Courses & Seminars

In addition to individual requirements from the areas of study, known as major field requirements, all Ph.D. students are required to take 13 quarter courses from outside the major field of study.
School Year Summer Fall Winter Spring
YEAR June - August September - December January - March April - June
1st
Mathematical Methods
in Economics
Microeconomics
-
Macroeconomics
-
Econometrics
Microeconomics
-
Macroeconomics
-
Regression Analysis
Microeconomics
-
Macroeconomics
-
Time-Series Analysis
2nd
Elective Options
-
Research Assistant
Opportunities
Elective Options Elective Options Elective Options
3rd
Elective Options
-
Research Assistant
Opportunities
Research Research Research
4th
Elective Options
-
Research Assistant
Opportunities
Dissertation*** Dissertation*** Dissertation***

1st YEAR

Summer

June – August
 

Leadership Foundations

Mathematical Methods in
Economics

Fall

September – December
 

Microeconomics
-
Macroeconomics
-
Econometrics

Winter

January – March
 

Microeconomics
-
Macroeconomics
-
Regression Analysis

Spring

April – June
 

Microeconomics
-
Macroeconomics
-
Time-Series Analysis

2nd YEAR

Summer

June – August
 

Elective Options
-
Research Assistant Opportunities

Fall

September – December
 

Elective Options

Winter

January – March
 

Elective Options

Spring

April – June
 

Elective Options

3rd YEAR

Summer

June – August
 

Elective Options
-
Research Assistant Opportunities

Fall

September – December
 

Research

Winter

January – March
 

Research

Spring

April – June
 

Research

4th YEAR

Summer

June – August
 

Electives
-
Research Assistant Opportunities

Fall

September – December
 

Dissertation***

Winter

January – March
 

Dissertation***

Spring

April – June
 

Dissertation***

Seminars

 
Three different seminar series provide a collegial forum for accessing the intellectual capital you need to succeed. These seminars further prepare our Ph.D. students for research, presentation and job market success.

Faculty Seminars

These seminars are hosted by your area of study and closed to the public; distinguished faculty from other universities present their latest papers and findings.

On April 6, 2017, Assistant Professor Gautam Rao of Harvard University presented his paper, “Status Goods: Experimental Evidence from Platinum Credit Cards.” Rao’s paper provided the first field-experimental evidence on status goods, working with an Indonesian bank that markets its platinum credit cards to high-income customers. The first experiment showed that demand for the card was substantially higher than demand for its benefits and services, with transaction data revealing that cardholders are more likely to use their car in social contexts, implying social image concerns. The second experiment offered evidence of positional externalities from the consumption of status goods. Lastly, Rao’s paper and subsequent talk showed how higher self-esteem reduces demand for status goods, looking at how self and social image are substitutes.

GEM was also pleased to host Professor Rohini Pande, also from Harvard, who presented her paper, “E-governance, Accountability, and Leakage in Public Programs: Experimental Evidence from a Financial Management Reform in India” in April of 2017. That month, we also hosted MIT Professor Amy Finkelstein, who presented her paper, “The Value of Medicaid: Evidence and Interpretation from the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment.”