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Field/Elective Requirements

General Requirements for All Ph.D. Students:

  • seven elective courses required in order to advance to candidacy
  • all seven courses must be taken for a letter grade (A, B, C...)
  • cumulative GPA of 3.5 or better must be earned in these seven courses
  • students must elect two fields of economics for advanced study
  • each field requires completion of two to three graduate courses
  • one elective counts towards one field requirement, duplicate credit is not granted
  • students to complete all seven of these courses by end of their third year
  • students should strive to complete their field requirements in second year

Students may enroll in independent study or relevant courses from other departments. However, in general these courses cannot be counted among the seven electives.

Exceptions: Students may apply one graduate course from another department toward the elective requirement. This course must be reviewed and approved by student's advisor and the Vice Chair of Graduate Studies PRIOR to enrolling in the course.

Some electives are not offered every year. If it becomes apparent to a student at the start of the third year that a course required for a field requirement will not be offered during the second or third years of their enrollment in the program, they should immediately consult with professors in the given field. In some cases, the course(s) will be available during the fourth year of study. In other cases, no such assurance will be given and the student must then select an alternative graduate course or courses. If this occurs, the student should petition the department’s Vice Chair of Graduate Studies to include the alternative course(s) as a replacement for the elective requirement(s) that the department was not able to offer. Below is a list of the graduate fields and the courses that must be completed to fulfill each field requirement:

Field Courses

Behavioral / Experimental
(Choose 3)

  • ECON 262: Behavioral Game Theory
  • ECON 263: Models in Behavioral Economics
  • ECON 264: Experimental Economics 
  • ECON 265: Alternative Choice Theory
  • MGT 225, 227 or 228
Development
(Choose 3 of 4 bolded)
  • ECON 237: Political Economy: Microeconomic Perspectives
  • ECON 241: Microeconomics of Development
  • ECON 242: Macroeconomics of Development
  • ECON 243: Organizational Economics of Development
  • ECON 250A: Empirical Methods in Labor Economics  strongly advised
  • GPEC 464: Designing Field Experiments (offered occasionally, does not count towards elective but recommended)
Econometrics
(Choose 2)
  • ECON 221: Advanced Topics in Econometrics*
  • ECON 225: Forecasting
  • ECON 226: Bayesian and Numerical Methods
  • ECON 227: Nonparametric and Semi-Parametric Methods
  • ECON 228: Nonstandard Inference
  • ECON 229: Estimating Causal Effects
  • A PhD-level course in mathematics, data science, computer science, and other related fields: approval from a faculty member in econometrics is required

Environmental & Natural Resource Economics
(ECON 266 + Choose 2; at least 1 from ECON 267 or 268)

  • ECON 231: Public Economics:  National Government Expenditures 
  • ECON 250A: Empirical Methods in Labor Economics
  • ECON 266: Economics of Natural Resources 
  • ECON 267: Topics in Environmental & Resource Economics*
  • ECON 268: Energy and Environmental
    Economics 
  • GPEC 489: Non-Market Valuation**

Finance
(Choose 2)

  • ECON 270: Core Asset Pricing
  • ECON 272: Theory & Testing of Intertemporal Asset Pricing Model
  • MGT 285: Financial Economics
  • MGT 286: Continuous Time Finance
  • MGT 287: Empirical Finance
  • MGT 289: Topics in Finance: Corporate Finance

Industrial Organization
(Choose 2; at least 1 from ECON 260 or 261)

  • ECON 208: Games (Theoretical Emphasis)
  • ECON 250A: Empirical Methods in Labor Economics
  • ECON 260: Industrial Organization I
  • ECON 261: Industrial Organization II
International Economics
(Choose 2)
  • ECON 245: International Economics
  • ECON 246: International Macroeconomics
  • ECON 247: Empirical Topics in International Economics
  • ECON 248: Spatial Economics
    *ECON 246 and ECON 248 apply toward both macro and trade electives*
Labor
(All 3)
  • ECON 250: Labor Economics
    • A. Empirical Methods in Labor Economics (fall)
    • B. Topics in Labor Economics (winter)
    • C. Advanced Topics in Labor Economics (spring)

Macroeconomics
(Choose 2)

  • ECON 210D: Monetary Economics and Business Cycles 
  • ECON 211: Advanced Macroeconomics
  • ECON 213: Advanced Macroeconomic Theory
  • ECON 214: Applied Macroeconomics
  • ECON 215: Macroeconomic Policy 
  • ECON 216: Computation for Macroeconomics
  • ECON 217: Real Frictions and Financial Frictions
  • ECON 242: Macroeconomics of Development
  • ECON 245: International Trade
  • ECON 246: International Macroeconomics
  • ECON 248: Spatial Economics
  • ECON 272: Theory & Testing of Intertemporal Asset Pricing Model
  • ECON 281: Macroeconomics

Microeconomics
(Choose 3; at least 1 from ECON 206 or 208)

  • ECON 201: Advanced Microeconomics*  
  • ECON 204: Contract Theory
  • ECON 206: Decisions 
  • ECON 208: Games
  • ECON 263: Models in Behavioral Economics
  • ECON 264: Experimental Economics
  • ECON 265: Alternative Choice Theory
  • ECON 272: Theory & Testing of Intertemporal Asset Pricing Model
  • ECON 281: Dynamic Political Economic Theory
  • ECON 281: Market Microstructure 

Political Economy

(Choose 2)

  • ECON 237: Political Economy: Microeconomic Perspectives
  • ECON 281: Dynamic Political Economic Theory
  • POLI 220B: Comparative Politics: Institutions
  • POLI 228:  Historical Political Economy
  • POLI 231:  Political Economy of Development
  • POLI 278: Political Economy Models
Public Economics
(Choose 2)
  • ECON 230: Taxation
  • ECON 231: Public Goods and Externalities
  • ECON 232: Redistribution and Social Insurance
  • ECON 233: Public Economics of Health Care
  • ECON 281: Current Research on Anti-poverty Programs in the U.S. 

*Multiple, distinct versions of ECON 201, 221, 267 & 281 can be counted towards the requirement upon approval of the Department’s Vice Chair of Graduate Studies and the relevant instructors.
**This GPS course has a heavy focus on developing countries and Economics Ph.D. students will be required to write a term paper.