Graduate Degree Field Requirements

• Obtain at least a B in two of the following three classes
  • Econ 214 (Development economics I- fall)
  • Econ 215 (Development economics II - winter)
  • Econ 218 (Topics in trade and development - spring)
• Students who plan to primarily focus on devo are strongly encouraged (and expected) to also take Econ 217 (in the spring), which is focused on guiding students toward a second-year paper in devo, and has a term paper as part of its requirements.

Seminar Requirement:

Credit for Econ 315 means attending the seminar (Econ 315) and Devo tea (Tuesdays 10:30-11:30am) regularly. We expect all enrolled students to present at least once a year in devo tea.

Faculty point of contact: Melanie Morten

At least two of the following:

• Econ 273 Advanced Econometrics I
• Econ 274 Advanced Econometrics II
• MGTECON 614 Emerging Topics in Econometrics
• MGTECON 661 Causal Inference

Students are encouraged to additionally take at least one of the following:

• MGTECON 614 Emerging Topics in Econometrics
• MGTECON 661 Causal Inference
• MS&E 328 Foundations of Causal Machine Learning
• 300+ level courses in Statistics or Computer Science, approved by faculty

Seminar Requirement:

Students are expected to attend the econometrics seminar (Econ 370) and lunch regularly and present at the econometrics lunch at least once a year. 

Faculty point of contact: Kevin Chen

• Students must take two classes from the following list: 
  • Econ 250
  • Econ 251
  • Econ 261
  • GEP 268 Topics and Methods in Global Environmental Policy I,
  • GEP 269 Topics and Methods in Global Environmental Policy II.
• Classes cannot be double-counted towards the requirements in other fields

Seminar Requirement

Students in the Environmental Economics field are encouraged but not required to attend the Environmental Policy seminar. Students in the Environmental Economics field must enroll and present regularly in the student workshop in another field (e.g., IO, labor/public, development, or macro).

• Two courses from the following list,  with grades B or better.
  • Econ 236
  • Econ 237
  •  F622 (GSB course)
  •  F624 (GSB course)
  •  F625 (GSB course)
• The requirement for the finance field is a 20-minute presentation of a project idea.
• The idea should be far enough so that the question is novel, the student knows the related literature and can describe the contribution of the project to this literature, there is a plan on how to execute the idea, and the initial steps towards execution have been taken.
• The goal of the requirement is to come up with a good research idea that could lead to a second-year paper. Students who want to take finance as a field should contact Monika Piazzesi or Martin Schneider at the beginning of spring quarter in order to schedule a presentation in mid/end spring.

• Students must take the following two courses, with a grade of B+ or better
  • Econ 229 (winter)
  • Econ 226 (spring) 
• Each student is required to submit a full paper by the end of the summer of the second year. This paper can develop assignments from Econ 229 or Econ 226 but must represent substantial progress and constitute a complete draft. Each student is required to present their paper in the first week after their 2nd year summer (first week of fall term).

Seminar Requirement:

If you are formally enrolled in the economic history seminar (Econ 325), attendance is required.

Faculty point of contact: Lukas Althoff

• Students must take Econ 257 (in fall qtr) and either of the following two courses, with a grade of B or better. Courses cannot be double-counted across fields.
  • Econ 258 (winter qtr).  
  • Econ 251
• Students who plan to primarily focus on IO are strongly encouraged (and expected) to also take Econ 260 (in the spring), which is focused on guiding students toward a second-year paper in IO, and has a term paper as part of its requirements. 

Seminar Requirement:

If you are formally enrolled in the IO workshop (ECON 355), you need to present a project of your own every quarter (if IO is not your primary field and you are also enrolled in a different field workshop, you are required to present in the workshop in at least two of the quarters, and a third presentation is optional). In addition, everyone enrolled needs to lead a paper discussion in the IO reading group as part of the rotation (which means about twice per year).

Faculty point of contact: Liran Einav

• Students must take ECON 266 and at least one additional course from the following list. Students are encouraged to take all three courses.
  • ECON 267:  Topics in International Trade and Spatial Economics
  • ECON 218: Topics in Trade and Development
• With instructor approval, students can substitute another class for either ECON 267 or ECON 218.
• Students are expected to develop and present a research proposal in each course. The goal is to develop a good research idea that could lead to a second-year paper.

Seminar Requirement:

Credit for the international trade seminar (Econ 365) requires regular attendance at the trade and spatial mini-conferences and the trade and spatial student workshops (Thursday lunchtimes). We expect all enrolled students to present at least once a year in the trade and spatial student workshop. Students are required to take the international trade field to participate in the trade and spatial student workshops, except with instructor approval.

Faculty points of contact: Kyle Bagwell and Steve Redding

• Students must take:
  • ECON 268
  • ECON 269. 
• With instructor approval, students can substitute a class for either ECON 268 or ECON 269.

• Students must take two courses from the following list, with a grade of B or better:
  • ECON 244 Models Meet Data: The Economics of the Family (fall)
  • ECON 246 Labor Economics I (winter)
  • ECON 245 Gender (spring)

Seminar Requirement:

If you are formally enrolled in the Labor Economics seminar (Econ 345), attendance is required. To get credit, the student must also present in either the labor/public workshop or the applied lunch/showcase at least once in the course of the year.

Faculty point of contact: Alessandra Voena

• Students must take two courses from the following list, with a grade of B of better:
  • Econ 233
  • Econ 234
  • Econ 235,
• With instructor approval, students can substitute a class for either Econ 233, 234 or 235.

Seminar requirement:

In order to get credit for Econ 310 (Macroeconomics seminar): 

1. every student in year 5 and above must present at least twice, in particular once in the fall
2. every student in year 4 must present at macro day in early fall, and once more in the winter or the spring, possibly in a half slot
3. every student in year 3 must present in the winter, possibly in a half slot
4. the student coordinator creates a Dropbox link where all presenters are required to upload slides the night before their lunch. Slides will then stay up there.
5. any presentation of a project that has been presented in the macro lunch before must have a slide that explains what part of the material is new

Faculty point of contact: Adrien Auclert

• Take two or more courses: 
  • Econ 284 (cross-listed as CS 360), 
  • Econ 285
  • Econ 287 (crosslisted as MS&E 365)

Faculty point of contact: Ravi Jagadeesan

• Take two or more courses, with at least one being 282 or 286:
  • Econ 282 
  • Econ 284
  • Econ 286
  • Econ 287
  • Econ 291

Seminar Requirement:

Enrolled students for Econ 391 (Microeconomic seminar) are expected to attend the seminar and student workshop regularly, and to present at least once per year in the student workshop.

Faculty points of contact: Ilya Segal

Not offered AY 2026-2027

• The field of Public Economics has a tight core of theory and empirical methods. Students take two courses from:
  • ECON 241 Public Economics I
  • ECON 242 Public Economics II
  • ECON 243 Public Economics III    
  • ECON 249 Topics in Health Economics (HRP 249, MED 249)
• The field of Public Economics has a tight core of theory and empirical methods. However, this tight core applies to a broad array of topics including: poverty, taxation, education, health, social insurance, regulated insurance, the environment, urban/real estate, and all public goods. Therefore, students who elect the field must take two out of the four courses offered: ECON 241, ECON 242, ECON 243, and ECON 249. We encourage students to learn the fundamentals of Public Economics in a course such as ECON 241, which covers foundational material. After that course, we encourage students to seek their own path by focusing on a topic that is explored further in ECON 242, 243, or 249. For instance, a student who wants to list Public with the Health subfield would normally take ECON 249 and be conscious that ECON 242 covers social insurance such as Medicaid and that ECON 243 covers regulation of the health care sector. Students with interests in other subfields should discuss their interests with their instructors and plan their course sequence accordingly.
•  Each course in the Public sequence requires significant progress on a research project that could become a second-year paper and a polished paper in a student's third year. The same project can be used in each class so long as it continues to develop toward a solid paper. For instance, ECON 241 requires a structured research proposal, and the proposal can often be developed into a paper in ECON 242, ECON 243, or ECON 249. Our goal is to help students produce a paper that satisfies that second-year paper requirement and that can form a chapter in a dissertation.
• Course assessment will be based on a combination of class performance (attendance, class questions and discussion, and presentations), problem sets, possibly a term exam covering the topics discussed in class (depends on the class), and progress on a research project.
• The Public Economics field welcomes interaction via 4+ weekly student workshops, a weekly seminar with outside speakers, student/faculty/speaker dinners, and office hours.

Seminar Requirement:

If you are formally enrolled in the Public Economics seminar (Econ 341), attendance is required. To get credit, the student must also present in either the labor/public workshop or the applied lunch/showcase or the health econ problem solving group at least once in the course of the year.

Faculty point of contact: Caroline Hoxby