Elective Courses

MS-ECON students choose from a variety of elective courses offered in the spring and summer terms. Electives are typically taught by highly experienced professional economists with a substantial expertise in the topics they teach.

Students choose an appropriate sequence of elective courses based on the academic track they select: Standard (the default), Computational Economics, or Financial Economics. The Program Director will help students select courses that best suit their individual objectives.

The MS Economics program at Georgetown University was definitely an enriching experience. I personally found the quantitative courses most helpful. The teaching methods applied by the professors were remarkable. These two years have bolstered my career and helped me continue on to work in an international organization.  

Shriya Chauhan, Class of 2020

Standard Track

Students choose eleven electives, including at least five quantitative courses, from the list below (quantitative courses are marked as [Q]).
Note: not all of the electives listed on this page will be offered in the indicated semester. Actual class offerings are indicated in the Schedule of Classes (new window).

Spring term

  • ECON 555 – Political Economy
  • ECON 557 – Advanced Data Analysis [Q]
  • ECON 561 – Labor Economics
  • ECON 562 – Industrial Organization
  • ECON 567 – Decision and Game Theory [Q]
  • ECON 571 – Financial Economics [Q]
  • ECON 573 – Computational Financial Economics [Q]
  • ECON 576 – International Trade
  • ECON 585 – Behavioral Economics
  • ECON 586 – Microeconometrics [Q]
  • ECON 587 – Macroeconometrics [Q]
  • ECON 592 – Advanced Macroeconomics [Q]
  • ECON 594 – Empirical Asset Pricing [Q]
  • ECON 599 – Computational Economics [Q]

Summer term

  • ECON 558 – Time Series Analysis [Q]
  • ECON 560 – Economics of Credit Derivatives
  • ECON 563 – Public Economics
  • ECON 564 – Environmental Economics
  • ECON 565 – Law and Economics
  • ECON 569 – Energy Economics and Policy
  • ECON 577 – International Finance
  • ECON 578 – Development Economics
  • ECON 588 – Urban Economics
  • ECON 598 – Financial Regulation [Q]

Fall term

  • ECON 556 – Asset Pricing and Macro Analysis [Q]
  • ECON 559 – Advanced Econometrics [Q]
  • ECON 570 – Health, Aging and Insurance Markets
  • ECON 572 – Monetary Theory & Policy
  • ECON 582 – Empirical Industrial Organization [Q]
  • ECON 591 – Advanced Microeconomics [Q]
  • ECON 593 – Financial Econometrics [Q]
  • ECON 597 – Empirical Macroeconomics [Q]

Computational Economics Track

Students must take ECON 557 – Advanced Data Analysis and ECON 599 – Computational Economics. Additionally, they must choose two electives from the following list:

  • ECON 556 – Asset Pricing and Macro Analysis
  • ECON 558 – Time Series Analysis
  • ECON 573 – Computational Financial Economics
  • ECON 586 – Microeconometrics
  • ECON 587 – Macroeconometrics
  • ECON 597 – Empirical Macroeconomics

The remaining seven courses may be chosen from the standard list of electives.

Please note: whether the Program will continue to offer the computational track in future academic years is under review.

Financial Economics Track

Students choose four electives from the following list:

  • ECON 556 – Asset Pricing and Macro Analysis
  • ECON 560 – Economics of Credit Derivatives
  • ECON 571 – Financial Economics
  • ECON 573 – Computational Financial Economics
  • ECON 577 – International Finance
  • ECON 593 – Financial Econometrics
  • ECON 594 – Empirical Asset Pricing
  • ECON 598 – Financial Regulation

The remaining seven courses may be chosen from the standard list of electives. The University’s schedules of classes for recent years may be viewed on Georgetown’s online schedule.