATISTICS , or a higher level course, such as STAT GU4204 STATISTICAL INFERENCE , or STAT GU4001 .

Barnard Courses

A limited number of Barnard economics electives may count toward the major, concentration, and interdepartmental majors. Students should pay careful attention to the limit of Barnard electives indicated in their program requirements. Please see the Transfer Credit section below for information on the number of Barnard electives that may be taken to fulfill major requirements. In addition, students may receive credit for the major, concentration, and interdepartmental majors only for those Barnard economics courses listed in this Bulletin. However, students may not receive credit for two courses whose content overlaps. Barnard and Columbia economics electives with overlapping content include but are not limited to:

Students should always first consult with econ-advising to confirm that the Barnard elective they wish to take does not overlap with a Columbia elective that they have already taken or plan to take.  Students may not take the Barnard core economics, math, statistics, or seminar courses for credit towards the completion of major requirements.

School of Professional Studies Courses

The Department of Economics does not accept any of the courses offered through the School of Professional Studies for credit towards the economics major, concentration, or interdepartmental majors with the exception of the courses offered by the Economics Department during the summer session at Columbia.

Other Department and School Courses

Please note that with the exception of the above Barnard courses and the specific courses listed below for the financial economics major, no other courses offered through the different departments and schools at Columbia count toward the economics majors or concentration.

Transfer Credits

Students are required to take a minimum number of courses in the Columbia Economics Department. For all majors and interdepartmental majors, students must complete a minimum of five lecture courses in the Columbia department.  Students may fulfill their remaining requirements for economics lecture courses through AP (or IB or GCE) credits, Barnard electives, transfer courses, and study abroad courses (the latter two are subject to the approval of the Economics Department). The following table summarizes the new rules:  

• Lecture courses do not include seminars, which must be taken in the Columbia Economics Department. The lecture course counts are counts of economics courses only and do not include math, statistics, or courses in other departments;
• At least two of the three 3000 -level economics core courses must be taken in the department and no corresponding Barnard courses are accepted. ECON UN3025 FINANCIAL ECONOMICS and ECON UN3265 MONEY AND BANKING are counted as departmental courses regardless of the instructor;
• Outside courses include AP (or IB or GCE) credits, transfer credits, Barnard 2000- and 3000- level elective courses and transfer credits from other universities. In the case where two or more courses taken outside of Columbia are used as the equivalent of ECON UN1105 PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS , those courses are counted as one transfer course.
• At least one of the core finance courses, ECON UN3025 FINANCIAL ECONOMICS and ECON GU4280 CORPORATE FINANCE,  must be taken at Columbia.

Approval of transfer credits to fulfill economics requirements must be obtained in writing from the Department of Economics (see the departmental website or speak with your advising dean for information regarding applications for transfer credit). Approval is granted only for courses that are considered to be comparable to those offered at Columbia.

Summer courses taken at other institutions must be approved in writing by the department's transfer credit adviser before the course is taken. The department does not accept transfer credits for any 3000 level core courses taken during a summer session outside of Columbia University.  Summer courses taken from the department of economics at Columbia University do not need approval.

Guidelines and instructions on how to request transfer credit approval can be found in the Transfer Credit Information page of the departmental website .

Major in Economics

Please read Guidelines for all for Economics Majors, Concentrators, and Interdepartmental Majors above.

The economics major requires a minimum of 35 points in economics, 6 points in mathematics, and 3 points in statistics, for a total of at least 44 points as follows:

Concentration in Economics

Please read  Guidelines for all for Economics Majors, Concentrators, and Interdepartmental Majors  above.

The economics concentration requires a minimum of 25 points in economics, 6 points in mathematics, and 3 points in statistics, for a total of at least 34 points as follows:

Major in Financial Economics

The Department of Economics offers the major in financial economics, which provides an academic framework to explore the role of financial markets and intermediaries in the allocation (and mis-allocation) of capital. Among the topics studied in financial economics are financial markets, banks and other financial intermediaries, asset valuation, portfolio allocation, regulation and corporate governance.

The financial economics major requires 26 points in economics, 6 points in mathematics, 3 points in statistics, 3 points in business, and 12 points from a list of selected courses for a total minimum of 50 points as follows:

1) Students must complete the finance core no later than fall of their senior year.  2) At least one of the core finance courses, ECON UN3025 and ECON GU4280,  must be taken at Columbia.

Major in Economics-Mathematics

The major in economics and mathematics provides students with a grounding in economic theory comparable to that provided by the general economics major and exposes students to rigorous and extensive training in mathematics. The program is recommended for any student planning to do graduate work in economics.

The Department of Economics has graduate student advisers with whom students may consult on economics requirements. The Department of Mathematics has an assigned adviser with whom students may consult on mathematics requirements. The economics adviser can only advise on economics requirements; the mathematics adviser can only advise on mathematics requirements.

The economics-mathematics major requires a total of 52 or 56 points (depending on mathematics sequence) : 29 points in economics and 23-27 points in mathematics and statistics as follows:

• Students who fulfill the statistics requirement with STAT GU4203 and STAT GU4204 , may count STAT GU4203 or STAT GU4204 as one of the three required mathematics electives.
• Students who choose the one year sequence ( STAT GU4203 / STAT GU4204 ), must complete the year long sequence prior to taking ECON UN3412 . Students receive elective credit for the probability course.

Major in Economics-Philosophy

Economics-philosophy is an interdisciplinary major that introduces students to basic methodologies of economics and philosophy and stresses areas of particular concern to both, e.g. rationality and decision making, justice and efficiency, freedom and collective choice, logic of empirical theories and testing. Many issues are dealt with historically. Classic texts of Plato, Kant, Mill, Marx, and Smith are reviewed.

The Department of Economics has graduate student advisers with whom students may consult on economics requirements. The Department of Philosophy has an assigned adviser with whom students may consult on philosophy requirements. The economics adviser can only advise on economics requirements; the philosophy adviser can only advise on philosophy requirements.

The economics-philosophy major requires a total minimum of 54 points: 25 points in economics, 16 points in philosophy, 6 points in mathematics, 3 points in statistics, and 4 points in the interdisciplinary seminar as follows:

Students who declared before Spring 2014:   The requirements for this program were modified in 2014. Students who declared this program before Spring 2014 should contact the director of undergraduate studies for the department in order to confirm their options for major requirements.

Major in Economics–Political Science

Political economy is an interdisciplinary major that introduces students to the methodologies of economics and political science and stresses areas of particular concern to both. This program is particularly beneficial to students planning to do graduate work in schools of public policy and international affairs.

The Department of Economics has graduate student advisers with whom students may consult on economics requirements. The Department of Political Science has an assigned adviser with whom students may consult on political science requirements. The economics adviser can only advise on economics requirements; the political science adviser can only advise on political science requirements.

The economics–political science major requires a total of 59 points: 22 points in economics, 17 points in political science, 6 points in mathematics, 6 points in statistical methods, 4 points in a political science seminar, and 4 points in the interdisciplinary seminar as follows.

The political science courses are grouped into four areas, i.e. subfields: (1) American Politics, (2) Comparative Politics, (3) International Relations, and (4) Political Theory. For the political science part of the major, students are required to select one area as a major subfield and one as a minor subfield. The corresponding introductory courses in both subfields must be taken, plus two electives in the major subfield, and one in the minor subfield.

Major in Economics-Statistics

The major in economics-statistics provides students with a grounding in economic theory comparable to that provided by the general economics major, but also exposes students to a significantly more rigorous and extensive statistics training than is provided by the general major. This program is recommended for students with strong quantitative skills and for those contemplating graduate studies in economics.

The Department of Economics has graduate student advisers with whom students may consult on economics requirements. The Department of Statistics has an assigned adviser with whom students may consult on statistics requirements. The economics adviser can only advise on economics requirements; the statistics adviser can only advise on statistics requirements.

The economics-statistics major requires a total of 59 points: 29 in economics, 15 points in statistics, 12 points in mathematics, 3 points in computer science as follows:

Students who declared before Spring 2014:   The requirements for this program were modified in 2014. Students who declared this program before Spring 2014 should contact the director of undergraduate studies for the department in order to confirm their options for major requirements. 

ECON UN1105 PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS. 4.00 points .

Corequisites: ECON UN1155 Corequisites: ECON UN1155 How a market economy determines the relative prices of goods, factors of production, and the allocation of resources and the circumstances under which it does it efficiently. Why such an economy has fluctuations and how they may becontrolled

ECON UN3211 INTERMEDIATE MICROECONOMICS. 4.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN1105 and MATH UN1101 and ( MATH UN1201 or MATH UN1207 ) Prerequisites: ECON UN1105 and MATH UN1101 and ( MATH UN1201 or MATH UN1207 ) The determination of the relative prices of goods and factors of production and the allocation of resources

ECON UN3213 INTERMEDIATE MACROECONOMICS. 4.00 points .

Prerequisites: ( MATH UN1101 or MATH UN1207 ) and ECON UN1105 or the equivalent. Corequisites: MATH UN1201 Prerequisites: ( MATH UN1101 or MATH UN1207 ) and ECON UN1105 or the equivalent. Corequisites: MATH UN1201 This course covers the determination of output, employment, inflation and interest rates. Topics include economic growth, business cycles, monetary and fiscal policy, consumption and savings and national income accounting

ECON UN3412 INTRODUCTION TO ECONOMETRICS. 4.00 points .

Prerequisites: ( ECON UN3211 or ECON UN3213 ) and ( MATH UN1201 or MATH UN1207 ) and STAT UN1201 Prerequisites: ( ECON UN3211 or ECON UN3213 ) and ( MATH UN1201 or MATH UN1207 ) and STAT UN1201 Modern econometric methods; the general linear statistical model and its extensions; simultaneous equations and the identification problem; time series problems; forecasting methods; extensive practice with the analysis of different types of data

ECON UN2105 THE AMERICAN ECONOMY. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN1105 Prerequisites: ECON UN1105 The course surveys issues of interest in the American economy, including economic measurement, well-being and income distribution, business cycles and recession, the labor and housing markets, saving and wealth, fiscal policy, banking and finance, and topics in central banking. We study historical issues, institutions, measurement, current performance and recent research

ECON UN2257 THE GLOBAL ECONOMY. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN1105 Prerequisites: ECON UN1105 Covers five areas within the general field of international economics: (i) microeconomic issues of why countries trade, how the gains from trade are distributed, and protectionism; (ii) macroeconomic issues such as exchange rates, balance of payments and open economy macroeconomic adjustment, (iii) the role of international institutions (World Bank, IMF, etc); (iv) economic development and (v) economies in transition

ECON UN3025 FINANCIAL ECONOMICS. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and STAT UN1201 Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and STAT UN1201 Institutional nature and economic function of financial markets. Emphasis on both domestic and international markets (debt, stock, foreign exchange, eurobond, eurocurrency, futures, options, and others). Principles of security pricing and portfolio management; the Capital Asset Pricing Model and the Efficient Markets Hypothesis

ECON UN3901 ECONOMICS OF EDUCATION. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ( ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and ECON UN3412 ) Prerequisites: ( ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and ECON UN3412 ) Course objective: This course has two objectives: (1) To develop students' skills in research and writing. Specifically, participants will work on: formulating a research question, placing it in the context of an existing literature and/or policy area, and using economic and econometric tools to address it in writing. Specifically, in the first part of the class, readings, problem sets, and a midterm exam will build skills in these areas. In the second part, students will come up with a research question, and address it in a research proposal/report. While all the applications will be on the economics of education, these skills will be useful in students' subsequent careers,regardless of the area of economics they focus on. (2) To provide an introduction to key issues in the economics of education. Specifically, education is a signicant industryevery person entering this course will have already spent years in this industry as a customer, as a worker, as an input, or all of the above. The course will address questions like: What does economics have to say about how this industry is organized and what determines its output? Why do individuals invest in education? What determines the behavior, productivity, and reputation of rms in the industry? What role should government and public policy (if any) play in its operation?

ECON UN3952 MACROECONOMICS＆FORMATION OF EXPECTATIONS. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and ECON UN3412 Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and ECON UN3412 This course has two main objectives: To introduce students to the process of writing a research paper. This includes identifying and formulating a research question, reviewing the previous literature and positioning the problem in that context, identifying the proper tools and data to answer the question, and finally writing the findings in the format of a research paper. An immediate goal is to prepare the students to undertake a senior thesis project. To provide an introduction to selected topics and survey evidence in macroeconomics, with a focus on the expectation formation process of economic agents. We will start by going through some canonical models that are widely used for economic and policy analysis to understand the role of expectations in the decision making of households and firms. We will then go through a series of survey data and relate the empirical evidence to the theoretical predictions of those canonical models

ECON UN3981 Applied Econometrics. 3 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and ECON UN3412

The objective of this course is to develop students' research skills and to learn the process of writing an original research paper. The skills and process include the ability to identify a problem and state in a concise manner, literature review, data collection, model formulation and estimation, evaluation of the problem and writing up the findings in a format of a research paper. An immediate and more specific goal is to prepare students to tackle a senior thesis project.

Towards this goal, this course will review or introduce the most widely used econometric techniques for empirical research. These include multiple regressions, probit and logit models, instrumental variables methods, panel data methods, regression discontinuity designs. This course will also introduce some time series methods such as vector autoregressive process, cointegration analysis, financial time series, and modeling of volatilities. Students will need to practice these methods with a computer software package (R or STATA) and with actual economic data sets.

ECON GU4020 ECON OF UNCERTAINTY ＆ INFORMTN. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and STAT UN1201 Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and STAT UN1201 Topics include behavior uncertainty, expected utility hypothesis, insurance, portfolio choice, principle agent problems, screening and signaling, and information theories of financial intermediation

ECON GU4211 ADVANCED MICROECONOMICS. 4.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and MATH UN2010 Students must register for required discussion section. Corequisites: MATH UN2500 , MATH GU4061 Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and MATH UN2010 Students must register for required discussion section. Corequisites: MATH UN2500 or MATH GU4061 The course provides a rigorous introduction to microeconomics. Topics will vary with the instructor but will include consumer theory, producer theory, general equilibrium and welfare, social choice theory, game theory and information economics. This course is strongly recommended for students considering graduate work in economics. Discussion section required

ECON GU4213 ADVANCED MACROECONOMICS. 4.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and ECON UN3412 and MATH UN2010 Required discussion section ECON GU4214 Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and ECON UN3412 and MATH UN2010 Required discussion section ECON GU4214 An introduction to the dynamic models used in the study of modern macroeconomics. Applications of the models will include theoretical issues such as optimal lifetime consumption decisions and policy issues such as inflation targeting. This course is strongly recommended for students considering graduate work in economics

ECON GU4228 Urban Economics. 3 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213

Congestion and other games, and the pricing of transit services. Location theory and land rents. Segregation and discrimination. The fiscal structure of American cities. Zoning and the taking issue. Abandonment and city-owned property. Economic development, abatements, subsidies, and eminent domain. Crime, deadweight losses, and the allocation of police services.

ECON GU4230 ECONOMICS OF NEW YORK CITY. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and STAT UN1201 Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and STAT UN1201 This course takes New York as our laboratory. Economics is about individual choice subject to constraints and the ways that choices sum up to something often much more than the parts. The fundamental feature of any city is the combination of those forces that bring people together and those that push them apart. Thus both physical and social space will be central to our discussions. The underlying theoretical and empirical analysis will touch on spatial aspects of urban economics, regional, and even international economics. We will aim to see these features in New York City taken as a whole, as well as in specific neighborhoods of the city. We will match these theoretical and empirical analyses with readings that reflect close observation of specific subjects. The close observation is meant to inspire you to probe deeply into a topic in order that the tools and approaches of economics may illuminate these issues in a fresh way

ECON GU4251 INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATION. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 The study of industrial behavior based on game-theoretic oligopoly models. Topics include pricing models, strategic aspects of business practice, vertical integration, and technological innovation

ECON GU4260 MARKET DESIGN. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and STAT UN1201 Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and STAT UN1201 This course uses modern microeconomic tools for understanding markets for indivisible resources and exploring ways to improve their design in terms of stability, efficiency and incentives. Lessons of market design will be applied to developing internet platforms for intermediating exchanges, for auctions to allocate sponsored search advertising, to allocate property rights such as public lands, radio spectrums, fishing rights, for assigning students to public schools, and for developing efficient kidney exchanges for transplantation

ECON GU4280 CORPORATE FINANCE. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and STAT UN1201 Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and STAT UN1201 An introduction to the economics principles underlying the financial decisions of firms. The topics covered include bond and stock valuations, capital budgeting, dividend policy, market efficiency, risk valuation, and risk management. For information regarding REGISTRATION for this course, go to: http://econ.columbia.edu/registration-information

ECON GU4301 ECONOMIC GROWTH ＆ DEVELOPMNT I. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 . Economic development is a complex and multifaceted process. Once considered a goal in itself, more recently it has become to be viewed as the fundamental means to world poverty alleviation. Today, about half of the world population still lives on less than $2 /day. Why? What does it mean to be poor? What are the forces that prevent so many people from enjoying a higher standard of living? The course opens on some fundamental macroeconomic models of economic growth and the recent debate on the geographical or institutional nature of the ultimate causes of growth or arrested development. Then we will move into the most recent microeconomic literature that sheds light on the lives of the poor and on the forces - in particular the market distortions and the market failures - that keep billions in poverty. Among others, we will discuss interesting topics like nutrition and health, the cultural origins of corruption, the effect of global warming, and the design of effective anti-poverty programs

ECON GU4321 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 Historical comparative examination of the economic development problems of the less developed countries; the roles of social institutions and human resource development; the functions of urbanization, rural development, and international trade

ECON GU4325 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF JAPAN. 3.00 points .

CC/GS/SEAS: Partial Fulfillment of Global Core Requirement

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 The growth and structural changes of the post-World War II economy; its historical roots; interactions with cultural, social, and political institutions; economic relations with the rest of the world

ECON GU4370 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and STAT UN1201 or POLS 4710 for those who declared prior to Spring 2014. The objective of this course is to develop understanding of how political institutions and behavior shape economic outcomes, and vice versa. Starting from the micro level study of political behavior, we will build up to analyze the internal workings of institutions and ultimately macro level economic and political outcomes. During the course we will cover the following topics • Limits and potential of markets • Public goods provision • Voting • Redistribution

ECON GU4400 LABOR ECONOMICS. 3.00 points .

The labor force and labor markets, educational and man power training, unions and collective bargaining, mobility and immobility, sex and race discrimination, unemployment.

ECON GU4412 ADVANCED ECONOMETRICS. 4.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and ECON UN3412 and MATH UN2010 Students must register for required discussion section. Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and ECON UN3412 and MATH UN2010 Students must register for required discussion section. The linear regression model will be presented in matrix form and basic asymptotic theory will be introduced. The course will also introduce students to basic time series methods for forecasting and analyzing economic data. Students will be expected to apply the tools to real data

ECON GU4413 Econometrics of Time Series and Forecasting. 3 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and ECON UN3412 Corequisites: MATH UN2010

This course focuses on the application of econometric methods to time series data; such data is common in the testing of macro and financial economics models. It will focus on the application of these methods to data problems in macro and finance.

ECON GU4415 GAME THEORY. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 Introduction to the systematic treatment of game theory and its applications in economic analysis

ECON GU4438 ECONOMICS OF RACE IN THE U.S.. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 ECON GU4400 is strongly recommended. Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 ECON GU4400 is strongly recommended. What differences does race make in the U.S. economy? Why does it make these differences? Are these differences things we should be concerned about? If so, what should be done? The course examines labor markets, housing markets, capital markets, crime, education, and the links among these markets. Both empirical and theoretical contributions are studied

ECON GU4465 PUBLIC ECONOMICS. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 Types of market failures and rationales for government intervention in the economy. Benefit-cost analysis and the theory of public goods. Positive and normative aspects of taxation. The U.S. tax structure

ECON GU4480 GENDER ＆ APPLIED ECONOMICS. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 This course studies gender gaps, their extent, determinants and consequences. The focus will be on the allocation of rights in different cultures and over time, why women's rights have typically been more limited and why most societies have traditionally favored males in the allocation of resources

ECON GU4500 INTERNATIONAL TRADE. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 The theory of international trade, comparative advantage and the factor endowments explanation of trade, analysis of the theory and practice of commercial policy, economic integration. International mobility of capital and labor; the North-South debate

ECON GU4505 INTERNATIONAL MACROECONOMICS. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 . ECON GU4505 is an elective in the economics major. The course develops models for the analysis of the determinants of international capital flows, trade imbalances, and exchange rates. The models are then used as the basis for the discussion of topics such as Global Imbalances, Uncertainty and the Current Account, The Global Saving Glut, Purchasing Power Parity, Sudden Stops, Real Exchange Rates and Productivity, Covered Interest Rate Parity, Uncovered Interest Rate Parity, Borrowing Externalities and Optimal Capital Controls, Overborrowing, Macroeconomic Adjustment under Flexible and Fixed Exchange Rates, Twin Deficits, and Balance of Payment Crises

ECON GU4615 LAW AND ECONOMICS. 3.00 points .

ECON GU4625 Economics of the Environment. 3 points .

Not offered during 2023-2024 academic year.

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and UN3213 .

Microeconomics is used to study who has an incentive to protect the environment. Government's possible and actual role in protecting the environment is explored. How do technological change, economic development, and free trade affect the environment? Emphasis on hypothesis testing and quantitative analysis of real-world policy issues.

ECON GU4630 Climate Finance. 3.00 points .

In lieu of the failure of legislatures to pass comprehensive carbon taxes, there is growing pressure on the financial system to address the risks of global warming. One set of pressures is to account for the heightened physical risks due to extreme weather events and potential climate tipping points. Another set of pressures are to find approaches to incentivize corporations to meet the goals set out in the Paris Treaty of 2015. These approaches include (1) mandates or restrictions to only hold companies with decarbonization plans, (2) development of negative emissions technologies such as direct-air capture and (3) promotion of natural capital markets that can be used to offset carbon emissions. Moreover, financial markets also provide crucial information on expectations and plans of economic agents regarding climate change. This course will cover both models and empirical methodologies that are necessary to assess the role of the financial system in addressing global warming

ECON GU4700 FINANCIAL CRISES. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and STAT UN1201

This course uses economic theory and empirical evidence to study the causes of financial crises and the effectiveness of policy responses to these crises. Particular attention will be given to some of the major economic and financial crises in the past century and to the crisis that began in August 2007.

ECON GU4710 FINANCE AND THE REAL ECONOMY. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ( ECON UN3211 ) and ( ECON UN3213 ) and ( STAT UN1201 ) Prerequisites: ( ECON UN3211 ) and ( ECON UN3213 ) and ( STAT UN1201 ) This course uses economic theory and empirical evidence to study the links between financial markets and the real economy. We will consider questions such as: What is the welfare role of finance? How do financial markets affect consumers and firms? How do shocks to the financial system transmit to the real economy? How do financial markets impact inequality?

ECON GU4750 GLOBALIZATION ＆ ITS RISKS. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 The world is being transformed by dramatic increases in flows of people, goods and services across nations. Globalization has the potential for enormous gains but is also associated to serious risks. The gains are related to international commerce where the industrial countries dominate, while the risks involve the global environment, poverty and the satisfaction of basic needs that affect in great measure the developing nations. Both are linked to a historical division of the world into the North and the South-the industrial and the developing nations. Key to future evolution are (1) the creation of new markets that trade privately produced public goods, such as knowledge and greenhouse gas emissions, as in the Kyoto Protocol; (2) the updating of the Breton Woods Institutions, including the creation of a Knowledge Bank and an International Bank for Environmental Settlements

ECON GU4840 BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 Within economics, the standard model of behavior is that of a perfectly rational, self interested utility maximizer with unlimited cognitive resources. In many cases, this provides a good approximation to the types of behavior that economists are interested in. However, over the past 30 years, experimental and behavioral economists have documented ways in which the standard model is not just wrong, but is wrong in ways that are important for economic outcomes. Understanding these behaviors, and their implications, is one of the most exciting areas of current economic inquiry. The aim of this course is to provide a grounding in the main areas of study within behavioral economics, including temptation and self control, fairness and reciprocity, reference dependence, bounded rationality and choice under risk and uncertainty. For each area we will study three things: 1. The evidence that indicates that the standard economic model is missing some important behavior 2. The models that have been developed to capture these behaviors 3. Applications of these models to (for example) finance, labor and development economics As well as the standard lectures, homework assignments, exams and so on, you will be asked to participate in economic experiments, the data from which will be used to illustrate some of the principals in the course. There will also be a certain small degree of classroom ‘flipping’, with a portion of many lectures given over to group problem solving. Finally, an integral part of the course will be a research proposal that you must complete by the end of the course, outlining a novel piece of research that you would be interested in doing

ECON GU4850 COGNITIVE MECH ＆ ECON BEHAVIOR. 4.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and STAT UN1201 Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and STAT UN1201 Standard economic theory seeks to explain human behavior (especially in economic settings, such as markets) in terms of rational choice, which means that the choices that are made can be predicted on the basis of what would best serve some coherent objective, under an objectively correct understanding of the predictable consequences of alternative actions. Observed behavior often seems difficult to reconcile with a strong form of this theory, even if incentives clearly have some influence on behavior; and the course will discuss empirical evidence (both from laboratory experiments and observations in the field) for some well-established anomalies. But beyond simply cataloguing anomalies for the standard theory, the course will consider the extent to which departures from a strong version of rational choice theory can be understood as reflecting cognitive processes that are also evident in other domains such as sensory perception; examples from visual perception will receive particular attention. And in addition to describing what is known about how the underlying mechanisms work (something that is understood in more detail in sensory contexts than in the case of value-based decision making), the course will consider the extent to which such mechanisms --- while suboptimal from a normative standpoint that treats perfect knowledge of one's situation as costless and automatic --- might actually represent efficient uses of the limited information and bounded information-processing resources available to actual people (or other organisms). Thus the course will consider both ways in which the realism of economic analysis may be improved by taking into account cognitive processes, and ways in which understanding of cognitive processes might be advanced by considering the economic problem of efficient use of limited (cognitive) resources

ECON GU4860 BEHAVIORAL FINANCE. 3.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and ECON UN3412 Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and ECON UN3412 Neoclassical finance theory seeks to explain financial market valuations and fluctuations in terms of investors having rational expectations and being able to trade without costs. Under these assumptions, markets are efficient in that stocks and other assets are always priced just right. The efficient markets hypothesis (EMH) has had an enormous influence over the past 50 years on the financial industry, from pricing to financial innovations, and on policy makers, from how markets are regulated to how monetary policy is set. But there was very little in prevailing EMH models to suggest the instabilities associated with the Financial Crisis of 2008 and indeed with earlier crises in financial market history. This course seeks to develop a set of tools to build a more robust model of financial markets that can account for a wider range of outcomes. It is based on an ongoing research agenda loosely dubbed “Behavioral Finance”, which seeks to incorporate more realistic assumptions concerning human rationality and market imperfections into finance models. Broadly, we show in this course that limitations of human rationality can lead to bubbles and busts such as the Internet Bubble of the mid-1990s and the Housing Bubble of the mid-2000s; that imperfections of markets — such as the difficulty of short-selling assets — can cause financial markets to undergo sudden and unpredictable crashes; and that agency problems or the problems of institutions can create instabilities in the financial system as recently occurred during the 2008 Financial Crisis. These instabilities in turn can have feedback effects to the performance of the real economy in the form of corporate investments

Economics Senior Seminars

ECON GU4911 MICROECONOMICS SEMINAR. 4.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and ECON UN3412 Registration information is posted on the department's Seminar Sign-up webpage. Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and ECON UN3412 Selected topics in microeconomics

ECON GU4913 MACROECONOMICS SEMINAR. 4.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and ECON UN3412 Registration information is posted on the department's Seminar Sign-up webpage. Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and ECON UN3412 Registration information is posted on the departments Seminar Sign-up webpage. Selected topics in macroeconomics. Selected topics will be posted on the departments webpage

ECON GU4918 SEMINAR IN ECONOMETRICS. 4.00 points .

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and ECON UN3412 and sign-up in the department's office. Registration information is posted on the department's Seminar Sign-up webpage. Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and ECON UN3412 and sign-up in the departments office. Registration information is posted on the departments Seminar Sign-up webpage. Analyzing data in a more in-depth fashion than in ECON UN3412 . Additional estimation techniques include limited dependent variable and simultaneous equation models. Go to the departments undergraduate Seminar Description webpage for a detailed description

ECPS GU4921 SEMINAR IN POLITICAL ECONOMICS. 4.00 points .

Priority is given to economics-political science majors who are in their senior year, but any available space is open to students who have taken the elective course in political economy.

Prerequisites: ECON W3211 , W3213 , W3412 (or POLS 4711 ), W4370 . Registration information is posted on the department's Seminar Sign-up webpage. Prerequisites: ECON W3211, W3213, W3412 (or POLS 4711), W4370. Registration information is posted on the departments Seminar Sign-up webpage. Required for majors in the joint program between political science and economics. Provides a forum in which students can integrate the economics and political science approach to political economy. The theoretical tools learned in political economy are applied: the analysis of a historical episode and the empirical relation between income distribution and politics on one side and growth on the other

ECPH GU4950 ECONOMICS ＆ PHILOSOPHY. 4.00 points .

Open only to economics-philosophy majors who are in their senior year.

Prerequisites: ECON W3211 , ECON W3213 , ECON W3412 . Students will be contacted by the Economics department for pre-enrollment. Prerequisites: ECON W3211, ECON W3213, ECON W3412. Students will be contacted by the Economics department for pre-enrollment. Explores topics in the philosophy of economics such as welfare, social choice, and the history of political economy. Sometimes the emphasis is primarily historical and someimes on analysis of contemporary economic concepts and theories

ECON GU4999 SENIOR HONORS THESIS WORKSHOP. 3.00 points .

3 points per semester.

Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and ECON UN3412 and the director of the departmental honors program's permission. Students must have a minimum GPA of 3.7 in all required major courses, including calculus and statistics, prior to enrollment. Prerequisites: ECON UN3211 and ECON UN3213 and ECON UN3412 and the director of the departmental honors programs permission. Students must have a minimum GPA of 3.7 in all required major courses, including calculus and statistics, prior to enrollment. The honors thesis seminar is a year-long course, beginning in the fall semester and ending in the spring semester. Students who have been approved to enter the workshop will be registered for both semesters by the department during the first two weeks of classes; 3 points are earned per semester. This workshop may only be taken by students applying for departmental honors, and it also fulfills the economics seminar requirement for the economics major and all joint majors. Students must see the director during mid-semester registration in the spring to discuss their proposed thesis topic, at which time they will be matched with appropriate faculty who will act as their thesis adviser. Students will meet their adviser over the course of the year at mutually agreed upon times. A rough draft of the thesis will be due during the first week of February in the spring semester, and the final draft will be due three weeks before the last day of classes. Please note that for those joint majors that require two seminars, one in economics and one in the other discipline (i.e. Political Science), the economics senior honors thesis seminar only fulfills the economics seminar requirement

ECON UN2029 FED CHALLENGE WORKSHOP. 1.00 point .

Prerequisites: ( ECON UN1105 ) Prerequisites: ( ECON UN1105 ) The workshop prepares students to compete in the annual College Fed Challenge sponsored by the Federal Reserve. Topics covered include macroeconomic and financial conditions, monetary policy, financial stability and the Federal Reserve System

ECON GU4995 RESEARCH COURSE. 1.00 point .

ECON GU4996 RESEARCH COURSE. 1.00-2.00 points .

Prerequisites: the director of undergraduate studies permission. Provides students with the experience of participating in the research process by matching them to a faculty mentor who will put them to work on one of his or her current research projects. A list of available research positions is distributed each semester on the major listserv

ECON GU4998 SUPERVISED INDEPENDENT STUDY. 1.00-4.00 points .

Prerequisites: the director of undergraduate studies permission

Of Related Interest

Note: Barnard economic  core  courses ( ECON BC1003 ,  ECON BC1007 ,  ECON BC2411 ,  ECON BC3018 ,  ECON BC3033 ,  ECON BC3035 ) and  seminars  do  not  count towards the Columbia economics major and concentration.

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