Learning Goals Outline

The Ph.D. Program in Economics is an advanced degree with the goals of forming professional economists.

   At the completion of the Doctoral studies, students will have acquired an articulated set of skills at a very advanced level that include “core” and “field” competences within Economics.

   1) The “core” skills can be conveniently divided into the traditional three areas of Econometrics, Microeconomics and Macroeconomics. Training in Econometrics provides the skills necessary to use advanced statistical techniques to analyze and manipulate economics data, both at the household (micro) and aggregate (macro) level. Training in Microeconomics provides the skills necessary to model at both the theoretical and applied level the behavior, strategic and non-strategic, of individual economic actors such as firms and households. Training in Macroeconomics provides the skills necessary to understand and model aggregate economic activity in the economy. Thus, the students are able to understand and model variables such as aggregate income, consumption and investment, as well as monetary and financial aggregates.

   2) The Ph.D. Program requires students to take courses in specialized fields within Economics. Training in these fields provides the skills to pursue cutting-edge research, applied or theoretical, or both, depending on the field. The examples of research fields are Econometrics, Economic Development, Economic Theory, Industrial Organization, International Trade, Labor Economics, Macroeconomics, Public Economics and Political Economy.

   3) Our Ph.D. curriculum also involves a “math camp” and the “math for economists” course for first year students. They introduce the students to a range of new advanced mathematical techniques frequently used in Economics, and serve as a refresher and sharpener for many other mathematical skills that students may have acquired before.

   4) Our Ph.D. students also enroll in workshops in their third and subsequent years in the program. The workshop speakers are mostly from outside the University, but also Georgetown Faculty and student speakers. The goal in this case is to expose the students to current research frontiers in Economics, as well as to present their own results when they are ready to do so. This is essential in developing the skills to pursue and expound independent cutting-edge research.