Economics is the science that studies how individuals, governments, firms, and nations make choices on allocating scarce resources to create value in society.
The Department of Economics at Southern Methodist University (SMU) is highly ranked among economics departments in the United States and offers comprehensive coverage of the major fields in modern economics.
The department has been at the forefront of graduate education at SMU. The Ph.D. in Economics program is over 55 years old and was the first Ph.D. program at the university. It has a strong national reputation and an excellent placement record in both academic and non-academic positions.
We also offer multiple Master’s degrees that emphasize strength training in quantitative techniques of economic and econometric analysis and are geared toward business and government professionals.
Ph.D. Program
The Ph.D. program in Economics at SMU is the oldest Ph.D. program at the University and has a long track record of providing students with rigorous training in a broad range of fundamental methodologies for conducting economic research. The program is relatively small which allows for an open and friendly environment, and a low student-faculty ratio. Few programs can match the careful supervision, faculty contact time, and individualized mentoring that our Ph.D. students receive.
The department’s research strength encompasses a wide number of fields including macroeconomics and economic growth, international and urban economics, applied microeconomics and econometrics, microeconomic theory, and experimental and behavioral economics. A hallmark of our program is an insistence on high-quality theoretical training as a foundation for work in each of these fields.