Graduate Degree Field Requirements

• Obtain at least a B in Econ 214 (Development economics I - fall 2025) and Econ 215 (Development economics II - winter 2026)
• Students who plan to primarily focus on devo are strongly encouraged (and expected) to also take the new class Econ 216 (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.
• Students are encouraged to attend the Development Economics workshop and the Development student workshop (“Dev tea”) if their timetable permits.

Students must take two classes from this list: 

• MGTECON 614 (Emerging topics in econometrics)
• MS&E 328 (Foundations of Causal Machine Learning)
• MS&E 228 (Applied Causal Inference Powered by ML and AI)
• POLISCO 450B  (Political Methodology II: Causal Inference)

Students may satisfy the requirements for the Econometrics field by completing the requirements of one of two subfields:

• Subfield 1: Theoretical Econometrics: To receive credit in the theoretical econometrics subfield, students must complete Econ 274 and any 300+ level Stat course.
• Subfield 2: Applied Econometrics: To receive credit in the applied econometrics subfield, students must complete two classes from: 
  • MGTECON 614 (Emerging topics in econometrics)
  • MS&E 328 (Foundations of Causal Machine Learning)
  • MS&E 228 (Applied Causal Inference Powered by ML and AI)
  • POLISCI 450B  (Political Methodology II: Causal Inference)
  • MGTECON 605 (Econometric Methods III)

All courses must be passed with a grade of B or better.

Students must take two classes from the following list: 

• ECON 250 Environmental Economics
• ECON 251 Natural Resource and Energy Economics
• ECON 258 Industrial Organization IIA
• ECON 261 The Engineering Economics of Electricity Markets
• 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.

• Complete two of the following courses with a grade of B or better in each:
  • ECON 236 Financial Economics I
  • ECON 237 Heterogeneity in Macroeconomics
  • GSB courses: F622, F624, F625
• The Finance field also requires 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 project's contribution to this literature, there is a plan on how to execute the idea, and the initial steps towards execution have been taken.
  • The goal is to develop 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 to schedule a presentation mid/end of spring.

• Students must take Econ 229 (winter) and Econ 226 (spring) with a grade of B+ or higher.
• 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).

• Students must take ECON 257 (fall qtr) and ECON 258 (winter qtr). Both courses must be passed with a grade of B or better. This is sufficient for the IO field. 
  • ECON 251 can be taken in place of ECON 258, but not in place of ECON 257. 
  • However, students using ECON 251 (together with 250) for the environmental field cannot use 251 "twice" -- they would have to take 258 (in addition to 257) to get credit for IO field.
• Students who plan to primarily focus on IO are strongly encouraged, and expected, to also take ECON 260 (spring), which is focused on guiding students toward a second-year paper in IO, and has a term paper as part of its requirements.  

• Students must take at least two of the following courses but are encouraged to take all four. A grade of B or better is required for each.
  • ECON 266 International Trade I
  • ECON 267 Topics in International Trade and Spatial Economics
  • ECON 268 International Macroeconomics and Finance
  • ECON 269 International Finance and Exchange Rates II
• Those interested in an International Trade concentration should take, at a minimum, ECON 266 and 267.
• Students interested in an International Finance concentration should take, at a minimum, ECON 268 and 269.
• With instructor approval, students can substitute another macroeconomics class for ECON 268 or 269 or the GSB class Finance 632.
• 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.

• Complete two of the following courses with a grade of B or better:
  • ECON 244 Models Meet Data: The Economics of the Family
  • ECON 246 Labor Economics I
  • ECON 247 Labor Economics II
  • ECON 248 Labor Economics III
• Each course requires a term paper, which helps students develop research for the third-year seminar and the job market. The term paper can either be the same for all four classes, building up to a major paper throughout the sequence, or two, three, or four different preliminary papers.
• Courses combine faculty lectures summarizing important topics, research exercises using data, and student presentations of key recent papers in literature.
• Course assessment will be 50% based on class performance (attendance, class questions and discussions, research exercises, and presentations), and 50% on the term paper.

• Two of the following courses, with grades of B or better:
  • ECON 233 Advanced Macroeconomics I
  • ECON 234 Advanced Macroeconomics II
  • ECON 235 Advanced Macroeconomics III
  • ECON 236 Financial Economics I
  • ECON 237 Heterogeneity in Macroeconomics
  • ECON 267 Topics in International Trade and Spatial Economics
• Courses cannot be double-counted toward the finance field (ECON 236, 237) or the international trade field (ECON 267)
• Students will be evaluated based on their performance in these courses, as well as on the development and presentation of a research proposal in at least one of these courses.

• Take two or more courses:
  • ECON 284 Simplicity and Complexity in Economics Theory
  • ECON 285 Matching and Market Design
  • Econ 287 Topics in Market Design (sometimes cross-listed as MS&E 365)
• Students in this field will be evaluated holistically by the committee of market design faculty based on two things:
  • Performance in the market design field courses and a short presentation of original research to some of the faculty, in the form of a theorem, model, examples, or experiment, which can serve as the foundation of a market design research paper.
  • In the presentation, which will take place before the end of the spring quarter, the student may be asked questions about literature related to the research.   

• Take two or more courses:
  • ECON 282 Contracts, Information, and Incentives
  • ECON 286 Game Theory and Economic Applications
• Students in the theory field will be evaluated holistically by the committee of micro-theory faculty based on two things:
  • Performance in the micro-theory field courses and a short presentation of original research to some of the faculty, in the form of a theorem, model, or examples, which could serve as the foundation of a micro-theory research paper.
  • In the presentation, which will take place before the end of the spring quarter, the student may be asked questions about literature related to the research. 

• Students must pass ECON 220 and one additional political economy course with grades of B or better. 
  • The additional course can be ECON 221 (if offered), or another course approved by Matt Gentzkow in advance. 
• Students should develop a research proposal for at least one of these courses.

• Students must earn a B or better in each of two courses from:
  • ECON 241 Public Economics I
  • ECON 242 Public Economics II
  • ECON 243 Public Economics III
• Each course 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 and/or ECON 243. 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 3+ weekly student workshops, a weekly seminar with outside speakers, student/faculty/speaker dinners, and office hours.