Economics

The master of science (course-based) will allow students to do the following:

• Use fundamental economics concepts such as scarcity; incentives; trade‐offs; opportunity costs; comparative advantage; price system; efficient allocation of resources; market failures; government failures; and scope of fiscal, monetary, and regulatory policies
• Both apply economic theory to a range of economic issues across a variety of fields and economics subdisciplines and also effectively communicate their analysis
• Use statistical and econometric methods—including data gathering, data analysis, and hypothesis testing—in applied empirical work
• Apply multivariate calculus and linear algebra to the study of economic issues, and to use mathematical tools to derive results in economic theory and econometrics
• Read, understand, and replicate research papers in economics

The master of science (research-based) will allow students to do the following:

• Use fundamental economics concepts such as scarcity; incentives; trade‐offs; opportunity costs; comparative advantage; price system; efficient allocation of resources; market failures; government failures; and scope of fiscal, monetary, and regulatory policies
• Both apply economic theory to a range of economic issues across a variety of fields and economics subdisciplines and also effectively communicate their analysis
• Use statistical and econometric methods—including data gathering, data analysis, and hypothesis testing—in applied empirical work
• Apply multivariate calculus and linear algebra to the study of economic issues, and to use mathematical tools to derive results in economic theory and econometrics
• Read, understand, and replicate research papers in economics
• Understand advanced econometric methods currently used in applied empirical work
• Form a specific hypothesis or question that is the basis for a research project or paper
• Carry out a literature review of a specific area of economics
• For students carrying out empirical thesis research:
  • Develop economic models underlying economic research
  • Collect and analyze data that is relevant for carrying out economic research
  • Develop econometric models
  • Estimate these models and effectively interpret the results
• For students carrying out theoretical thesis research:
  • Develop economic models underlying economic research
  • Effectively analyze these models with the goal of evaluating the specific hypothesis or question that is the basis for a research project or paper
• Demonstrate writing and oral skills to present, explain, and defend original economic research through a written thesis and an oral thesis defense