Masters Program
Masters Program
The Economics Department at Georgetown University now offers a Masters Degree in Applied Economics. The Applied Economics Program commenced classes in Fall 2011, and it is currently accepting applications through the Graduate School Website for the Fall 2012 semester. The supplementary data form to be included in the application can be found here.
An overview of the program is provided below.
For further information please contact:
Kerstin Gobel, Program Cordinator
kg238@georgetown.edu or 202-687-6172
I. PROGRAM OVERVIEW
The Masters Degree in Applied Economics provides students with a solid
understanding of the fundamental tools of economic analysis which can
be employed to undertake rigorous study of economic issues and
economic policies. The program is structured so that a full-time
student, with the necessary preparatory background, can complete the
course of study in one calendar year by taking the appropriate courses
during the academic year and the subsequent summer. The program also
accommodates part-time students who are able to satisfy the program
requirements in as little as two years.
The focus of the program is applied economics. This focus contrasts
with that of alternative professional degrees, such as an MBA, which
provide the relevant training for a career in business or
management. The program's focus on applied economics also is distinct
from that of a masters degree in economics, which is frequently
considered a stepping stone to a PhD in Economics and concentrates on
contributions to academic research.
The Georgetown Masters Degree Program in Applied Economics begins by
introducing students to the tools of microeconomics and
macroeconomics. A key objective of the program is to provide the
students with a solid foundation in microeconomic and macroeconomic
theory. But the ability to follow and develop economic arguments, and
to supplement existing evidence with additional research, also
requires the capacity to understand empirical analyses. Accordingly,
in conjunction with the required microeconomics and macroeconomics
courses the students also undertake required training in econometric
techniques and data analysis. These courses provide the students with
the ability to comprehend the empirical analyses pertinent to the
discussion of economic issues and also equip them with the skills to
undertake original research projects and data analysis.
After completion of these courses, the participants in the program
study the application of these tools of economic study to a range of
contemporaneous economic problems. This material is covered in a range
of elective courses focusing on more specialized areas of economics.
While part of our program focuses on the fundamental aspects of
economics, the Masters Degree Program in Applied Economics is also
attractive to those with undergraduate degrees in economics. First,
the professors teaching the required courses in micro and macro
economics supplement their course readings with more advanced material
to accommodate students with a background in economics, exposing these
students to material that they were not likely to have covered in
their undergraduate courses. Second, the range of elective courses
offered is such that students are able to avoid repeating courses they
took as undergraduates. Moreover, these elective courses are typically
taught by practitioners who have a different focus than that typically
encountered in undergraduate programs.
As the leading academic institution in Washington, D.C., Georgetown
University is uniquely able to provide this training with the
appropriate input from academics and practitioners actively involved
in these debates. A distinguishing feature of our program is the
involvement of Georgetown senior faculty in the teaching of the core
courses. Our faculty includes leading scholars in macroeconomics,
microeconomics, and econometrics, and thus students in the Applied
Economics program are taught the fundamentals of economic analysis
from leading experts. Moreover, the program is able to draw on the
large community of economists in the Washington, D.C. area to act as
instructors of the specialized classes. The unique combination of
academics and practitioners who participate as instructors in the
Applied Economics program at Georgetown University provides a high
intellectual return for the students.
II. COURSE OF STUDY
For some students the program commences with a course in the summer
session on mathematical methods. The objective of this course is to
fill any gaps in the student’s knowledge of basic mathematical
techniques commonly used in economic analysis and applied statistics.
Full-time students take the required core courses in microeconomics,
macroeconomics, econometrics, and data analysis in the fall. These
core courses are prerequisites for subsequent specialized courses in
areas of applied economics where the fundamental skills acquired in
the core courses are employed. These elective courses represent
areas of applications in applied economics covering a large range of
topics. The courses and prerequisites are structured such that
part-time students are accommodated. That is, part-time and full-time
students are able to take the same classes simultaneously.
The students complete the minimum of 30 course credits by taking a
combination of core and elective courses. The same set of core
courses are taught each fall, and a variety of elective courses are
taught in the fall (after the first year), spring and summer. A
full-time student should be able to complete the 30 course units in
one year. By taking the appropriate core courses in consecutive fall
semesters, a part-time student should be able to finish in two
years. However, both plans may require students taking courses in the
summer sessions. The summer session has approximately the same
duration in calendar time as the other sessions.
In addition to the completion of the four required core courses,
students choose six elective courses. Examples of elective courses
that might be offered in a typical year are the following: Labor
Economics, Public Finance, Topics in Macro Economics, Development
Economics, Industrial Organization, Health Economics, Environmental
Economics, Microeconometrics, Macroeconometrics, Forecasting, Program
Evaluation, Political Economy, International Trade, and International
Finance.
A typical course of study for a full time student commencing the
program in Fall 2011 is the following:
Fall 2011
Macro
Micro
Econometrics
Data Analysis
Spring 2012
Labor Economics
Health Economics
Environmental Economics
Program Evaluation
Summer 2012
Topics in Macroeconomics
Macroeconometrics
A typical course schedule for a part-time student to satisfy the
program requirements within a two-year period starting in Fall 2011
is as follows.
Fall 2011
Micro
Data Analysis
Spring 2012
Public Finance
Development
Summer 2012
Industrial Organization
Health Economics
Fall 2012
Macroeconomics
Econometrics
Spring 2013
Forecasting
International Finance
Noting that a subset of the core courses are prerequisites for the
electives a student could take a number of different paths and
different combinations of courses in satisfying the program’s
requirements. Students with particular course or scheduling needs
typically will be able to take more than two years to complete the
course requirements.
III. Fall Courses
Econ 551-Microeconomics:
This course covers elements of modern microeconomics. It emphasizes
the development of skills needed to evaluate the new generation of
economic models, tools, and ideas as they apply to recent changes in
our economy. Basic tools of game theory, asymmetric information, and
modern general equilibrium price formation are introduced and applied
to various topics. These topics include consumer and producer choice,
decision under uncertainty, and resource allocation under different
market structures such as competition, monopoly, and oligopoly. The
course also focuses on some newer innovations to the theory, including
the role of politics in the determination of economic policy, the
impact of spillovers and network externalities in the information
economy, and psychological and behavioral factors in individual
decision making
Econ 552-Macroeconomics:
This course develops a coherent framework for analyzing the
determination of macroeconomic variables such as national output,
unemployment, interest rates, government debt and inflation. The
course will also develop the skills needed for interpreting
macroeconomic data and macroeconomic policy. One objective of the
course is to provide a link between economic theory and current
economic policy. Another objective is to provide students with the
tools to analyze current macroeconomic policies.
Econ 553-Econometrics
This course is an introduction to Econometrics which is the study of
statistical tools used to estimate economic relationships. The course
begins with a discussion of the linear regression model. It then
proceeds to introduce a number of topics relevant to the analysis of
economic data. These include instrumental variables, discrete choice
modeling, panel data analysis and program evaluation.
Econ 554-Data Analysis
The objective of this course is ensure the students achieve competency
with a statistical software package such that they will be able to
implement the methods taught in the Econometrics course. In order to
maximize the effectiveness of this course the respective course
materials of Econ 553 and Econ 554 are coordinated.
