Programs and Requirements

The Department of Economics has risen to national prominence in recent years by attracting internationally renowned scholars to its faculty and by carefully selecting its student body. Different tracks are provided for students with varying career interests. The Ph.D. program equips its graduates with modern economic techniques, enabling them to take leadership positions in economic research in the academic, business, and government worlds.

There are many reasons to believe that we can offer students an outstanding intellectual environment. Seven members of our department are Fellows of the Econmetric Society. Many currently serve or have served on the editorial boards of major jouirnals, including the AER, Econometrica, the Review of Economic Studies, and the Journal of Economic Theory. Perhaps most significant, our department was recently ranked sixth in terms of pages published in major journals. (The updated Dusansky-Vernon (1992) Journal of Economic Literature study, which ranked departments in terms of the publications of their faculty in top-five rated journals).

Fields of Specialization

The courses in the department are organized around fields, each with field exams. Below is a brief summary of the fields of concentration and some of the faculty teaching in those fields:

Microeconomics and Game Theory:
J-P Benoit, Douglas Gale, Andrew Caplin, Yaw Nyarko, Andrew Schotter, Charles Wilson, Alberto Bisin*, Efe Ok, Ennio Stacchetti, Kfir Eliaz, Alessandro Lizzeri, Ronny Razin, Roy Radner**.

Macroeconomics:
Jess Benhabib, Andrew Caplin, Raquel Fernandez, Mark Gertler, Boyan Jovanovic, Diego Comin, Gianluca Violante, Ricardo Lagos, John Leahy, William Easterly

Industrial Organization: Will Baumol, Boyan Jovanovic, M. Ishaq Nadiri, Janusz Ordover, Alessandro Lizzeri, Ronny Razin, Dermot Gately

Labor Economics: Chris Flinn, Ed Wolff, Gianluca Violante, Donghoon Lee, Ricardo Lagos

International Economics: Raquel Fernandez, Jonathan Eaton, Pierpaolo Benigno, David Backus**, Nouriel Roubini**

Financial Economics: Douglas Gale, Sydney Ludvigson, Alberto Bisin*

Public Economics: Raquel Fernandez, M. Ishaq Nadiri, Efe Ok, Alessandro Lizzeri

Econometrics: Chris Flinn, James Ramsey, Giorgio Topa*, Jushan Bai, Xiaohong Chen, Donghoon Lee, William Greene**

Law and Economics: Mario Rizzo, David Harper, J-P Benoit, Janusz Ordover, Diego Comin, Lewis Kornhauser***

* denotes assistant professor, ** N.Y.U. Stern School of Business, *** NYU Law School

Departmental Seminars and Conferences

Each year, the C.V. Starr Center, which is part of the department of economics, sponsors four research seminars in Microeconomics and Game Theory, in Macroeconomics, in International Trade and Finance, and in Applied Microeconomics and econometrics. These seminars give both faculty and students the opportunity to hear prominent researchers in these fields discuss their current research. Each of these seminars meets once a week. Once a student has chosen a field of specialization, the student is encouraged to register for and attend the seminar in that field. It is a an extremely valuable avenue for choosing thesis topics and for getting comments from the faculty members in the concentration.

In addition to the regular research seminars, the Center sponsors a major research conference at least once each year. At these events, selected scholars from all over the world meet for two days to discuss the latest research in areas of current interest. Recent conferences have focussed on technologies and skills; productivity, finance and real activity; and political economy.

 

The Ph.D. Course Requirements

The Doctor of Philosophy is a research degree. It signifies that the recipient is able to conduct independent research and has both a broad basic knowledge of all areas of economics and a comprehensive knowledge of one in particular.

To qualify for the doctorate, a student must satisfactorily complete graduate studies totaling at least 72 points (at least 48 in residence at New York University), pass three Ph.D. comprehensive examinations (in microeconomics, macroeconomics, and one area of specialization), present a "third year" paper, and present an acceptable dissertation.

The examinations in microeconomics and macroeconomics must be taken immediately upon completing these courses. The examination in one area of specialization should normally be taken at the beginning of the third year, but no later than after 60 points. The fields of specialization are as listed above.

After passing all three Ph.D. comprehensive examinations, the third year paper and having completed 72 points of graduate work, a student is asked to submit a formal dissertation proposal. This serves as the basis for a preliminary oral examination. When the dissertation is completed and approved by three faculty members, a public oral examination is held, at which research results are presented and defended by the candidate before a faculty committee.

First Year Students*

Fall Semester	Spring Semester
Microeconomics I	Microeconomics II
Macroeconomics I	Macroeconomics II
Mathematics I	Mathematics II
Econometrics I	Econometrics II

* Core exams in Micro and Macro in June of first year.

Second Year Students **

Fall Semester	Spring Semester
Macroeconometrics	Microeconometrics
Field Course (part I)	Field Course (part II)
Elective Courses	Elective Courses

**Field exams in September of third year. Student may take both Macroeconometrics and microeconometrics if they want to, but they only have to take one.

Third Year Students***

Fall Semester	Spring Semester
Seminar Workshop	Seminar Workshop

*** Thesis proposal is typically in the third year and with the defense in the fourth year.

 

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Admission to graduate studies in economics is limited to students of outstanding promise. All applicants must take the general Graduate Record Examination (GRE). These examinations are administered by the Educational Testing Service, Princeton, N.J. 08540. All international students must take the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) examination. Exceptions to this rule include students who attended english speaking college-level institutions. Students from English speaking countries, such as the U.K. or Ireland are also exempt from taking the TOEFL exam.

The Ph.D. program is designed for full-time students only. In evaluating applicants for the Ph.D. programs, members of the departmental admissions committee consider the following criteria: previous academic performance, quantitative GRE scores, letters of recommendation, personal statement, and economics as well as mathematics backgrounds. Because of the diverse nature of such information, we do not adhere to strictly defined cut-off points on GPAs, or GRE scores. Applicants should also remember that the Ph.D. and the M.A. programs are very different and have different objectives and different admissions criteria. Admission into the M.A. program does not guarantee eventual admission to the Ph.D program.  Those interested in the Ph.D. program are encouraged to apply directly to the Ph.D. program, and not to the M.A. program.

 

DEPARTMENTAL FELLOWSHIPS, PRIZES, AND AWARDS

There are various sources of funding for students in the Ph.D. program. Our top students receive MacCraken fellowship awards.  These fellowships guarantee funding for five years (subject to satisfactory academic performance) in the form of payment of the basic tuition fee as well as a living allowance for the year. Many other students are on departmental teaching assistantships (T.A's), which typically involving assisting a professor with teaching. Many professors also have research grants from a variety of sources (National Science Foundation, C.V. Starr Center, etc) which provide research assistantships (R.A.'s) to graduate students. Both the T.A-ships and the R.A.-ships cover tuition and living expenses. A comprehensive listing of University, graduate school, and departmental fellowships, prizes, and awards appears in the Financial Information section.

 

JOINT PROGRAMS

The Department of Economics offers joint programs with the Schools of Law and Medicine. Interested students should contact the Director of Graduate Studies, Debraj Ray.

Please Note - For graduate admission materials and questions on the graduate program, please write to: admissions@econ.nyu.edu