Fields of Study

The Department of Economics requires doctoral candidates to acquire certification in one major field and one minor field. We offer the following fields:

  • Applied Microeconomics
    • Applied Microeconomics encompasses many subfields, including: Development, Environmental, Family, Industrial Organization (IO), 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.
  • Econometrics
    • Must include ECON 885-01 and ECON 885-02 Econometrics III modules
    • Subfields include: Financial/Time-series and Cross Section
  • History of Political Economy
  • Macroeconomics and International Economics
  • Microeconomic Theory

 All coursework for a major and minor certification should be finished by the end of the third year.

Major Field

To obtain major certification, students must take at least 6 credits (four modules or two courses) in the field beyond the first-year series with no less than a B average and no single grade less than a B-. In addition, students must pass a field exam. Field exams are generally administered mid-/late May to early June, and depending on the field, can be written or oral exams. Failure to pass a field exam results in dismissal from the PhD Program.

Minor Field

To obtain minor certification, students must take at least 6 credits (four modules or two 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. It is possible to obtain minor certification in fields outside of the department, provided the student has obtained approval of the director of graduate studies.