Duke University - Economics

Fields

The Economics Department requires doctoral candidates to acquire certification in one major field and one minor field. The following fields are currently offered:

• Applied Microeconomics
• Econometrics
• History of Political Economy
• Macroeconomics and International Economics
• Microeconomic Theory (see Note below)

Major Field

To obtain major certification, a student must take at least 6 credits (4 modules or 2 courses) in the field beyond the first year series with no less than a B average and no single grade less than B-.

In addition, a student wishing to acquire major certification must (depending on the field) either pass a written examination administered by faculty with expertise in the field or write a research paper that is judged as satisfactory by the expert faculty. Papers in applicable fields may be based on coursework but should contain original research. Students are urged to discuss their paper topics with members of the relevant faculty committee at least three months prior to the field-paper due date.

Minor Field

To obtain minor certification, a student must take at least 6 credits (4 modules or 2 courses) in the field beyond the first year series with no less than a B average. No exam or paper is required for minor certification. For a major or minor in Econometrics, Econometrics III must be one of the courses comprising the 6 graded credits. All coursework for a major and minor certification should be finished by the end of the third year.

It is possible to obtain minor certification in fields outside of the Economics Department, provided the student has obtained approval of the Director of Graduate Studies.

*Applied microeconomics encompasses many fields, including Development, Environmental, Family, Health, Industrial Organization, Labor, Population and Public Economics. Our belief is that students are best served in applied microeconomics by mixing and matching across course types; hence, it is possible to obtain major and minor certification under the applied microeconomics umbrella. The field exam committee would then be dictated by the topic of the field paper and the combination of the courses taken.

**The first deadline for the Macroeconomics field paper is the Monday before the first week of fall classes in the third year.  Students majoring in Macroeconomics must also present their field papers in lunch group or workshop during the first two weeks of that same fall semester.

***Any student planning to declare a major field in microeconomic theory must formally identify two field-paper mentors by the end of graduate classes in spring of year 2.  These mentors must be tenure-track faculty in theory either in the department or at Fuqua who formally agree to provide guidance in drafting a field paper which is due to the Graduate Program Coordinator by October 1 of year 3.  The student will be expected to present his/her field paper in October or November in the theory lunch group after which the field coordinator will report to the DGS whether the student passes or fails the field requirement.  A student who fails must identify mentors (either the same or new ones) for a retry by December 1.  The new (or revised) field paper is due to the Graduate Program Coordinator by February 1 and will be evaluated following a lunch group presentation in February or March.  A student failing the second submission of a field paper will not be permitted to proceed in the Ph.D. program.

Course Structure for the Second Year and Beyond

After the first year, many (but not all) of the upper level courses in Economics are divided into half semester 'modules'. The purpose of this structure is to allow students to take courses along methodology lines rather than field lines and to better align coursework with their research interests. By their nature, modules only count for 1.5 credits and students must complete enough of them to fulfill their graded course requirements. Module courses are all currently listed under special topics course number ECON 395/881-890. Currently, 395 courses in fields under the Applied Micro umbrella are designated by the letter "A", Econometrics courses by "E", Macro Courses by "M" and Micro Theory courses by "T". In the future each field course will have a unique course number.  Students who wish to major in an Applied Micro field have some flexibility in their choice of courses, but must obtain explicit approval of their course plan from their advisor.

Note:  In 2011-12, any student wishing to major in Microeconomic Theory must complete the first two modules of the market design sequence taught by David McAdams and Atila Abdulkadiroglu.

Archived syllabi for core Economics Department courses (PhD courses numbered 300+/700+)

Seminars and Workshops

Beginning in the second semester of the second year, financial assistance from the department requires regular seminar (often referred to as 'lunch group') and workshop attendance. The purpose of these seminars and workshops is to encourage an exchange of ideas among those students and faculty members who share similar interests. Seminars are listed as course numbers ECON 385A/951S, 385E/953S, 385F/957S, 385M/952S and 385T/955S; workshops are all listed under course number ECON 380/900-909.

Fall 2011 Workshops and Seminars