Through course work, participation in seminars and supervised research, the Ph.D. program in Economics trains students to conduct theoretical and empirical research at the highest level.
The work in the program is demanding and the standards of performance are high. The department's reputation for providing superb training has enabled its graduates to compile an excellent placement record, including major research universities, prestigious liberal arts colleges, government and international agencies, and private industrial, consulting and research firms.
The department faculty includes the editors of the Journal of Economic Growth, the Journal of Political Economy, the Journal of Development Economics, the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, the Journal of Urban Economics and the Journal of Human Resources, among others; several fellows of the Econometric Society; several Sloan fellows; a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association; and numerous associates and fellows of the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Center for Economic Policy Research.
The atmosphere in the department is highly collegial, and interaction among faculty members and graduate students is easy and extensive. The department hosts four weekly seminars (Economic Theory, Macroeconomics, Applied Microeconomics, and Econometrics), as well as parallel lunches and breakfasts for graduate student work in progress.
Additional Resources
The department maintains close links with the Population Studies and Training Center, which provides support for students doing research in population economics and economic development, the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, which hosts an interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Development, the center for Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences, the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, and the Rhode Island Innovative Policy Laboratory.