ECON-PHD - Economics (PhD)

The department’s purpose is to acquaint students with the economic aspects of modern society, to familiarize them with techniques for analyzing contemporary economic problems, and to develop an ability to exercise judgment in evaluating public policy. There is training for the general student and those who plan careers as economists in civil service, private enterprise, teaching, or research.

The department’s curriculum is integral to Stanford’s International Relations, Public Policy, and Urban Studies programs.

The faculty interests and research cover a broad spectrum of topics in most fields of economics, including behavioral economics, comparative institutional analysis, econometrics, economic development, economic history, experimental economics, industrial organization, international trade, labor, macro- and microeconomic theory, mathematical economics, environmental economics, and public finance.

The primary objective of the graduate program is to educate students as research economists. In the process, students also acquire the background and skills necessary for careers as university teachers and as practitioners of economics. The curriculum includes a comprehensive treatment of modern theory and empirical techniques. Currently, 20 to 25 students are admitted each year.

Graduate programs in economics are designed to ensure that students receive a thorough grounding in the methodology of theoretical and empirical economics while at the same time providing specialized training in a wide variety of subfields and a broad understanding of associated institutional structures. Toward these ends, the program is arranged so that the student has little choice in the curriculum at the outset but considerable latitude later.

Students admitted to graduate standing in the department are expected to have a strong college-level economics, mathematics, and statistics background. Preparation ordinarily consists of a college major in economics, a year-long calculus sequence that includes multivariate analysis, a course in linear algebra, and a rigorous course in probability and statistics.